Yeah, the SCP Foundation doesn't qualify as actually Evil, if only because the shit they deal with half the time requires tragedy to prevent bigger tragedy (such as procedure 112 Montauk or whatever it was called). But they can be overzealous when containing SCPs (weord shit) that are pretty much harmless. For example, the canon SCP Foundation currently has a sapient drawing under containment despite the fact that she's utterly unable to interact with the 3D world - she's limited to sign language because she can't even make sounds that people can hear.
We're mostly just worried about them doing something similar and locking Shinohara in a box because she has a weird ability. I said before: we aren't the Anti-Illuminati, but more like a Civil Rights Organization for the specially abled. Our goal isn't to prevent the Foundation from doing their job, but rather to make sure that their containment procedures are ethical and sane, and make sense given the thing being contained.
Of course, given how they reacted to Apollyon Lost we're a bit worried they might not want us around, and they have the guns. Thus the shadowrunning.
On a side note, despite my disagreeing with the men in black memory erasing thing, I'm not really getting the bad guy vibes from the foundation. Frankly it seems like they're at least trying to help, and if the anti-memetics are legitimately as bad as was publicized in apollyon then it kinda makes sense that they are taking severe measures to prevent the total... disappearance? of possibly hundreds of people.
They definitely seem more gray than black. They're definitely paranoid, but given their history it's not hard to see why. Plenty of anomalies that seemed benign at first turned dangerous later, either due to something outside changing them or just being misjudged initially. If even one in a hundred seemingly-harmless SCPs turned dangerous...it's not hard to see why they have thousands of them in containment, not just protecting the outside world from any unexpected harm they might do but protecting them from anything that could corrupt them.
I just realized the thread had an anniversary, and did a thing. And only two weeks late yet again!
I mean, if Karnewarrior resumed his quest to guilt trip this into updating again, how can I not?
(ノ＞▽＜。)ノ
The drawing depicts Silas' first steps on the path of cloak and dagger. May the Foundation quake in fear, knowing he can be anywhere! He could be in this very room! He could be you! He could be me! He could even be--
*sounds of amnestics being forcibly administered*
I know a certain cute SCP stole all the spotlight for that update, but I thought the scene was funny enough to warrant a drawing. Certain liberties were taken, especially with the looks of the school. Don't judge me, Fallout aesthetics is still popular around here.
This time the credit goes to Eolika, an artist from Ust-Ilimsk, sadly not present on this site.
Also, I'm working on a bit of sidestory, but... I'm not sure which one I should finish first. Gonna do a little impromptu vote here.
Rate "Insightful" if you want Maeda's sidestory.
Rate "Hugs" if you want Dorima's sidestory.
Rate "Informational" if you want a brief overview of the past 50 years in history.
Here's to hoping we'll get hers eventually. It feels like between all the Drama (pun intended) and conspiracies we forgot about our classmates. Though at least not to the extent of Taro whose name we had outright trouble remembering.
I have to wonder, though, what did win the vote above? Was it the history one? Did that eventually transform into the list of nation-states on the first page?
I seem to recall this entire setting was born as a premise for a civ-type quest before it was shifted to this format instead.
We did sort of forget about our classmates on the whole, but to be fair, we've already got a sizable cast list and an array of vibrant personalities to work with. It probably won't get smaller as we meet the MTF teams (either as allies or enemies), other O5s, Specially Abled students, Computer Club, and the like.
To be honest, most of my classemates in real life were NPCs to me. I expect the feeling is mutual. Most people just don't have the attention or need to know everybody on that sort of level.
To be honest, most of my classemates in real life were NPCs to me. I expect the feeling is mutual. Most people just don't have the attention or need to know everybody on that sort of level.
Most people are part of too many groups to have more than a passing familiarity with most people in most of said groups. That's what happens when group sizes grow several orders of magnitude in less than a thousand generations.
Yeah. Monkeysphere, right? I think I read some research somewhere saying that most people have difficulty maintaining a real social network beyond 150 people or so - anything beyond that barely qualifies as acquaintances and don't get the same subconscious processes that "real people" do. People that far out become numbers.
It's probably a much smaller number than that in fiction. I've seen people claim series with more than 7 major characters as "character packed". Admittedly, thus far our "major characters" are just Silas, Big Sis, Maeda, Nanami, Yumika, Hana, and a few others depending on how wide you want to cast the net, but that number will only increase, at least so long as bullets aren't flying.
Funfact! Have you ever wondered where the name "Miyao City" came from? Some sort of obscure anime reference? A hidden plot point to be uncovered late into this Quest? A well-thought out name with an associated fictional backstory involving the foundation of the Imperial Republic itself?
...it was none of those things. One year ago, I thought it would be funny to name a city after the sound a cat makes when it purrs.
One year ago, I also thought that this Quest would only be, like, a few months of work before I eventually lost interest and migrated to SB or something. Or maybe I would have ran back to Fanfiction.net or something.
*nervous laughter*
...now, though, one year has passed, and oh how much has my world changed. SufficientVelocity is, quite literally, a prevailing part of my life now. For better or for worse! (But mostly for better.)
That's enough waxing nostalgia for now, though. I'm not dead yet, and so long as I plan on living, I plan on chugging along with creating the world of my Perfectly Normal High school!
Soooooo… on to the show!
Winning Option
EVENT: RikuRiku Festival (DC2)
EVENT DICE: 35, 75
Base: 55 + 5 (Festival of Lights) = 60
Success Threshold: 60 (Base) -20 (Loner) -15 (Silas lacks necessary social skill) -10 (Hana is Downer) -5 (Low COUR) -5 ST (Low Self-Esteem) +5 (Okay CHAR) +10 (Drama Club Member) +15 (Student Otako) = 35 DICE ROLL: 25 Result: Success...!
There was lots of stuff just lying around in Silas's room that he had never really thought too much about before. Besides his food, his computer, his tablet, and the various electronic equipment he supplemented his gaming and browsing experience with, he never really paid attention to much of anything in his room.
Which is why it genuinely surprised him to find out that he had, in his closet, a dark, comfortable, and sleek double-breasted trenchcoat. Sure, it was a little worn, the colors were faded, and the design seemed kind of archaic, but it was there. And it was really comfy.
Other things he apparently had in his closet were a blue scarf, two tight boots, several pairs of thick socks that felt like they were made of wool, a small-knit, teal-striped cap, a fedora with a pink kitten sewed to the side, and glasses. As in, the prescription ones. They even worked on him when his contacts were off.
Silas tried to remember when and why he ever acquired these things - but the only memories he could drudge up from the past five or so years (as far as he was willing to go) were of him and videogames and anime. And whenever he tried to think about it too hard...
Silas shook the weirdness away. He had a thing to go to, after all! He shouldn't worry himself with weird stuff.
Instead, he decided to look more into his closet and possessions, to see if he had any more surprises.
As it turned out, he had quite a few. When he was finally done sorting through the things he apparently owned, he wound up feeling kind of embarrassed - what kind of idiot doesn't know what's in his own home, after all?
Inventory Updated. The following items are apparently in Silas's inventory: Note: Silas autoequips clothing based on circumstance and environment. Having multiple valid clothing items of similar stats will have him choose at random.
SUIT
School Uniform - A typical male seifuku. This one is white with blue trimmings. It also comes with a nice blue tie. Very boring. Silas thinks Mihoku schools should take cues from school uniforms in anime. (No effect. This outfit is required to be equipped during school hours.)
Dapper Trenchcoat(?) - A robust, thick, double-breasted winter coat made of leather and lined with insulating fabric on the inside. Fashionable if you lived during the Great War or are a rich foreigner businessman. Silas is neither of these things, but the rugged design makes him feel… cool. (+2 COUR, ??? when equipped. Can only be equipped during very cold weather. Very Expensive.)
Old Overcoat(?) - A snappy, precision-tailored overcoat made of thick wool. Meant for long journeys in cold climates and harsh weather. Its outward clunkiness makes you seem creepy out in social situations, and its size makes it a bit tight around the waist, but it has a lot of utilitarian purpose. This one has faded blue stripes. (-2 CHAR, +1 COUR, ??? when equipped. Can only be equipped in very cold weather. Irreplaceable.)
Puffy Jacket - A modern, poofy, sleeved gray jacket with the logo of some Chuugo manufacturing company emblazoned on the chest. Firm, comfy, and warm, though the style is somewhat outdated. (+0.5 CHAR when equipped. Can only be equipped in cold weather.)
Bland Button-Up - A vaguely plaid cotton button-up paired with an equally vague and bland plain undershirt. Great for fitting into a crowd while at the same time giving yourself a little extra presence. Unfortunately, during the hot season, this outfit tends to get a bit stuffy. This one's light gray and blue. (+5 ST to social interactions when equipped. Bonus is negated in warm weather.)
Sleek™ Hoodie - "Sleek" is a bit of a misnomer. A black-colored hoodie produced by the Amberrish fashion company Sleek™, which went out of business a few years ago due to allegations of financial fraud and failing to follow Solidarity-mandated worker safety and environmental protection standards. Just tacky enough to be inconspicuous, unless you meet a Solidarity regulations officer or something. (+10 ST to investigation-related actions when equipped. Bonus is negated in very hot weather.)
Faded T-Shirt - An old t-shirt that was probably light blue at some point. In a rich city like Miyao, walking out wearing this will probably end up with you being approached by a social service worker offering food and government shelter. (-1 CHAR, -1 COUR when equipped.)
Torn Polo Shirt - A collared gray polo shirt probably manufactured with cotton. Comfy, but the wear and tear looks awful in the public. (-5 ST to social interactions when equipped.)
Excalibur T-Shirt - A thin, pale t-shirt with the likeness of RikuRiku herself and the words "EXCALIBAA" in garish font. Very adorable, but Silas won't be caught dead wearing that outside in the real world. Unlike the rest of his wardrobe, this is actually rather new. (-3 CHAR when equipped. Can only be equipped at home. Very Expensive.)
SHOES
Dress Shoes - Two very normal black dress shoes issued by the school system. A perfect blend of uncomfortable and bland. (No effect. These shoes are required to be equipped during school hours.)
RESU Sneakers - Hardy, durable sneakers produced cheaply by the RESU shoemaking trade union, based in southern Kanko. Renowned for its reliability and simplicity. (+0.5 PHYS when equipped.)
Old Gumboots(?) - A pair of long, black, steel-toed rubber boots that are a smidge too tight to be comfortable, but are well-worn. Unfortunately, there's no space to hide weapons in. (+0.5 COUR when equipped. Can only be worn during cold weather.)
Elite Galoshes - Why does Silas own these hideous-looking things?! (-2.5 CHAR, when equipped. Expensive.)
Casual Fuzzy Slippers - A pair of black-and-white fuzzy slippers in the shape of the mythical pandabear, manufactured in Manipinoy. For indoor use. Comfy. (Can only be equipped at home.)
Traditional Uwabaki - A pair of ornate wooden slippers specifically to wear inside one's home, so that dust and sand from outdoor shoes doesn't get inside. These have been sadly underused. (Can only be equipped at home. Makes you feel prideful in Mihoku's superior culture and unique sense of etiquette. Expensive.)
NECK
Teal Scarf - A simple teal scarf made from synthetic fibers, with little angular ornamentations stitched to the sides. Very cool. Sort of. Probably. (+0.5 COUR when equipped. Can only be equipped during cold weather.)
Pink Scarf - A simple pink scarf made from synthetic fibers, with little angular ornamentations stitched to the sides. Very cute. Sort of. Probably. Why does Silas own this, again? (+0.5 CHAR when equipped. Silas may get weird looks occasionally. Can only be equipped during cold weather.)
HEAD
Thick Tuque - An inoffensive blue-striped cap made for protection against the elements. If you want to be extra-chic, only cover approximately one-third of your hair with it. You'll look fluffy and adorable, at the cost of exposing most of your face to the blistering cold! (+0.5 CHAR when equipped. Can only be equipped during cold weather.)
Cute Fedora - An otherwise intimidating-looking sleek black fedora completely ruined by an out-of-place pink cat stitched in on the right side. (-1 COUR when equipped.)
Nazawa Industries™ KiKonnect - Some modern, slick headphones that use short-range wireless networking to connect to external devices and play music. Popular with gamers and otaku trying to look cool in public. (+1 CRE when equipped.)
EYES
Spectacles - A very common sight in Mihoku. Wearing them allows Silas to pretend he's smarter than he actually is. (+1 INT when equipped. Expensive.)
ACCESSORY
Early Model MiiWatch - A dated timepiece that is used to… tell the time. This one's a relic from the earlier years of MII Electronics before WiFi and short-range wireless connections became popular. Not very flashy, but functional and simple. (+1 INT when equipped. Expensive.)
After a bit of struggling, Silas successfully slipped his trench coat over top of his regular clothes, and pulled on some thick trousers, and put on the boots, and wrapped his scarf around his neck, and fit the cap snugly onto his hair. He pointedly ignored the glasses and the fedora - the first he didn't need, and the second was tacky and kind of embarrassing - and the rest, he left untouched in his closet.
Silas looked at himself in the mirror. He took his hand and shook his hair a bit, trying to make his wavy mess of a hairdo look a little less jumbled. He shifted position; to the left, to the right, sideways...
He almost looked like an adult. Imposing, classy, confident. Almost.
Abruptly, Silas thumped his fist to his chest. "Long live the Revolution!" he barked. "Like the Revolution, I am red-blooded. Where the Revolution walks, I too shall walk. Where the Revolution falls, I too shall fall. Enemies will fall before me like… like wheat before a scythe!" he shouted, waving an invisible flag to his mirror. "Viva Revolution! Viva Merika!"
His face was flushed, and he was a bit out of breath from the shouting, but he hadn't stuttered. He thought he saw a fire in his own eyes, too, enough to make him seem like a real Merikan Revolutionary or something; or maybe that was just his imagination. He hoped that would have been enough to impress Yumika. And if he could pull something like that off in front of another person… like, say, the aforementioned Yumika.
Silas turned away from the mirror. "...I w-wonder if it's nearly time, yet…" he muttered under his breath. Freshly-fallen snow had already started to pile up outside his window. The alarm on his tablet hadn't started to scream bloody murder yet, so he still had a bit of time -
"CAAAAKE OF ROOOOOOOSE,
FLICKERING RED PETAAAAAAALS,
IN THE WIIIIIIND,
CAKE OF ROOOOO - "
Abruptly, Silas crashed over to his tablet and slammed the silent button, shutting off the music. His ears were rattling; he swore some of the furniture was actually shaking, too.
"I have the strangest feeling," Big Sister drawled, "that it may be time to go." Her face nonchalantly materialized onto the side of Silas's mirror. "Silas. That song was so loud it affected the readings on your heart monitor. For a few precious nanoseconds I was convinced you were experiencing cardiac arrest. Are you alright?"
"Sorry…" Silas chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I'm fine… H-How are the neighbors reacting to this…?"
"Your neighbors are too busy mostly not existing to hear anything, Silas," Big Sister replied succinctly. She paused. Somehow, Silas felt her virtual eyes going over his outfit. "...you look positively dashing. Did you visit the Hypermall while I wasn't looking?"
"What? No…" Silas looked down. "This has always been here. Apparently."
"Really?" Big Sister scratched her chin, virtually. "...interesting. So… are you feeling well for your outing at the Hypermall?"
Silas nodded his head enthusiastically. "Yep!"
"Feeling at all doubtful?"
"...yep." Silas admitted.
"Considering staying?"
"A-Absolutely not!"
Big Sister smiled. "I didn't think so. Well… I have to go. Good luck, Silas. I hope you have fun."
"Thanks, Big Sis." Silas sunk his head below his shoulders and smiled a bit goofily. "I hope I do, too!"
~~~
Silas was feeling nice and warm in his new (sort of?) trenchcoat as he made his way to his terminal. Soft, fresh snow had already begun to pile up all around, and a few street sweepers were already busy diligently clearing the main walkways. As Silas walked past one of them, he smiled and waved appreciably. The sweeper stopped, seeming confused, before slowly rotating its body around and extending a goofy-looking thumbs-up.
"Just doing my part, citizen," the sweeper said.
"Of course. Don't overextend yourself!"
"Just doing my part, citizen," the sweeper repeated itself. It paused for a moment. "But thank you."
Soon enough, Silas was climbing the platform to Chiida Ward Station B - his bullet train stop. Thankfully, the platform was gloriously empty - either because not a lot of people in his district were in to revelry, or everyone that had wanted to go was already gone. Either way, Silas could sit in relative peace and silence and watch flying individuals in multicolored spandex shoot balls of light at each other on a nearby television screen until his train arrived.
Hana's phone vibrated suddenly.
Yumika: WOO okay its cold out there Yumika: The two of you r on thew ay, right? Mom: Yes, I am on the way. I agree it is cold outside. Hana: You two must be kidding. It was actually worse earlier. Mom: Cold is cold. It's horrible all the same. Yumika: i thought you hated HOT weather more? Mom: I hate weather in general. We should suck all the atmosphere in the world away so we will have no more weather. Hana: I see several things wrong with that idea... Yumika: looool （⌒▽⌒） Mom: How many of those faces do you have? Yumika: i stopped counying at fifty Hana: Oh god Mom: You have a problem. Yumika: ik ik (n˘v˘•)¬ Mom: Hang on, about to enter my terminal. WiFi is weird up there, for some reason. I might disappear for a bit. Yumika: kay kay! remember, guys, to meet @ the big blue tree in the center of the Hypermall, the one surrounded by all the paper lanterns Hana: Ill be sure not to miss it! Mom: Ryoukai. Yumika: oh - and sai-kun, if u arrive before hana-chan, Yumika: i'll need to talk to you real quick. It's about the Mystery. Hana: ofc
Silas put down Shinohara's phone, letting out a sigh. A fun, RikuRiku festival that doubled as the foundation of a Conspiracy - just what exactly had he gotten himself in to? At the very least, he hoped Yumika had caught on to the intent behind his subterfuge, otherwise the next hour was going to be really, really awkward…
Hana's phone beeped again. This time, it was a private communique between him and Hana - out of impulse, Silas swiped the notification and opened the message app.
Mom: umm… Sai-kun. Mom: Which terminal do you use, by the way? Hana: The one in Chiida, next to the big GOZO office. Mom: Interesting. Okay. Mom: I will see you in a bit, then.
Hana had sent another message, but he didn't have time to read it; because, at that very moment, a finger had poked him in the cheek, and his whole head jerked slightly to the right.
"WAUGH - "
Silas panicked, dropping the phone. He heard the soft crunch of snow underneath him as it landed. In a flurry, he put his fists up in a desperate attempt at self defense and covered his eyes with his elbows.
"I was going to ask first but… yep. You're definitely Sai-kun."
"...e-eh…?"
"Sai-kun. Do you live in perpetual fear of being mugged or something? Because that was… really kind of…"
Silas opened his eyes. Hana was standing over him, index finger only slightly extended, and giggling like an idiot. "I mean… I want to say adorable, but that sounds too creepy… so how about… delicious… ahaha…"
She swallowed audibly. Silas could hear her gulp.
"Oh, hey!" Silas smiled. He felt something cold leaving his chest; a familiar feeling calmness washed over him. "Hana-chan! I didn't know you went to this stop, too."
"Ahaha…" Hana giggled some more. When her eyes caught Silas's however, her laughter died down, and immediately she covered her mouth with her gloved hands. "Ah… s-sorry, Sai-kun. I used you for a snack…."
"No, no… it's fine. Really!" Silas waved his hands in front of his face. "...I mean… anyway I can help, right?"
"I already told you, I shouldn't need to eat for a while." Hana sighed. "...and it's mean to snack on a friend if I don't need to."
"I mean, I'm perfectly okay with you eating me whenever you need to!" Silas exclaimed, all bluster and pride.
Hana's facial expression contorted into something in between horror and disgust, and Silas felt every drop of blood and courage drain from his face.
And then a train pulled into their terminal.
~~~
"We are never mentioning that part of our conversation to anyone, ever."
"I-I agree…" Silas clutched his face in shame. "I'm so sorry…"
"Why are you sorry?!" Hana hissed. "I… was the one that… did that…"
"How do you… oh…" Silas looked at Hana and couldn't help but feel a little unnerved. The thing she could do to fear - she could do that to other feelings, too?
"Yeah…" Hana let out a sigh. "...I have a… really weird effect on emotions. You got lucky; usually, when I feed off insecurity, what comes out isn't so… yeah…"
"I-I guess my LUCK stat's really high!" Silas laughed. His laughs quickly died away. "...sorry. Bad joke."
"It wan't a bad joke, though. Will you stop apologizing?" Hana said, looking a bit cross. But she was grinning. "I never thought…" Hana shook her head. "I mean… I didn't think that your home would be so close to mine."
"M-Me neither," Silas affirmed. "If you live there - " he pointed at the overhead map " - that means you're - w-what - a ten minute's walk from me?"
"Yeah, exactly."
Silas's body lurched slightly as their railcar swerved to the right. The dizzying, speeding cityscape around them quickly grew taller and more colorful the further along the track they went.
"How have I not run into you here before?" Hana mused, visibly sinking in her seat. "I mean, this train's not that big… and you're, well…" She briefly glanced in his direction, her gaze hovering over his forehead for a millisecond, before quickly looking away again. "You're very hard to miss. You know what I mean?"
"I-I usually take the earlier train…"
"Ahh…" Hana touched her lower lip with a gloved finger. "Still, though, I've always used this terminal. I should have bumped into you at least once in the past… five years? Six?"
"I… never used this bullet train last year. Or the year before."
Hana cocked an eyebrow. "Were you just this year moved to the area or something?"
"Err - no..."
"Homeschool?"
"..." Silas pretended not to hear her. At the same time, the bullet train begun to decelerate. Their next stop was just outside an office park; a huge mass of salary workers just getting off from their desk jobs were huddled next to each other on the terminal.
"...that's a lot of people," he said idly.
"This train is now approaching Shikita Center Station. Please follow the cabin attendant's instructions if you wish to exit the train. At the current hour, this station is a high-capacity stop, so current passengers are expected to make as much space as possible for oncomers. Most sincere apologies for this inconvenience."
Hana seemed stare at him for a few moments before she responded. "...yeah. Unless you're stupidly lucky, the train from this stop to the Hypermall is always stuffed to the brim. One of the reasons I don't like going out for RikuRiku… Or, you know. At all."
"Makes t-two of us, then…" Silas admitted. The doors hissed open; the masses begun to pile into the train, an unyielding wave of black ties and tight suits next to impossibly bright costumes and twinkling glowsticks.
"What made you want to do this, anyway, Sai-kun?" Hana asked, huffing. She scooted slightly closer to him; the hood of her parka brushed up against his shoulder. "I mean… I take it, you like RikuRiku, right? But this is… ugh. Too much…"
"Yeah, t-that's… I mean… that's my point. I'm trying to… t-to not be… that." Silas stuttered through his explanation. Seeing her confused expression, he tried to continue: "Ah… y-you know… it's important to… broaden your… horizons… o-or something… yeah. Because, I mean, I never really… left… home… ah - that sounds wrong - well, it's right, but…"
"Sai-kun, you're only confusing me more."
"Ah! Sorry, Hana-chan…"
"Please don't apologize."
" - !"
"I said don't apologize."
The words froze on his tongue. The two of them jerked slightly, as their train begun motion once more.
As they begun to accelerate, Hana looked at him edgewise. "...you were going to apologize for apologizing, weren't you?"
"...and then I would h-have apologized for apologizing to that…"
"It's turtles all the way down with you, isn't it." Hana said it as a statement of fact, rather than as a question. She grinned slightly. "You're awfully unique, Sai-kun."
"I can't tell if that's supposed to be a compliment…"
"It is." She grinned wider, and looked away.
"Are you s-sure…?"
"Honest." Hana bit her lip. The crowd of suited passengers swayed and recoiled.
Silas suddenly realized just how many people were around him. So many eyes… Being on trains like these usually caused him such anxiety. There was a reason why he always took the earlier train in the mornings, after all. It means there were fewer eyes... But, today, it felt like no one was staring him down. He was just another passenger. Along for the ride, like the rest of them.
Silas smiled, and edged himself closer to Hana.
She shifted weight suddenly. "Oh. Look."
Concrete, and steel, glass and neon suddenly gave way. Below him, through the train's window pane, was an open, expanse of green peeking through the white blot of snow. Wide paths of packed dirt snaked through shapely hillsides; hillsides which barely obscured little traditional-looking homes with ornate, sloped roofs and grandiose religious shrines. Around them, paper streamers and paper lanterns had hastily been strung along lampposts, flagpoles, the sides of walls, even tree branches, little balls of teal and pink and red and green, and above them, the gently glowing aodoki trees and the barren sakura trees stood side-by-side, casting a faint shadow over the grounds. The enclave seemed quiet, save for a few jolly-looking passersby and a group of children trying to make a small functioning military out of cloth bits, branches, and snow.
Silas felt momentum tug at him as the train slowed smoothly to a halt.
"This train is now approaching Hypermall Terminal A, just adjacent to the Mihoku National Cultural Park. Please follow your cabin attendant's instructions if you wish to exit the train. At the current hour, this station is a high-capacity stop, so current passengers are expected to make as much space as possible for oncomers. Most sincere apologies for this inconvenience."
Hana poked him lightly in the arm. "Sai-kun? What's wrong? You look like you've never seen a park before."
Silas shook his head awkwardly. "I… I've never seen this one," he admitted.
"What? But… you've been to the Hypermall before, right? We go to the same terminal…"
"I guess I was l-looking down the whole time?" Silas replied absently. He waved at a snowman soldier, who was piled up near one of the fences that protect wanderers from coming near the tracks.
"Hmm…" Hana turned to face the park with him. "...it's really pretty out there, you know. And quiet. If you find just the right spot to lie in, you never have to meet another soul in there. I come here… ah… all the time."
"I'd like to come here some time, then." Silas grinned. What she described sounded really nice. And the blue trees looked really pretty...
Silas has discovered a new place to visit! National Culture Park - A sizable nature spot in the middle of Miyao's urban jungle, established to bring the beauty of nature and to preserve a little bit of Miyao's cultural heritage. It's curving walkways and lush atmosphere are a great place to relieve stress and get away from worry.
"You're really only finding out about this park now? It's - eep - " Hana lurched onto Silas's shoulder as the train's momentum ceased. "Ah - ! Sorry."
"No… n-no problem." For a moment, Silas felt oddly flustered. He gently pushed her back upright with his arm. "You were saying?"
"Right, so…" she straightened herself. "The Park was a huge thing when it was being built a few years ago. There were advertisements and requests for donations for months. How did you miss that?"
A shadow passed over the train; a large building had slid completely over their window, blocking the park from sight.
"I guess I don't… p-pay attention to these kinds of things…"
Hana opened her mouth to respond, but a sudden rush of motion caused her to keep silent. The sea of bodies had started to depart.
"If you're getting off, leave through the door on the RIGHT side of the train, okay?!" an attendant with a thick Northerner accent shouted. "Look for the flashing doorlight! Clear the walk - I SAID CLEAR THE WALKWAYS, DAMN YOU - Ma'am? MA'AM?! YOU! OVER THERE! Fucks sake, why the FUCK are you doing that, people are TRYING to get off the GODDAMN motherFUCKING - "
Hana cringed, and Silas felt himself sinking down into his seat. The woman's shouting was drowned out by a sudden clamor all over the train.
"...E-Everyone wants to get out at once…"
"Yeah," Hana looked sick. "...this is going to be uncomfortable. I hate being in crowds..." Slowly, she creaked her head in his direction, and looked him in the eyes. "...you want to go on ahead?"
Silas took a pained breath. "...n-no…"
"...we could always wait for the next stop, I suppose…"
"N-No! I mean… I don't want to be the reason… ah… let's go. I-I can go on ahead, actually!" Silas replied suddenly. "Come on, then, I-I can…"
"OI!"
Silas jumped in his seat immediately; Hana gave out a tiny yelp and threw her elbows in front of her face. Silas blinked confusedly; an attendant was standing before them.
"You two getting off the train too?" she asked. "If you are, then GET FUCKING GOING, will you? Doors're closing in thirty seconds, yeah?"
Silas looked around. The train was already almost completely empty. "T-That was fast…" he mused.
"Yeah…"
The attendant snapped her fingers twice. "'Ey! 'Ey! Eyes over HERE!" she shouted, startling them both again. "Door's that way. Don't dawdle, dammit! We have a schedule to keep - or do you expect me to hold up the entire goddamn festival because two chucklefucks couldn't get their fucking asses off of my train?!!" She pointed animatedly towards their right, and gave them both a mean-looking expression.
"R-Right! Sorry!" Silas did a little half bow and started moving away.
"Goodbye, Miss Attendant," Hana said quickly, following next to him.
Silas heard the woman huff loudly as he stepped onto the platform. Almost immediately, the ground beneath him started to vibrate. With a sudden hiss, the bullet train's doors slammed shut; air brushed along his back as the train pulled out of the docking area.
"This train is now departing. I would like all passengers to please stay behind the yellow line…"
~~~
"Haaaaaaaaah…" Silas breathed a long sigh of relief. They were on an escalator now; a slow-moving escalator, and one that was far, far away from the main concourse. So they were practically on their own, and, for once, they could calm down.
"Too many brights lights… and bright people… and noises… uuuggghhhh today is going to be a bad day, I already know it…"
"Sorry… i-It's my fault you've been dragged in to this, isn't it…?" Silas frowned to himself.
"Oh my god, please do not start apologizing again…" Hana grinned slightly. "...so long as we don't have to meet anymore people like that attendant, I'll be fine…"
"S-She really was mean, wasn't she?" Silas affirmed.
"Yeah. She reminds me of Dorima-san…" Hana replied. She wrinkled her nose. "Ugh… speaking of bad experiences…"
"You don't like D-Dorima-san?" Silas asked.
"She's a bitch," Hana said flatly. Silas flinched slightly. That was awfully blunt of her. Hana continued: "She's too loud, too full of herself… way too proud of her artistic abilities. And she really likes projecting herself in the most obnoxious way possible. I have no idea how she and Allen-kun get along…"
For some reason, she seemed to be trying to duck her head underneath her shoulders. She was scowling.
"W-Well, I'm sure - "
"Watch your step," Hana said suddenly, reaching out to grab Silas by the arm.
"Right, right…" Silas quickly stepped over the dashed yellow line demarcating the end of the escalator. "...how d-did you know that I was about to trip on that?"
"Because you're Sai-kun, Sai-kun." Hana giggled. "You were saying?"
"Well… I was going to say, I'm sure she's a nice person deep down," Silas insisted. "Like… y-you don't honestly believe people are… i-inherently… bad… do you?"
Hana thought for a moment. "...no, I don't think that. But you can't just forgive people on the basis that they might be a better person under different circumstances, can you?"
Silas hesitated. He acquiesced, "I guess…"
In truth, he wasn't quite satisfied with that answer. Something felt… wrong about that judgement, somehow.
Hana is angry at Dorima. There may be history there.
"A-Anyway…" Silas was eager to change the subject. "Do you happen to know where Yumika's meeting spot is? I've never… been here before."
"Me neither," Hana said softly. The crowd around them had begun to snowball into an avalanche once more. Their brief respite was over. "I'm sure if we just keep down this hallway, we'll get there eventually. All roads lead to whatever, and all that."
"If s-ship captains had your mindset, they'd never find shore…"
"Oh, shut up." Hana rolled her eyes. "Besides, this building can't be that bi - oh my god this was a mistake."
A rush of air blew in his face. They were suddenly standing at a balcony several stories up, looking down at an enormous, brightly-colored indoor plaza, where it seemed like hundreds were milling about the stalls, sitting at little makeshift restaurants and staring intently at performances and television screens. The ceiling was so... far away. And they weren't even on the top floor, either... The sight was mesmerizing as it was nauseating.
And at the very center of that giant maze of stalls and people, someone had planted a single tree, and had hung paper lanterns in circular patterns all around it.
"Pizza…"
"Hmm?" Silas looked over to his friend.
"Pizza… a-and chocolate-covered coconut… cucumbers paired with mint and seasoned with breadcrumbs… hotdogs swimming in icecream…" Hana choked. She looked white. "It's too much… it's really too much…"
"A-Are you alright?!"
Hana held out her palm to keep him away. The other, she used to cover up her mouth. "I'm… I'm fine… just a little… food poisoning..." Hana wheezed. "But I need to - " she suddenly moved to press her lips to her face with both of her palms. Then she clutched her stomach. "R-Restroom..."
"E-Eh…?"
She looked at him, a thousand different emotions passing through her face. "Restroom! I need to go… run… sorry, I'll meet you at the - I'm sorry, I'll be right back - "
And Hana disappeared down one of the escalators to his left.
"...she seems excitable."
"WAGH - " Silas jumped back. Big Sister was there, right in front of him, staring at him through a - no, several - television screens; at least thirteen different RikuRiku faces had turned in his direction, addressing him directly, like that were completely normal. "B-Big Sis?!"
"Not aloud, dear Silas. You're in public." Big Sister seemed to be laughing directly into his earlobe. He could tell if her voice was coming from his phone or just from a nearby monitor. Her avatar, in unison with her voice, clutched her chest, while her entire body shook in invisible giggles. "You shouldn't be so worried. It's the RikuRiku festival. My likeness is acceptable here. Oh, if only I could stay..."
"Ahh... T-That's cool! I mean, Nnnnn." Silas swallowed. He lowered his voice and covered his chin. "B-Big Sis, you wouldn't happen to have a… magical crowd-clearing maneuver you can p-pull for me, would you?"
"I have one, but I estimate a casualty rate of approximately five-point-four percent - "
"Okay, okay, um…" Silas cut her off. He felt weird and exposed, standing in the middle of that balcony. People were staring at him. He knew they were. "Can you at least make people move out of my way…?"
"Luckily, that will be mostly unnecessary. Yumika is coming your way… right now, actually. She's awfully perspective. I didn't even have to prod her in your direction before she spotted you two - oh, but I have to go now. Things to hack, personal privacies to invade, that sort of thing."
"See you, Big Sis," Silas whispered, just as Yumika skidded up one of the escalators. "Please try not to get anyone in trouble."
"What, me? Never." Big Sister's voice faded away, and Yumika came over to greet him, smiling and waving.
As she came closer, Silas realized she was more than a little bit out of breath. She wiped a bead of sweat from her cheek. "Sheesh… I'm so sorry, Sai-kun! I had no idea the lower floor would get so crowded! It's good I saw you when I did - haaah - I wouldn't want you to have to wander in that maze by yourselves! It's brutal down there!"
"Hey, Yumika-san," Silas smiled. "T-Thanks for coming for us..."
"Whew! That was a nice run," she giggled. "Anyway, how are you, Sai - omigod, that trenchcoat looks awesome! Where did you get that?! Dude, that looks reaaally expensive! Snippy, too!"
Compared to him, she was dressed lightly for the weather; green jacket with a pink undershirt; a skirt with thick leggings for warmth. Briefly, Silas wondered how she could stand this kind of weather wearing such a thin layer of clothing - even he wouldn't be brave enough to wander outside the snow wearing that.
"Really? It doesn't seem... that impressive..."
"Nah, Nah, Sai-kun. You look so snippy , you wouldn't seem out of place coming to collect protection money!" Yumika insisted.
"A-Ah, really?!" Silas felt his body go wobbly. "A-Ahh… umm… t-that's because I am, girlie." He held up a finger gun in her direction. "Y-You've done and crossed with the long family, miss. How about you and me have a little chat about your debts. Outside." He bared his teeth.
Yumika pinched the tip of her nose. She was giggling. "...that… haha… that got a sooolid three."
"O-Out of five?!" Silas said excitedly.
"Ten." She grinned goofily. "To be honest, you sounded kiiinda racist."
"Wha - But that's just a dialect of Mihokugo! It's the s-same country as us!"
"Only a racist would say that!"
Silas felt his mouth arc into a mock scowl. "You s-sound like Allen…" His eyes immediately widened. "W-wait - ! Don't tell Allen that I u-used his name in a negative context!"
"Ahah! I have blackmail on Sai-kun the master spy!" Yumika laughed triumphantly. "Who's the master spy now, Master Spy Sai-kun?"
Silas giggled along with her.
Yumika thrust her arms upward; she was clearly in good spirits. It was remarkable, then, how quickly her demeanor changed, as if she were switching from one set piece to another. "So…" Yumika's eyes darted around. "Where's Hana-chan? I saw her with you just before I broke off running."
"Oh, she's - " Silas blinked. "She's in a restroom… somewhere."
Yumika nodded her head in understanding. "Ahh…" She paused. She looked like she was trying to read Silas's face. "You… uh… has she… told you...?"
Yumika made a chomping motion wither her mouth. Then she emoted herself cowering in fear for a split second.
Silas immediately nodded enthusiastically. This drew a surprised eyebrow from her. She mouthed the words, 'Really?' with her lips; to that, Silas nodded again.
"...huh! That's… interesting. Usually, Hana-chan doesn't…" She looked him over, and grinned. "I guess like attracts like, right?"
Silas's cheeks felt a bit warm. "T-Thanks! That's… a nice compliment."
"So, um…" Yumika moved a little closer. "...I brought the Mystery you were talking about!" she pulled out a small paperback novella - Murder at South Stackers - and handed it to him. Silas looked at it confusingly before taking it. "...just had to make sure I gave a copy to you in a public space. So that your text wouldn't seem too out of place, in case errant eyes started looking looking our way." Yumika winked.
Inventory update. Silas gained item: Murder at South Stackers!
"You don't think they have us… b-bugged…?" Silas tried to suppress the image of some sort of earjack worm-bug, scrawling with its millions of tiny feet up his brain…
"Nah…" Yumika waved her hand dismissively. "I'm sure of that. Just… listen. I'm not the best at reading subtext, but… you wanted to talk about the Student Council, didn't you?"
Silas gulped. "Y-Yeah…"
She grinned. "You know I was joking when I called you Master Spy, right?" She tucked her grin behind the sleeve of her jacket, and edged a smidge closer. "...to be honest, I was planning on getting to talk to Hana-chan anyway. I uh…"
She glanced around. The balcony was busy, but it seemed no one was paying any particular attention to them.
"...I used to be friends with Ichiro-kun, see. And I… may have visited him a few days ago, and… taken a peek at his computer."
Silas nodded slowly.
"...he keeps a lot of files, Sai-kun. Did you know that? I didn't. It peeves me, a little. Anyway… Ichiro-kun, and his friends at the Student Council… they have records. On us."
Silas's eyes widened. He could feel Big Sister in the back of his skull, buzzing with sudden interest.
"It's nothing serious - it seems like they have records on all the students, for some reason," Yumika said seriously. "But… Hana-chan's… 'profile,' I guess you could call it, it worries me. There are a number of things… oh, Hana-chan is back. Hana-chan!"
Yumika did a complete one-eighty, spinning around with near-military precision. "We were waiting for - omigod, you look adorable! That's a new parka, isn't it? Where did you get that scarf? Ahhh~! You look so mature!"
"Stop this, right now, or I'll turn around and run to the restroom and vomit some more," Hana replied flatly, barely registering Yumika's crushing glomp.
Yumika glanced back at Silas. She mouthed the words, 'We'll continue this later,' before turning back to gush over Hana some more. Silas found himself grinning. It was amazing how quickly Yumika could jump between emotional states. He was envious.
"So, um…" Silas raised his voice ever so slightly, so he wouldn't sound too intrusive. "...do we h-have a plan for today?"
Hana crocked her head over Yumika's shoulder. "You… don't?" she asked exasperatedly.
"O-Oh, um…" Silas suddenly realized that he was the one that was supposed to be leading his friends around. He was the one who'd brought them here, wasn't he?! "E-Err…" he looked up. A bright, glowing sigh was advertising some sort of food stall walkabout outside a nearby concourse. "O-Of course I have a plan! Everyone's hungry, right? Let's go g-get food!"
"Oh god…" Hana's forehead turned purple.
"Sounds like a great idea! I'm starving!" exclaimed Yumika.
"I hate both of you."
"But you're going to come along anyway, aren't you?" Yumika chided, giggling. Hana closed her eyes and sighed.
"You know me too well, Yumika-san…"
"T-Then, let's go, then!" Silas said. He put a foot forward, hesitated, and looked back at the two. Yumika pulled rank beside him, and Hana lingered just slightly behind. Right, Silas reminded himself. I'm leading. Legs, forward. Left foot, right foot, like you're marching to battle in Akataiyou, flanked by your loyal officers…
Silas seized himself up, took in a great gasp of air, and forced his legs to march in the direction of the food avenue ahead of them. Sure, he had gone into this completely unprepared, and now the enjoyment of two people was basically his responsibility, and he had no idea how to lead this sort of thing, but dammit, he was going to make this work. He had to. He owed his friends that much, right?
Right.
~~~
"Sweetened rice pudding! Dango, too! Crispy chocolate caramel… come satisfy your sweet tooth!"
"Warm, succulent chicken! Teriyaki sauce, steamed, rotisserie style, come buy it skewered - it's hot! Ah, yes, of course, I'll have that for you as soon - "
"Please, buy our lumpia! Chicharron! Turon - fried to a nice golden brown! Freshly-baked bread, too, stuffed with pork and eggs! You can't get this anywhere else! Wha - no, really!"
"GYOOOOZA! We have GYOOOOZA! Rediscover the LOST culinary arts of the West!"
"Fresh hamburger steaks, crisped potatoes, chopped salads, and more! Our food's the product of good, honest hard work! Support the Unions!"
"Noodles! We serve them warm! Boiled to perfection - oh, yes, thank you, thank you for your patronage - uh… where was… right! We have noodles! All the noodles!"
The noise was so loud it was nearly blinding. Everything - everyone was in a state of blur. The flapping of multicolored stall covers matched the swaying of the paper lanterns. The smell of steamed meat and boiled noodles was so prevalent Silas almost felt like he could take a bite out of the air and feel the taste of teriyaki sliding down his throat. There were so many ovens and stoves in operation that the air felt almost room temperature - despite the fact that they were out in the middle of what had just turned into a steady, unyielding flurry of snow.
"H-Hana-chan, are you alright?" Silas asked worriedly. Amid the shouting of food vendors, she seemed to be shrinking lower and lower behind Yumika's sleeve.
"I-i can handle," she managed to mumble.
"Woah! I didn't think the place would still be this crowded." Yumika's eyes scanned the crowd, biting her lip. "...we need to find a place to sit…"
"T-There's a restaurant in that direction - " Silas pointed out.
"Great! We'll go there."
"You don't want to… I dunno… make a-another plan - ?"
D-Devil in disguise…! "R-Right!" Silas said quickly. He was leading. Leaders had to lead. He had to.
He fumbled awkwardly through the crowd, his two companions close behind. The deeper they went into the walkabout, the louder and closer the noises became - now, he heard the distant cling of metal, punctuated by rhythmic beating of a drum. Somewhere, someone was taking out their frustrations on a koto. An audio device was streaming RikuRiku's Cake of Rose, while another one competed for the audience's rapt attention by blasting a RikuRiku cover of some Eastern rap song.
Finally, after eons of struggling, Silas and co made it to a wide neon sign that read "NAKAJIMA CHARITY RESTAURANT" in bold, blue letters. Below, Silas could barely read the words, "Sponsored by the Nakajima Civil - " but the rest was obscured by a really badly-placed paper lantern in the shape of a fish.
Yumika pulled slightly ahead of him. "Excuse me? Are you open? We're… kinda travel-weary, here…"
A girl in what looked like a winter high school uniform edged timidly from behind a counter. "Ah… sorry. We're not - I mean, we don't exactly…"
"No?" Yumika asked.
The girl shook her head. "Sorry… w-we don't have enough - augh - !"
Almost immediately, another student, one with her hair tied up in a net, burst from behind a drapery and pulled her aside, whispering something fiercely into her ear.
For some reason, her eyes seemed to flash over Silas's forehead more than once.
"I mean, of course, w-we're seating people right now!" the girl said suddenly, as the other one dashed back inside. "Please, um…" she seemed to glance at her desk for a bit, and made a little squibbly line on a sheet of paper. "W-Wait out here with me, for a little bit. Hiro-kun needs time to… you know! To get the stuff. Together. Yeah." She looked away.
Yumika suddenly became shifty eyed. She edged towards Silas, grinning devilishly. "Someone's popular…" she whispered, covering up her mouth.
"W-What exactly are you implying?!"
"Sai-kun," Hana grinned, even as she clutched her stomach and her face winced in pain. "Don't tell me you didn't see the look on that other girl's face?"
"Hey, l-look, it's… anything else! Let's pay attention to it?!" Silas cried, pointing in the general direction of where he heard a lot of noise. A RikuRiku performer brandishing a long wakizashi was facing off against a dark-skinned man in some sort of olive-green military fatigues, who appeared to be using his bayonetted rifle as a melee weapon. They were flanked by what looked like two very colorful armies - one decked in imposing olive suits and bearing red flags, and the other one dressed in traditional kimono and waving teal streamers.
It was all incredibly interesting, Silas decided, and far more interesting than anything else at all.
After a far-too-long moment of contemplation, they heard the sound of the draperies separating them from the inside of the makeshift restaurant flutter. "U-Um, I think Hiro-kun is ready for you all…" the receptionist girl spoke up.
"L-Let's go inside!" Silas felt his cheeks reddening. Huffing, and trying not to notice Yumika giggle teasingly behind him, Silas blustered his way through the drapery, and into the little enclave of a restaurant. As the drapes fell behind him, the noise from the street almost seemed to vanish, crashing waves softening into running water.
"We're serving people already?!" were the first words he heard. A tall boy was arguing with the girl from earlier. "But, Ami-chan, we can't - we don't even have food, much less - oh!" he noticed the three suddenly. Once again, the girl darted out of sight. The boy cleared his throat. "Err… hi! Welcome to the Nakajima High School charity cafe! All of our proceeds go to… uh… charity. The one that sends food to the Spicelands, I think, to help with that famine."
He blinked.
"I'm sorry!" he blurted. "I haven't had time to memorize my script yet, we don't have any food or tables and sensei isn't here yet and it's way too early for this why did I sign up for this job - "
"Woah, woah, woah!" Yumika held up her hands disarmingly. "Calm down, man! Everything's fine. We're just… glad to have some place to hide under, I guess."
"Y-Yeah, I'm just happy to be away from that crowd outside," Silas admitted.
"Really?" the boy seemed to calm down. He regained some of his bluster. "Great! Um… Ami-chan said we'd have a booth ready for you, somewhere, but uh…"
A nearby sliding room slid open. The girl - the one named Ami - popped her head out. How did she get in there so quickly? Silas wondered.
The girl wiped a bead of sweat from her bow and exclaimed, to no one in particular, "Tatami Room Number 2 is clean!"
"...there's your room." The boy pinched the bridge of his nose, using his other hand to wave in the direction of Ami. "...take your shoes off before you hop in, please. We want to keep the interior nice and clean. There will be some uwabaki for you to wear inside."
"Thank you!" Silas said.
"No problem! You should thank Ami-chan," he put a little bit of emphasis on the last word. The girl in question silently hopped out of the tatami room, muttering something about grabbing a teacher before sprinting down the hallway and disappearing. Again.
The boy sighed. "I'm Hiro-kun, by the way. Yes, I am very heroic, ha ha, I've heard the joke before, don't try it. I'll be happy to serve you." He grinned earnestly. "Go seat yourselves. I need to go yell at a foreigner classmate, if you'll excuse me."
He bowed politely, if a bit passive-aggressively. Silas muttered a thank you, before slipping off his gumboots and stepping into the raised platform
"...this place is pretty quaint!" Yumika remarked, stepping in behind him. She kept a hand on a wooden support beam above her, so she wouldn't slam her head against it. "And for a school project, too. This is committed. We should do something like this some time…"
Hana seemed to be transfixed with a little teal origami crane hanging from the ceiling. "...cute…" she mumbled. Absently, she poked it with her index finger.
"...Hana-chan?" Silas asked, slightly worried. "You… seem… paler than usual…"
Hana looked through her fingers as she poked at the crane. "When I'm around too many people, my stomach just… knots up. It's not good for me. Something about being surrounded by so many vibrant dish - ah - people messes with me a lot. It's like… being submerged in water while you're throwing up from food poisoning."
"Oh…" Silas gagged internally trying to imagine it. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea - "
"Ah-ah." She held up a finger. Silas silenced himself. "It's just... something I deal with. Me and crowds don't mesh well. It's not your fault, though, Sai-kun. Honest."
Hesitantly, Silas nodded. Though in the back of his mind, the fault was still his.
Silas has discovered one of Hana's traits! Downer - Hana doesn't mesh well in social interactions involving lots of people. She doesn't mean to, but her very presence tends to bring the mood of those around her down. (Inviting Hana out to a crowded location incurs a -10 ST penalty to the success of the event.)
"Hana-chan, between the two of us, I bet we've had to ask Sai-kun to stop apologizing so many times it's starting to feel like bullying," Yumika giggled. "We're not bullying you, Sai-kun?" A tiny flicker of seriousness flashed in her eyes.
"N-No! Of course not!" Silas laughed. He waved her off.
The door to their tatami room slid open, and Hiro leaned inside, holding out a menu to the three of them. "Right, so, in honor of the RikuRiku festival, all of our menu items are internationally-themed. Kind of like the street food outside, only - "
The entire room buckled suddenly. Cheers erupted from out on the street. They could hear the sound of clashing steel.
" - Less chaotic," Hiro finished, sighing. "Please, take as long as you need to read through it all. Really. We don't have chefs yet, so we can't make any of this for a while, anyway."
Yumika giggled. "Yooouuuu got it!"
Hiro-kun bowed his head, again. "Anyway, if there's anything else…" he glanced at Yumika. "...are you… that Drama Club girl? From Yamaha?" he asked suddenly.
Yumika blinked, and nodded, slowly.
Hiro's mouth slowly curled into a grin. "Interesting. Right, well, I'll be seeing you in a bit."
He slid the door, leaving it slightly ajar. Silas watched him go. "I wonder what that was about…"
Almost as suddenly as Hiro had left, the door slid open again - this time, it was the timid girl from outside. "MATSUOKA-SENPAI!" she squealed. She was breathing heavily. "Omigod, omigod, omigod, I am so sorry I didn't notice it was you! Senpai, you're, like, a celebrity at our school!"
"Eh?! Oh, I'm flatt - "
"And you!" the girl turned excitedly to Hana. "Shinohara-senpai! I remember you from Pastel Wish! You were such a badass antagonist! I didn't know the school system allowed depictions of blood on their school plays!"
"They… ah… d-didn't…" Hana blushed, grinning, and looked away. "I mean, it was only paint…"
"And… you?" the girl stopped at Silas and frowned. "...I'm sorry, I don't know you…"
"I-I'm new!" he explained.
"Oh. Oh!" she brightened up immediately. "Ohhhh… you're so lucky! You get to study under Matsuoka-senpai!"
"You're treating me like I'm a celebrity!" Yumika laughed. There was something uncomfortable about her tone of voice.
"You are, though!" the girl exclaimed. "Nakajima is a Theatre school, you know? Albert-sensei used Pastel Wish as instructional material last year!"
The girl visibly swooned. "Thank you for gracing us with your presence! All of you! I uh…" a bit of her steam seemed to let out, and the girl seemed to suddenly realize that she had just practically exploded in front of the three without warning and without so much as a knock.
"...so anyway…" she mumbled. "My name is Kyokan Ayase, nice to meet you all. I bow elegantly. Wait." She looked between the three, reddened, and continued: " So uh...Nakajima High School is devoted to…" she fished into her breast pocket and fished out a number of flashcards. "...to espousing the... traditional values of international culturalism rooted in Mihoku's deep history…" she seemed confused for a moment, and reshuffled her flashcards. "yadda yadda… RikuRiku, being a foremost cultural icon… um… something about leeks…? And given the effects of increasing democratization of the workplace environment, it becomes apparent that - Wait, why are my P… my E-Economics notes in here..."
She fumbled again with her notes, before sighing, defeated, and glancing upwards. "...blah blah… please enjoy the nation's favorite excuse to eat lots of food and drink beer and party for a week straight! It's so nice to meet you all!" she smiled awkwardly, and the door thudded closed softly.
They could hear indecipherable blubbering and male laughter coming from the other side for a few seconds before they were finally left in peace.
"Y-Yumika-san," Silas had to ask. He absolutely had to ask. The curiosity would kill him otherwise. "...what was Pastel Wish?"
Yumika actually grinned, if only a little. "It was Chii-kun's first - and only - script for us. It got pretty popular for a while, but I'd thought most people had forgotten about it at this point, honestly. It was all the way back in freshman year - God, that feels like so long ago…"
Hana cut in, "It was the same year Chii-kun decided to leave Drama Club, too."
"Yeah. Chii-kun got the brunt of the popularity from that performance. He was our MC that year, after all!" Yumika giggled. "Kuroda called it the 'Unholy Secession' of freshman year. He took a lot of the boys in our club with him, too…"
"Who w-were you?"
"Oh, in the play? I was the person who molded the antagonist; I was Gendo's Lorenz," Yumika said nonchalantly. She held up her menu. "Oh - Sai-kun, they have taco rice here!"
"What? No…" Silas's eyes glazed over. "I need this. N-Now…"
Out of the corner of his eyes, Hana seemed to be frowning. "...I think I'll be getting the strawberry crepe."
"Strawberry? Ahh… strawberry really is the fruit of festivals, isn't it? I love the sweet. Ambernian dessert dishes are the best!" Yumika replied cheerily. Hana wrinkled her nose.
"I could probably get taco rice, u-um," Silas hesitated. "Yumika-san, this place is pretty… qu-quiet, don't you think? I-I think it'd be a good time to - "
"Taco rice? That's great!" Yumika interrupted him. "Honest, I was planning on getting the pork bowl, myself, I'm a real stickler for traditional foods. Haha!"
"Right, but, um…" For the first time since meeting her, Silas felt uncomfortable. Yumika was acting strange. "Are you sure we c-can't - "
"Or… maybe I could get a lighter meal…" Yumika tapped her lower lip with her finger. "...like… do you think they serve siapao? I do love siapao… have I ever told you guys, Yoshi-kun's family makes this delicious - "
"Yumika-san."
Silas blinked. The room became unbearably quiet; Hana had a weird, peeved expression. "...you're doing the thing you do all the time again."
Yumika looked confused. "What thing?"
"Your too happy-sounding. You're smile is too wide. You keep shifting the position of your feet, like you're never quite comfortable in your seating position, and your finger hasn't stopped tapping the table for at least a minute." Hana clenched a fist. "You taste like red food coloring. You're putting off saying something again, aren't you? Wait - "
She suddenly looked over to Slias. Her gaze was piercing. "Sai-kun, Yumika-san's put you up to something dangerous, hasn't she? That's why she dragged you out here. To scheme." She turned back to Yumika. "Yumika-san, I thought you promised not to do this kind of thing again - "
"I-I would never - !" Yumika looked indignant. Her nose was red. "Not to one of my friends - Hana-chan - "
"Yumika-san never did anything! It was me. I dragged her here… you could say." Silas blurted. "I…" he cleared his throat. "I wanted to… talk about the Student Council."
Hana froze, and Yumika coughed.
The booth bumped again; a man roared, and clanging against metal drowned out the cheering.
"...so…" Hana said slowly, after that agonizing silence. "...Yumika-san had absolutely nothing to do with that? At all?"
"I swear." Silas said. "It was me."
Hana seemed ready to retort. But she paused; taking in a bit of air. "...it was you, then. I… shouldn't have assumed, Yumika-san…"
"No, I shouldn't have been acting like Gendo I-freaking-kari sans the horrible goatee..." Yumika admitted. She cast a meaningful, grateful look in Silas's direction. "...besides… the reason Silas wanted us all to meet is important. You guys… deserve to know some of the things I've… ah… learnt. About the Student Council."
"Soo…" Hana looked between the two. "Yumika-san has the information. Sai-kun wants the knowledge. We have a classic information disparity Sai-kun wanted to correct. And I'm here because…?"
"P-Part of it… concerns…"
"The Student Council is investigating you, Hana-chan," Yumika said bluntly, and suddenly. She was looking down while twiddling her fingers.
Hana blanched.
"E-Eh?" Silas felt his stomach churn.
"Apparently, they keep thinking you had something to do with movie night going… weird… See, uh, they have no idea what happened then, either."
The movie. Silas tried to hide his guilty frown. He was… fairly certain that, if even the Student Council didn't know, he was the only person in the school that had a fairly intact memory of that night.
"Why would they care, though? They're a Student Council. They push papers and deal with annoying, loud students occasionally."
"I… uh…" Yumika seemed to be sweating. "I digged, a bit. In Ichiro-kun's computer. You remember Ichiro-kun?"
"Vaguely," said quietly. She nodded her head.
"He…" Yumika hesitated. "He's… different, now. He seems a lot more serious. And… he thinks he's part of some sort of… secret organization that collects and… locks away… these dangerous things."
Hana didn't seem to quite understand. "And me…?"
"They think you're one of those dangerous things, now." Yumika said. "Well, they think. So they've been going through some of your stuff… He's been having lots of chats, with people from all over the city, all students, I think…"
"Yumika-san, h-how can you be so sure they don't know you know?!" Silas asked. He swallowed hard.
She grinned confidently. "Well I uh…"
"Wait, so, what will they do if they can find something on… o-on me?" Hana asked urgently.
Yumika bit her lip. "I don't know. But whatever it is... I... don't want to think about it."
They were quiet for a moment.
"S-So..." Hana looked around her. "Pretend for a second that I'm... skeptical. Do you have any proof...?"
"Just my word. Sorry..." Yumika looked down. "I didn't have a lot of time..."
"I-I - "
Yumika and Hana looked at Silas expectantly.
"S-Sorry to let you down, but... I only have my w-words, too," Silas admitted. Hana seemed disappointed. "But if you can trust me... Yu-Yumika-san is being serious. I promise."
Hana stared at him for a long moment. Silas thought he must have looked like a squirming bug. But then she sighed; and then her gaze fell on Yumika. "…Yumika-san, you... you seriously could not tell me about this sooner?!" Hana seethed. "This sounds… serious!"
"I was taking care of it…"
"Taking care of it how?!"
"I was going to… uh…" Yumika twiddled her thumbs again. "I was going to… to make them not suspect you anymore. By making them focus on me, instead."
"What?!"
"I was messing with Ichiro-kun's communications a little bit," Yumika said sheepishly. "And making it obvious. So they could trace it back to me. I also left a journal on my personal computer that makes me look super guilty. I even used some of the descriptors they use to describe what they thought Hana-chan was. 'Paranoia-inducing,' 'intensified stress-response…' that sort of thing."
"Yumika-san, t-that's a horrible idea!" Silas exclaimed.
"It's the best way to protect everyone, though…" Yumika replied. Her lip quivered slightly. She bit it, and a defiant, confident look washed over her face. "If they get closer to me, I'll be able to learn more about them. So I can figure out how to pick them apart better."
"So you made yourself into a honeypot?!" Hana seethed.
"I didn't have a choice - "
"You absolutely - "
"Hana-chan!" Yumika shouted. "I-I… I didn't think… I didn't want to involve you…"
"But this was about me, wasn't it?" Hana hissed.
"It wasn't when I started…" She replied quietly.
"It - ?!" Hana's nose twitched. "How long have you been doing this, then?"
"Since… last week…"
"L-Last…?" Silas asked her with his eyes. She nodded slowly, as if in shame. "Y-You didn't really get over your bad mood from the week before…"
"Of course I couldn't… haha..." Yumika smiled weakly. "I can't just… if know something's wrong, I can't just leave things alone. I have to act, or I go crazy."
"You have no restraint." Hana huffed. She wouldn't look at her.
Silas swallowed. It felt like there was a sharp stone tearing up his stomach. He felt responsible for all of this; somehow, he knew the way he brought these people together uniquely made things as unbearable as possible, he was about to witness the breakup of two friends and it was his fault, his fault his fault his fault his fault -
"Yu-Yu-Yumika-san," Silas said. The two girls in front of him perked up suddenly, as if just remembering he was there. "How - I mean, what… w-what I mean to say is, do you… do y-you know anything else? That might help keep us s-safe, I m-mean."
Hana sighed. Her voice was barely above a whisper. "Yeah. I'd like to know, too."
"Of course. Anything for you guys," Yumika responded. She sounded a bit out of breath. Still, she straightened up, placed her hands on the table, and tried to put her smile back on. "...the Student Council… or Foundation, whatever. If... if you wanted to describe a weakness of theirs, you could say it's their complete disorganization."
Silas raised an eyebrow. Hana shifted the position of her feet.
"A lot of the talks Ichiro-kun's been having - well, most of it, at least, has been arguing with people over stuff like who's allowed to do what, what people should be doing what things and where, that sort of thing. It's a mess, a-and no one trusts each other - "
"Trust?" Silas asked.
At that, the tiniest flicker of Evil!Yumika's smile . "I mean that, besides investigating you, Hana-chan, they're also investigating each other. I ah… I don't understand why, but Ichiro-kun in particular is convinced that there is some sort of anomaly within the school or within the Council, so he's been having friends of his audit his own Council members. Especially a... particular person..."
"Who?" Hana prodded.
"..." Yumika put her hand on her head. "It's Maeda-san," she said. "She's... part of this, too. Somehow."
"Ohhh...? S-So she and Ichiro-kun... they're... leaders?"
"I don't know." Yumika shook her head. "I... don't want to think they are. That would mean they're... responsible for all of this... this bullshit, but Ichiro-kun and Ki - and Maeda-san aren't like that. It doesn't make sense for them. Hana-chan, you remember what Maeda-san was like last year, right?"
Hana coughed. Her eyes caught Silas's for a brief moment. "Uh... yeah."
"She's different, too. She's lost a lot of her playfulness. She seems... cold. And efficient. Like a robot. She's - Gods, I hate this - she was one of the people who kept heckling with Ichiro-kun to speed up the investigation already. Last week, almost everything she talked to him about was asking for more people or resources or whatever to help her investigate something to do with the movie night, and it was her that suggested they start logging all of us Drama members, and her that pegged you as suspicious early on..."
"...Maeda-san suspected me already?!" Hana shouted, much too loudly. "When?!"
"This was all last week. She... she said she had a hunch. She was making plans about... asking you to participate in a poll, or something, with another student. Only it wouldn't be a poll. They wanted you in the same room with this student to test his... stress response? Or something? To that movie from two weeks ago?"
"..." Hana stared at her. "They wanted to see if me being there messed with his mental state. Because I eat emotions."
Yumika cringed slightly. She glanced at Silas - he simply nodded silently. "...probably..." She said.
"And you don't know what they would have done if they'd found me out?"
"Like I said, no..."
"W-What happened with that, then?" Hana asked. "Why didn't they ever try to test me...?"
"I don't know why, but Maeda-san just sort of... seemed to forget about it? I don't know," Yumika repeated, shrugging. "She let it go, and that was that. No tests. But anyway - " Yumika said, trying to sound reassuring, "My point is, those two were bickering a lot last week. S-So, if we wanted to pull at a loose string, to keep everyone safe, we could start there..."
Nothing about that seemed to ease Hana's frustrations at all. In fact, she looked even angrier than before. "I still can't believe you went this long without telling anyone about this." Hana eyed her, biting her lip. "I bet you weren't even planning on telling a soul, huh, until Sai-kun invited you here. What was your master plan, huh? To take down the highschool equivalent of SEELE with your fists, your smile and a few kind words?"
"I had a plan!" Yumika struck back, brushing her jacket with her hand. "I could have... and besides - "
"Could have what?" Hana interrupted her. "You're one person, Yumika-san. One!"
Yumika reeled backwards. "But I'm not just - "
"And besides, with something like this, you really could've done better than to follow the edgy seinen main character mentality, don't you think?" Hana raged. "I mean, god forbid you let someone else take some of the responsibility, too, right? Especially when - I don't know - someone's life might be at risk? Double especially when your friends can help you when it comes to this kind of thing?! Did you think of that?!"
"I had no reason to - "
"You of ALL people should know that not telling people things gets people hurt!"
"I KNOW! I'M SORRY!" Yumika sounded like a cornered mouse. "I JUST DIDN'T WANT YOU TO BE WORRIED!"
In an instant, the rage was gone from Hana's face. She cupped her mouth with her two hands, eyes wide. Yumika's eyes were locked with Hana's. Her teeth were bared - in anger or defiance or something else, Silas couldn't tell. The two were like statues - unflinching and frozen in place. Yumika sniffed.
The tatami room door slid open. "Uuumm…" the girl named Ayase slowly entered with a loaf of bread. "...our student chef has just arrived. So, we have some complimentary Amberrish loafed bread! Yaaay!"
The bread pan screeched horribly as she pushed it across the table. Ayase read the room and quickly seemed to realize she shouldn't overstay her welcome. "Soo… would any of you like to order?" she asked, her voice soft.
"I'll have taco rice," Silas said, looking down. "Yumika-san - she'll have a…" he hesitated slightly. Neither Hana nor Yumika seemed particularly interested in doing anything other than glare at each other. "She'll have a chicken bowl. And Hana-chan will get a strawberry… s-shortcake. Yeah."
"Of course!" the girl seemed to swallow nervously. "Uhh… One Southern Chicken Miso Soup, one Exotic RikuRiku Revenge Shortcake, and one Taco Rice. I can do that. Will that be with water for everyone, too?"
"Y-Yeah?"
"Matsuoka-senpai?" the girl turned expectantly to her idol.
Yumika didn't respond to her name being called. The waitress bit her lip. "Ahh… I'll just come back with the waters, then. Goodbye."
There was whispering on the other end of the door after she closed it. There was whispering everywhere, in fact. It leaked through the wooden beams of their small tatami room like carbon monoxide, and was just as asphyxiating. Silas felt himself tugging at his coat collar. He couldn't bring himself to glance at them. How could he? Waves crashing. They made a loud noise. It blotted out everything else. It was his fault they were here, in this position. They had every right to hate him, after all. He's an awful person, wasn't he? Breaking everything he touched, severing anything he reached out to mend, he hurts people by doing things, why should he bother, it's not like anything matters anyway, you're stupid, you're insignificant, you can't even -
Squeeeze. His cheeks hurt. Why were his cheeks hurting? More importantly, why was Yumika so close to his face? The table was pretty long, and -
"Not you too," Yumika said fiercely. "I won't let you be sad because of us. I won't. I won't do it." She squeezed tighter, but slowly her features relaxed. A long moment passed before she spoke again: "...you look tense. Won't you smile a little?"
"Sai-kun, um - " Hana poked her head out from behind Yumika's frame. "You sort of… said all of that… out loud…"
"I did?!"
"It was just a whisper, if that makes you feel any better," Yumika said. Silas noticed that she was quite literally lying on top of their table to be able to pinch him by the cheek. "...are you… fine?" she asked, her expression pensive.
"...how much d-did I say? D-did you hear…?"
"A little bit. Not a lot. Really."
"Oh, err… I… I'm fine. I-I'm fine! Really. I don't want you to worry about it. You'll stress yourself out m-more than you already are!" Silas tried to force a laugh.
For a moment, Yumika looked skeptical, even a little annoyed. Hana started moving forward, reaching her hand out to pull Yumika back by the hem of her jacket - but then, something strange seemed to come over Yumika. Like… recognition, almost. With a small pop, she pulled her grip from Silas's cheek. "Ahh… I… I think I understand."
Hana's finger recoiled. She sat back comfortably in her seat. She seemed to be grinning, in spite of herself.
"U-Understand…?"
Yumika said nothing, allowing herself to fall back into her seat.
"S-So… um… are you t-two…?" Silas looked between Hana and Yumika, leaving the exact words unsaid.
"I'm… still very, very… angry, but... "
Yumika looked uncomfortable. "We're good," she said briskly.
"...Yes. We're good." Hana confirmed, biting her lip.
...eep.
<><><>
Hana and Yumika's relationship has been damaged! red is the color of danger wooo spoopy Yumika has discovered... something about Silas. ...yay?
FACTBOOK UPDATED!
STUDENT COUNCIL
The Student Council is floundering like a fish out of water. Their organizational structure is a chaotic mess, and the students that call themselves O5's are constantly keeping information from each other out of mistrust.
This mistrust is particularly deep between Ichiro and Maeda, who seemed to have formed factions around themselves and are actively investigating one another.
Amongst all of this, the Student Council is still maintaining an investigation into Shinohara Hana, and if they find anything anomalous about her, their response will be unpredictable but severe.
Whatever happened to make the Student Council into members of the Foundation, it has affected its members to the point that Yumika thinks there is a discrepancy in their personalities.
YUMIKA
Yumika seems strangely comfortable with subterfuge. And competent at it, too.
Yumika's plan to deal with the Student Council was to make them redirect their investigation to her instead of Hana, sparing Hana the consequences.
New Contact! Contacts, for the purposes of this Quest, are suprapersonal organizations founded by large numbers of individuals pursuing a common goal. They come in many forms and comprise of many different types of people. They are very useful for accomplishing things Silas can't do for himself, but cannot be interacted like - and do not act as - a collective.
Enlisting the aid of or communicating with a Contact requires making a targeted social interaction towards a member of that Contact
Contact membership does not impart any special bonuses on individuals, BUT
It introduces characters to interesting people with skill sets and traits that could be useful,
And it allows characters to take advantage of those resources if need be.
A vast majority of characters within contacts are not added to the Character Sheet unless they are important to Silas. You can make these people important to Silas, if you want to, but opportunities to do that are scarce.
Note - The Character Database has been updated to include "Affiliations," which has new data on most major characters' memberships in Clubs and Contacts.
The Student Council/Foundation (Foundation) A large body of students and former students whose institutional goal is to secure, contain, and/or protect entities and anomalies that fall outside the "normal world's" perception of reality, for some indiscernible goal. Inexplicably, a disproportionate number of them are either standing or former members of their school's Student Council.
The Foundation arm of this Contact has the following characteristics:
Leadership is split amongst Overseer characters, of which there are an unknown number, with the holder of the title "Overseer One" being the most powerful.
Members of this Contact will actively avoid being discovered as being associated with it. Activities conducted by the Foundation will not be announced as such.
If the Foundation discovers something that they could classify as an SCP, they will pursue it. Relentlessly.
???
The Student Council arm of this Contact has the following characteristics:
Leadership is nominally held by the Student Council President, and his/her deputies. The Kaichou largely serves an advisory/diplomatic role, however, and day-to-day management is operated by the Student Council's bureaucratic apparatus.
In relation to Clubs:
Student Council holds the power of the purse. Any club that needs money gets it from them, or, if they collect money from outside sources, are obligated to report it to them.
The Student Council has the power to order certain Clubs to do things, like assist other clubs in their activities, but usually only with the approval of the Club's supervisor.
The Student Council is subsidiary to the Miyao School System, and will always fold when ordered to do something by a teacher or school administrator.
Character Sheet Updated! Silas has discovered more about Ichiro's affiliations!
Ichiro is part of the Student Council/Foundation (SC/F). Membership imparts the following bonuses:
Foundation Head(?) - Ichiro probably has a high spot in the upper management of the Foundation. Probably... (Ichiro makes big decisions in the Foundation hierarchy. Certain people may have the effect Ichiro Loyalist, meaning they will follow his orders with question. ???)
Student Council President - Ichiro is the totally legitimately elected president of the Yamaha Student Council. This means he is supposed to be the chief supervisor of Student Council activities, and the main organ through which the Student Council can be negotiated through. (Ichiro makes the big decisions in the Student Council hierarchy. He greatly influences Student Council policy. ???)
Silas has discovered more about Maeda's affiliations!
Maeda is part of the Student Council/Foundation (SC/F). Membership imparts the following bonuses:
Foundation Member(?) - Given the fact that Maeda was apparently leading Hana's investigation for a time, Maeda probably leads a big department in the Foundation. It'd be great if anyone only knew what... (Maeda probably does something important. Certain characters may have the modifier Maeda Loyalist, meaning they will follow her orders without question. ???)
Student Council Class Rep - Maeda is a Class Representative; a gear within the Student Council's bureaucratic apparatus. Within the Student Council, she's rather insignificant, though she still has some influence over her peers due to sheer proximity to the actual leadership of the Student Council. (Maeda somewhat influences Student Council policy. ???)
<><><>
The food arrived far too quickly; the waitress Ayase and her friend Hiro came tumbling in with an enormous tray of edibles. An unnaturally bright leavened flour bread accompanied with equally unnaturally bright-blue strawberries, and drowned in creamy syrup. A giant bowl of warm soup, swimming with bits of chicken, noodles and lettuce. Two neatly-folded rice-stuffed tacos.
"Err… what are these?" Yumika spoke up. It looked like they were grabbing another plate - this one filled with a number of small desserts and appetizers. "We didn't order this much."
"It's… on the house," Hiro said awkwardly. "Consider it a… parting gift. For being the first people to eat at our charity restaurant."
"Yeah!" The girl affirmed. "This had absolutely nothing to do with Ami-chan, not at all."
"What, the foreigner classmate of ours? No. Nothing, whatsoever. She's not making me say this, either," Hiro drawled. He plopped an strawberry-laden ice cream shake right in front of Hana - amongst all of the desserts, she was starting to practically disappear.
"This is all of our own volition!" A bowl of sugar drops masquerading as fruits for Yumika.
"We're certainly not wage slaves." After a brief pause, a small box of round chocolates for Silas.
"Hey, guys, you don't have to do all this for us, really!" Yumika tried to refuse one of the desserts. "Honestly, I don't think we can finish this…"
"Oh please, I insist. The more we give you, the more we get to charge!" Hiro let out a small chuckle.
"Eeehhh?" Yumika wagged her finger. "Now, that doesn't seem so fair…"
"He's lying. Ami-ch - well, the Association's going to be paying for all this extra stuff, Matsuoka-senpai. I wouldn't let him overcharge you by a single coin!"
"Aww, that's sweet," Yumika giggled, that edge creeping into her voice again. "Thanks, Yacchan."
"I - you…. I JUST GOT THANKED BY MATSUOKA-SENPAI!" The girl exploded very suddenly, and loudly. She started tugging onto Hiro's sleeve - "Hiro-kun! I JUST GOT THANKED BY - owowOW OOW - !"
He was pinching her by the ear. Painfully, it seemed. "We're going. Enjoy your meal, kind customers! I hope to see you again some time."
"WAIT WAIT NO I NEED TO RECIPROCATE SENPAI'S THAN - "
The tatami door slammed shut.
"Heh… haha!" Yumika was laughing, but her voice seemed kind of weak. "She's… aha… spirited!" Yumika said, staring at her food. "...I don't think I can finish this."
"W-Well, we should probably… try! Then! Because why not!" And he took a bite of his taco rice.
"Itadakimasu!"
It was funny, Silas thought, how quickly the presence of a single meal transformed the oppressive atmosphere lingering around their table. Maybe the food was just that good - he doubted it, the taco rice tasted nice but it was no Big Sister Taco Rice Special - or maybe it was how the food could help everyone take their minds off of each other for a bit. But either way, the a few minutes into the food and the silence seemed to be coming not from pent-up anger but from contentedness. Yumika in particular seemed to be brightening up a lot as she dug into her miso. Though she still didn't seem to want to look any of them in the eye… at least no one was shouting. That was good. It was.
After finishing the last bit of taco rice and resisting the urge to lick his lips clean of the delicious salsa flavoring, Silas moved on to his dessert. It was a nice-enough looking chocolate box, with wrapping hugging the edges of a very thin cylindrical container. He popped it open expectantly - it smelled like freshly-ground cocoa milk in the light of morning snow.
…
"Sai-kun? Are you alright?" After a few long, tender moments, Yumika most have noticed him staring intently at the small round canister of chocolate.
Silas's finger shook slightly. "Oh, it's… a-ah… haha…" he felt giddy as a schoolboy. Even though he already was one. "I-I just… I like this brand of chocolate."
"Chffclrrt?" Hana said through a chocolate muffin. "Shff - " she swallowed deeply. "What kind."
"Ahh…" Silas tried to pronounce the words for them. "Shoukakora. Shou… Ka… Kora. It's… it's n-normal chocolate mixed with caffeine beans and some sort of n-nut. It's really nice…" He smiled, snapping off a piece from inside the canister and bringing it to his nose. Snow and seawater, rifles with kind faces, a warm mug by the dockside... He was probably smiling like an idiot, he realized. His face got a little red.
When he put the small slice of dark chocolate into his mouth, it was everything he'd imagined - bittersweet and brittle, the chocolate broke apart in chunks and melted down his throat. He could smell the coffee beans, the tiny drizzle of nut, the gunpowder -
And at once, like a book snapping shut, the memory retreated deep into his mind. "O-Oh!" He seemed to realize something suddenly. "S-Sorry; I've been so rude! Shoukakora is best shared! P-Please, Hana-chan, Yumika-san, take some of mine. It's good!"
The two looked a bit bewildered, for some reason. But they didn't refuse the Shoukakora. And watching their faces light up in bliss as they tasted the piece of heaven was absolutely worth the moment of awkwardness. Alas - it washed away too soon, and the uncomfortableness returned between the two. But at least for a moment they were relieved of a little bit of the stress.
"S-See?" Silas insisted. "It's good. It r-really is!"
Hana tried to hide it, but she was licking her lips. "...yeah, actually. Can I have another piece?"
Before he knew it, the entire disc of chocolate was gone - even the bits that had melted into the plastic wrapping were licked cleanly off in a fit of unashamed hunger. Yumika was snickering softly at the two, though she still kept her eyes firmly on her food. There was a second box; Silas made sure to hide it in his handy dandy trenchcoat. He'd need some more of that later.
By the time their stomachs were on the verge of bursting, the Emperor's Feast before them looked almost as full as it was when they had started. Silas's abdomen felt like it was trying to split open - he had never eaten so much in one sitting in his entire life, as far as he was concerned, but the food was so tempting goddammit.
Without much fanfare, Hiro and Ayase came and took their plates away, and the three of them were ushered back to the front. They had to tiptoe around another group just to get there - the whole place was milling with students and guests now. A different person was manning the reception this time - and the boy seemed very, very confused to see them.
"Wait what the hell?" he scratched his chin, then looked over a bunch of papers on the reception kiosk. "Uh… I'm sorry, I don't have you on record. When did you get here?"
"Ami-chan - "
At that, he simply held up a finger. "Say no more. I assume this visit was free…?"
"No, actually," Hiro butted in. "Their orders total up… let's say to 5250-en. Sound about right?"
"Wait, didn't Ami-chan say - " Ayase silenced herself as Hiro pinched her by the ear again. "I mean, yeah! 5250-en!" She scooted over to Yumika: "Sorry, Matsuoka-senpai…"
"Well… alright, then." He looked at Silas expectantly - for some reason, he was still the one at the front of their group. "Will that be in paper money, credit, debit, or - "
"U-Uhhh - "
"We're splitting!" Yumika announced suddenly. "What's 5,250-en divided by three, again? 2,300-en, or something, right? Here, let me get my wallet… uh…"
"No. Yumika-san. It's 1,750-en." Hana said, bluntly.
Tentatively, she took a few bills and dropped them in the hands of the receptionist boy. Hana watched her like a hawk during the exchange. "Receptionist-san," she said.
"Ah... hai?" He blinked.
"Take this - " She handed him a credit card - " and charge exactly half of what is left. Please."
"Of course. And you..." The boy turned to Silas.
"H-Here! I'll p-pay the last bit!" Silas awkwardly thrust out his palm as if he were holding money for himself, making sure to angle his palm downwards. The receptionist, recognizing the gesture, took his wrist and waved it against a little silver card.
He felt his wrist buzz unnaturally for a bit, but it was over soon enough. The subdermal stimulation made him involuntarily shiver a little, though.
ACCOUNT DEDUCTED: - 1475¥
CURRENT BALANCE : 2225¥ Thank you for banking with Lawson & Toko! L&T promises quality and conciseness in our customer service,
and we make sure with absolute certainty that our practices
conform to Solidarity financial regulations. If you are ever in need, you can rely on L&T.
The boy looked at a screen underneath his receptionists's kiosk. "Right, you three are free to go," The boy said, nodding.
"Please visit us again!" Ayase said. "We'll be happy to serve friends of Matsuoka-senpai any time!"
"So long as you pay. And come when the restaurant is actually open. And not show yourselves to Ami-chan." Hiro smirked. "Thank you for being such attentive customers."
"T-Thanks for having us!" Silas said, bowing politely.
The street had gotten even more crowded while they were gone - if that was even possible. But now the crowd seemed deathly quiet; breaths were being held in anticipation. Silas craned his neck; the RikuRiku from before was sprawled on the ground. Her allies were hunched; a single teal streamer was flying from a pole held up by a prone street performer. One of the Red soldiers was kneeling before her, hand outstretched, and she reached to take it.
There was a sudden, deep, guttural roar. Silas yelped; a bear's face, propelled forward by two sets of feet, was rushing through the crowd. He felt someone's hand jerk back; he felt the air brush against his cheek as the bear head leapt into the ring, followed shortly by its body, and then its legs. It was a monstrous thing; growling, clawing, grasping. The crowd erupted; the performers all rose abruptly, with RikuRiku using the Red soldier's arm as leverage to lift herself up; and all readied their weapons.
As the music picked up, and the clashing of steel and staff and rifle butt begun once more, Silas's small group managed to find a tiny opening in the masses - they slipped through it and escaped into the open end of the street.
"...That food was pretty good!" Yumika said once they could hear their own voices again. "A real picker-upper. Even if it was a biiiit much…"
"I-I still don't understand why they w-were so willing to have us. The girl… with the net hair, did we ever see her again? During the meal, or...?"
"I don't think so…" Yumika tapped her chin. "...that particular girl, she gives me this weird vibe, actually... "
"W-Why's that?"
"Well..." Yumika shook her head to the left and to the right. "To be honest, I just..." Her words trailed off.
"Honestly, they really undercharged us for the meal," Hana said, stretching her arms out and yawning. "I'm glad they did, though. I don't have enough on me to pay for something so extravagant."
"I would have paid for you if it had come to that, Hana-chan," Yumika said, just slightly looking in Hana's direction.
She frowned in response. "I'm sure you would have."
"..." Yumika looked down. Her body seemed to deflate. "N-Nevermind… we should get going! To… wherever…?"
"Where… ever…" Silas looked up. He needed to find something! He needed to find a distraction… a fun thing… anything at all…!
Somewhere, peeking through the city blocks, a giant ferris wheel made itself known. There! He thought urgently. A fun thing!
"W-We can go to that ferris wheel!" Silas said suddenly. "It looks… fun!"
"We can go there. I've ridden that one before. The view's pretty great once the sun goes down," Yumika said. "Plus, if we go now, I think the line won't have formed yet."
"Yeah. Sounds good," Hana said, staring off into the crowd. "Let's go, now."
"Right."
"R-Right!"
They all stood awkwardly in a circle for about ten seconds.
"...Sai-kun," Yumika said slowly, "You're leading, right?" She flashed her devil-in-disguise grin.
"What, again?!" Silas felt his resolve slipping - but then again, he had been in lead the whole time, so he might as well... "Okay… off we go…"
They were all too tight-lipped as they milled through the crowds, the sun's beating gaze slowly receding as they went along. The large ferris wheel was coming closer and closer into view - how far away were they from the Hypermall proper, now? The street was getting larger, as well. The booths were getting more varied - rather than just food, there were stands for koi fish games, calligraphy practice, artist's impressions, VR competitive tournaments, book signings…
Before they knew it, they were standing in a giant, spacious plaza. And, just ahead of them, the spectre of the ferris wheel loomed, it's reflection glittering off of a canal that intersected the pristine walkway. Silas felt his nerves jolt; in an instant, the entire thing lit up, revealing a dizzying array of flashing colors; at the same time, lampposts all over the Plaza started giving off a blazing yellow. A few bystanders who'd been watching the Wheel started clapping. Everywhere, people were pulling out fluorescent light sticks or holding up branches with paper lanterns. Night was upon them.
If only everyone were in a better mood, Silas thought, they could spend hours in this place.
Discovered a location: Chuuda Plaza A quaint walkway of neatly-paved stone intersected by a canal and decorated with some sparse urban flowerbeds and trees. Chuuda Plaza's main purpose is to facilitate foot traffic from people travelling from the Hypermall to the other commercial centers of Miyao, but it is a landmark in it of itself due to the massive ferris wheel - Miyaoshime - that rests on one end of the walkway, and because of the very scenic view of the city.
Silas tried to watch his step as they stepped onto the stone bridge over the canal. All the while he made his best attempt not to look at the swirling, beckoning water down below. "Hey, Yumika-san," he said. "W-What exactly happened during the last Club meeting? I w-was gone, so, ah…"
"Oh. Oh!" Yumika clapped her hands together. "Yeah, haha… it got pretty heated. Mikado-kun accused me, Riku-nee and Renji-kun of collusion. But honestly I have no idea why…" she snickered.
"All three of them submitted the exact same theme," Hana clarified. "Something about a masquerade party in a fancy mansion."
"Hey, it was a good theme! You admitted it!" Yumika giggled.
"Grumble grumble," Hana sighed. "Mikado was making a big show about making his random draw in front of everyone, too, to prove he wasn't being unfair. And, when he was done, after we flipped them all over and half of them were the same - "
"'What is this tomfoolery?! My liege! This is an affront to Justice; how dare you insult the fragile peace of this sacred establishment!'" Yumika proclaimed in a reasonable facsimile of Kuroda's voice. "Ahhhh… hah. We didn't win it anyway. Stupid probabilities."
"Who did?" Silas asked hopefully.
"Kuroda-kun. Actually." Yumika smiled sadly. "Guess we'll be reliving History Class for our winter project! He wants us to do something on the life of… ah… this famous minister during Saisei. Guy who industrialized the country, or something. Apparently it's interesting stuff…?"
"Kuroda-kun wanted to comment on how people responded to the changing times making the more romantic parts of medieval culture - horseback samurai, elite nobility, classical warfare - either obsolete or something unrecognizable. How modernization changed the face of the world, with a bit of a sad reminiscence on the things modernization left behind."
"Yeah! He's really into that kind of stuff," Yumika affirmed. "Aww, look at you, Hana-chan! Always the serial analyst!"
"Don't patronize me," She shot back brusquely.
"Eh - ?" Yumika's eyes widened, and then thinned. "Oh. Right."
Silas looked between the two, but they were refusing eye contact again. He let his gaze linger for a moment before releasing it and looking back into the crowd. He'd make this better with the ferris wheel. He would.
"...Sai-kun."
"Nnn?" Silas turned to Hana. Yumika, consciously, walked a bit slower, letting the two surpass her and giving them both more room.
"Your, ah... your theme. I thought it was cute." Hana said earnestly. Subconsciously she strung up a strand of her hair around her finger. "...a bit on the nose, to be honest, but... it was cool. If it were up to a vote, I would have voted for it. Out of self-indulgence, if nothing else. Heh..."
"O-Oh! Thanks. Glad you liked it," Silas breathed a sigh of relief. He was worried Hana was going to chew him out for something. "...w-what was yours about?"
"Oh, it's not important now..." Hana dodged the question. "...oh. And another thing. Sai-kun, please try not to miss a meeting again. You made the vote on who gets to be Writer really awkward..."
"O-Oh, uh... haha..." Silas scratched his head. "I-I forgot..."
"Well, yes, I know that, but..." Hana sighed. "Harima-kun. He... refused to vote because you were absent. He said it would be 'dishonorable.' Riku-nee was winning, of course, it was three-to-one, after all, but when Harima-kun tried to veto everyone and Yumika-san backed him up, well, uh... sufficed to say, ended up not voting on the Writer that day. Better for you, I guess? Since you missed last meeting anyway."
"Eep..." Silas glanced back at Yumika. She waved noncommittally, trying to put on a smile. "Are votes like this always so... l-like that?"
"Yes. It's one of the few things we take seriously. Besides snacks..." Hana licked her lips. "Mmmm... a-ahh, anyway. We're getting closer to Miyaoshi-me."
Indeed, they were. Maybe it was the effect of the setting sun, but suddenly they were underneath the shadow of the ferris wheel. It had gotten much, much larger; Silas felt as if he were walking under the feet of a Colossus. Thankfully, it had also gotten quieter; though that in it of itself was more of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it was less suffocating to walk. On the other hand, every individual voice and person felt more and more pronounced and intimidating.
"Oh. Yumika-san." Silas said suddenly. "A-About the… ah… the Mystery…"
"...yeah, err, right, we should probably…" Yumika slumped her shoulders some more. "H… Hana-chan. We need to keep in touch."
"Yes, I…" Hana looked away. "Of course. Communication networks are important… Sai-kun, do you not have a phone?"
"No…?"
"You can keep mine, at least for a while. In case we need to… talk to each other. It'll help. Actually… you know what, you can keep it for as long as you need."
"Yeah, wouldn't want you to disappear on us!" Yumika said, trying to laugh.
"Of course! T-Thanks…"
"I'll make a dedicated groupchat… sometime…" Hana stared off into the distance.
Silas swallowed deeply. They... they made it. A Conspiracy. Well, the framework of one, at least. Yet, despite that fact, he couldn't help but feel hollow... He felt like, somehow, putting this all together had awoken something deep and personal inside his two friends. They weren't acting the same... it grated on him...
Silas, Yumika and Hana are now in on a Conspiracy! They will now share any information they have on the Student Council's activities and will try to help each other in this vein as much as possible. Assuming they aren't bickering or anything like that.
At the foot of the ferris wheel, underneath the dim lighting of strung-up paper lanterns, a lone attendant in a red cap stood like a sentry. A few people loitered around underneath the wheel, but no one seemed to be in line. As they approached, the man snapped to attention, nodding his head curtly.
"I assume you're here to ride Miyaoshi-me?" the man asked. He gestured upwards - the little carriages of the Wheel were suspended hundreds of meters above them, each one lit up in bright LEDs. "You're in luck; the RikuRiku concert across the street seems to have captured the world's attention at the moment."
"Uh, Y-Yes," Silas said, after glancing at his two companions. "W-We are."
The attendant looked them all over. "Well. Whom amongst you is paying?"
"I-I will. Of course," Silas said quickly. "Um…"
He held out the palm of his hand, and the attendant took it gently. Swiping his palm with his card reader, he took a glance at a little computer on his wrist.
"Err… forgive me, young sir. Your balance is insufficient."
Silas felt his heart flutter and die. Not now… "...really?"
He nodded. "Tickets are 1000-en each. Your balance is not enough. Do you have a credit card account? I can charge that, instead."
"Uh, n-no… Big Sis said those were dangerous and unnecessary..."
"I-I can... " Yumika started to say something, but her words fizzled out. She just looked between Silas and Hana guiltily. Her hand was frozen, somewhere in between moving and staying put. And Hana just stood there awkwardly, hand in her coat pocket.
"Well, I can't let you all in if you don't have the balance," The man explained sympathetically. "Sorry… unless you'd rather just bring two and have one wait here?"
"...Hana-chan, you and Sai-kun can go on ahead. To be honest, I'm a bit spent…"
"Absolutely not, tonight was supposed to be for you two, wasn't it?" Hana interjected. "I can go… if you need to…"
"No really, I insist - "
"I… I mean…"
"G-Guys, um…" Silas spoke up. Yumika looked his way. Hana slowly turned her head, too. Both of them had pleading looks on their faces… but he wasn't sure if they were silently begging him to let them go, or silently begging not to be let go...
WE HAVE REACHED AN IMPASSE! Choose one:
[] [Eye of Miyao] "Y-Yumika-san, uh i-if you wanted to go anyway, you could…"
Silas wants to know why Hana has been acting so mean to Yumika. Hana never really struck Silas as the kind of person that could be so cold. It's fairly obvious that something's on her mind, but he can't ask her while Yumika is around. He just hopes Yumika wouldn't take that personally…
[] [Eye of Miyao] "...Hana-chan, y-you said your stomach was hurting, right? If you need to go..."
Silas wants to know why Yumika has been so easily pushed around all of a sudden. Yumika isn't like this. Yumika is assertive, and cool, and genki. Something's clearly wrong; he has to figure out what. The curiosity would kill him otherwise. Hopefully Hana would understand, though…
[] [Eye of Miyao] (Sensitive) "Hey, you know what, I'm k-kind of tired… how about you two ride without me?"
It's clear Yumika and Hana are having a row. It's in the atmosphere. He wants them to get along, but he feels like him being there is only making their awkwardness worse… So, he'll cut himself out of the equation. If they really are close friends, then Silas has to trust they'll be able to resolve their row by themselves... riiiight...?
[] [Eye of Miyao] (Big Sister) "A-Actually, I do have a credit card account…"
Creating a credit card account should be stupidly easy… right? Surely, Big Sis can pull through on this one. Silas wouldn't want to leave either of his friends behind. Besides, he really needs to make sure everyone is communicating so the Conspiracy can take off…
[] [Eye of Miyao] (Low Self-Esteem) "Ah, you know, t-this really has been a bust… I'm really, really sorry. Y-You two go ahead, I'll just…"
Silas blames himself for the night turning out awkwardly; but he pays for two tickets anyway before leaving the party. Yumika and Hana will be left to reflect on the Eye of Miyao, alone, while Silas sinks deeper into his own self-doubt...
No write-ins this taim, plz, thx fam.
Votes will be locking on the 26th of October, EST.
Since this update turned out waaaaay too long, and because the next turn may or may not be a subturn with another branching choice, I'll be holding off on the Subforum result and on concluding any changes to Yumika, Hana, and Silas's entries in the Character Database until next turn. I considered opening up the Week 5 Part 2 [SOCIAL] actions, but I fear that whatever happens in next will change what you guys want to do in the second half of the week. So I'll hold off on that, too.
As always, feel free to yell at me for any umbrages you may have about the update/my propensity towards needlessly overcomplicating things/my absolutely abysmal update schedule. In fact, if you want, you can even use this discord (courtesy of @Jhin Lemon aaaalll those months ago) to amplify the sound of your yelling!
hooooy...Uhh...
So I'mma just leave that whole 'contacts/conspiracy/mechanical changes' to the side for a second...
Hookay.
Soo Hana's pissed at Yumi for basically trying to put it all on herself basically. And Yumi got burnt HARD by someone else doing that for her back in the day.
Now from what I've seen I don't trust them to resolve it themselves, not without giant screaming rows loud enough for Silas to hear from the ground, no matter how big that wheel is, and there's no garuntee it even works out if we do.
Now...
TBH?
I'm thinking long story short, Yumi basically slowly made herself into the 'reliable Big Sis' type as a way to pave over/move past the damage. Problem is, Hana can uniquely see through it. Now I frankly don't think Silas is at all positioned to be anything close to helpful talking to Yumi about it-he simply has no relatable experience and even if he did, is HILARIOUSLY UNPREPARED to have that conversation. And for him to go with Hana basically means having to listen to her vent about it and hearing alot of stuff that arguably isn't our business.
Though personally...
[] [Eye of Miyao] "Y-Yumika-san, uh i-if you wanted to go anyway, you could…"
Silas wants to know why Hana has been acting so mean to Yumika. Hana never really struck Silas as the kind of person that could be so cold. It's fairly obvious that something's on her mind, but he can't ask her while Yumika is around. He just hopes Yumika wouldn't take that personally…
This feels like the strongest move going forward honestly to me.
Sensitive isn't a bad call buuut I dunno about how well it works out.
Big Sister...Yikes. No. Hers is a power that ALWAYS has a price tag explicitly, from what we've seen.
Self-Doubt...Probably works out the same as Sensitive BUT strikes me as likely to have the price-tag of putting Silas's issues front and center in the next-go round. I wouldn't be against this EXCEPT Silas is one massive anomoly himself sooo risky to put attention on him (Remember third route-Silas that we've not seen yet is a thing!)
"Pizza… a-and chocolate-covered coconut… cucumbers paired with mint and seasoned with breadcrumbs… hotdogs swimming in icecream…" Hana choked. She looked white. "It's too much… it's really too much…"
"A-Are you alright?!"
Hana held out her palm to keep him away. The other, she used to cover up her mouth. "I'm… I'm fine… just a little… food poisoning..." Hana wheezed. "But I need to - " she suddenly moved to press her lips to her face with both of her palms. Then she clutched her stomach. "R-Restroom..."
"E-Eh…?"
She looked at him, a thousand different emotions passing through her face. "Restroom! I need to go… run… sorry, I'll meet you at the - I'm sorry, I'll be right back - "
"So…" Yumika's eyes darted around. "Where's Hana-chan? I saw her with you just before I broke off running."
"Oh, she's - " Silas blinked. "She's in a restroom… somewhere."
Yumika nodded her head in understanding. "Ahh…" She paused. She looked like she was trying to read Silas's face. "You… uh… has she… told you...?"
Yumika made a chomping motion wither her mouth. Then she emoted herself cowering in fear for a split second.
Silas immediately nodded enthusiastically. This drew a surprised eyebrow from her. She mouthed the words, 'Really?' with her lips; to that, Silas nodded again.
"...huh! That's… interesting. Usually, Hana-chan doesn't…" She looked him over, and grinned. "I guess like attracts like, right?"
Yumika did a complete one-eighty, spinning around with near-military precision. "We were waiting for - omigod, you look adorable! That's a new parka, isn't it? Where did you get that scarf? Ahhh~! You look so mature!"
"Stop this, right now, or I'll turn around and run to the restroom and vomit some more," Hana replied flatly, barely registering Yumika's crushing glomp.
"...Hana-chan?" Silas asked, slightly worried. "You… seem… paler than usual…"
Hana looked through her fingers as she poked at the crane. "When I'm around too many people, my stomach just… knots up. It's not good for me. Something about being surrounded by so many vibrant dish - ah - people messes with me a lot. It's like… being submerged in water while you're throwing up from food poisoning."
Wait, Big Sister has reserved a decent chunk of this apartment complex for us (or at least the apartments adjacent to ours), and nobody's questioned that?
She paused. Somehow, Silas felt her virtual eyes going over his outfit. "...you look positively dashing. Did you visit the Hypermall while I wasn't looking?"
"What? No…" Silas looked down. "This has always been here. Apparently."
"Really?" Big Sister scratched her chin, virtually. "...interesting."
Wait, Big Sister didn't buy those for us a while back and we forgot about them?
...there are aspects of Silas's pre-quest life that weren't shaped by his omnipresent AI companion?
Hey, random question. How do you get the text to center like this? It always goes left-justified whenever I try copy/pasting centered text from a word processor, so I assumed it wasn't possible on this forum.
"Ahaha…" Hana giggled some more. When her eyes caught Silas's however, her laughter died down, and immediately she covered her mouth with her gloved hands. "Ah… s-sorry, Sai-kun. I used you for a snack…."
"No, no… it's fine. Really!" Silas waved his hands in front of his face. "...I mean… anyway I can help, right?"
"I already told you, I shouldn't need to eat for a while." Hana sighed. "...and it's mean to snack on a friend if I don't need to."
"I mean, I'm perfectly okay with you eating me whenever you need to!" Silas exclaimed, all bluster and pride.
I'm so glad there aren't any bystanders overhearing our conversation.
"I-I guess my LUCK stat's really high!" Silas laughed. His laughs quickly died away. "...sorry. Bad joke."
"It wan't a bad joke, though. Will you stop apologizing?"
"I… never used this bullet train last year. Or the year before."
Hana cocked an eyebrow. "Were you just this year moved to the area or something?"
"Err - no..."
"Homeschool?"
"..." Silas pretended not to hear her.
As they begun to accelerate, Hana looked at him edgewise. "...you were going to apologize for apologizing, weren't you?"
"...and then I would h-have apologized for apologizing to that…"
"It's turtles all the way down with you, isn't it." Hana said it as a statement of fact, rather than as a question. She grinned slightly. "You're awfully unique, Sai-kun."
He really isn't. I...know someone who apologizes like that.
"Right, so…" she straightened herself. "The Park was a huge thing when it was being built a few years ago. There were advertisements and requests for donations for months. How did you miss that?"
...Silas isn't one of those people who turn on their adblocker on every website, is he?
"Well… I was going to say, I'm sure she's a nice person deep down," Silas insisted. "Like… y-you don't honestly believe people are… i-inherently… bad… do you?"
Hana thought for a moment. "...no, I don't think that. But you can't just forgive people on the basis that they might be a better person under different circumstances, can you?"
Silas hesitated. He acquiesced, "I guess…"
In truth, he wasn't quite satisfied with that answer. Something felt… wrong about that judgement, somehow.
I mean, if someone like Vegeta or Sasuke can turn into decent human beings (or approximations thereof on one count or the other), Dorima's probably salvageable.
[Hana] looked at him, a thousand different emotions passing through her face.
Since when has racism been restricted to people who live in different countries?
"...huh! That's… interesting. Usually, Hana-chan doesn't…" She looked him over, and grinned. "I guess like attracts like, right?"
Silas's cheeks felt a bit warm. "T-Thanks! That's… a nice compliment."
You were just compared to someone who eats fear, in a discussion of said fear-eating. I'm not sure that's a compliment.
"Right, so, in honor of the RikuRiku festival, all of our menu items are internationally-themed. Kind of like the street food outside, only - "
The entire room buckled suddenly. Cheers erupted from out on the street. They could hear the sound of clashing steel.
" - Less chaotic," Hiro finished, sighing.
Good luck hiding secrets from someone who can taste your lies.
"I was going to… uh…" Yumika twiddled her thumbs again. "I was going to… to make them not suspect you anymore. By making them focus on me, instead." "What?!"
That's a bad idea. It almost inevitably leads to your friend being forced to reveal their true nature anyways when they come to save you, rendering the whole exercise moot.
Yumika, you need to watch more anime. You're living one.
Silas swallowed. It felt like there was a sharp stone tearing up his stomach. He felt responsible for all of this; somehow, he knew the way he brought these people together uniquely made things as unbearable as possible, he was about to witness the breakup of two friends and it was his fault, his fault his fault his fault his fault -
"You of ALL people should know that not telling people things gets people hurt!"
"I KNOW! I'M SORRY!" Yumika sounded like a cornered mouse. "I JUST DIDN'T WANT YOU TO BE WORRIED!"
...
The tatami room door slid open. "Uuumm…" the girl named Ayase slowly entered with a loaf of bread. "...our student chef has just arrived. So, we have some complimentary Amberrish loafed bread! Yaaay!"
I can practically hear her struggling to dissipate the tension.
It was his fault they were here, in this position. They had every right to hate him, after all. He's an awful person, wasn't he? Breaking everything he touched, severing anything he reached out to mend, he hurts people by doing things, why should he bother, it's not like anything matters anyway, you're stupid, you're insignificant, you can't even -
...
"Not you too," Yumika said fiercely. "I won't let you be sad because of us. I won't. I won't do it."
Two peas in a pod, these too. So worried about the negative effects they think they're having on other people that their own emotional states deteriorate to the point that they actually have such effects on them. Now both of them remind me a bit of...that person I know.
Certain people may have the effect Ichiro Loyalist, meaning they will follow his orders with question. ???)
Not surprising, since it kind of gives the game away.
"I-I still don't understand why they w-were so willing to have us. The girl… with the net hair, did we ever see her again? During the meal, or...?"
"I don't think so…" Yumika tapped her chin. "...that particular girl, she gives me this weird vibe, actually... "
"W-Why's that?"
"Well..." Yumika shook her head to the left and to the right. "To be honest, I just..." Her words trailed off.
Considering that they're ultimately how the members have power over their club activities, I'm not surprised. Taking voting for granted is almost as bad as not bothering to vote at all. I'm absolutely not making a big, multi-sentence deal out of this due to elections coming up in a couple of weeks in my home country.
"Sai-kun, do you not have a phone?"
"No…?"
"You can keep mine, at least for a while. In case we need to… talk to each other. It'll help."
As always, feel free to yell at me for any umbrages you may have about the update/my propensity towards needlessly overcomplicating things/my absolutely abysmal update schedule.
I wouldn't have complained about that beforehand, but since I now have a quest of my own, I have absolutely no grounds to do so. Especially on the overcomplicating part...
[X] [Eye of Miyao] (Sensitive) "Hey, you know what, I'm k-kind of tired… how about you two ride without me?"
A big part of my choice is just that it feels like what Silas would want to do. Deprive himself of something for the benefit of friends while also getting some solo time? Sounds like him to me. But the bit about Hana and Yumika possibly reconciling sounds nice, too. I don't think the possible social outcomes of Silas riding with one of the girls would outweigh that possibility...or at least the possibility of them laying out the problems in private. (The shippers would probably disagree, and I fully expect them to win in the end...but I'll give it a shot.)
Hey, random question. How do you get the text to center like this? It always goes left-justified whenever I try copy/pasting centered text from a word processor, so I assumed it wasn't possible on this forum.
I still just use bbcode in a lot of situations on here, to ensure everything formats correctly and nothing interferes; SV's rich post boxed can be nice, but can also conceal a lot of weird bugs.
Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go back to squeeing over Hana calling our idea cute. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Faded T-Shirt - An old t-shirt that was probably light blue at some point. In a rich city like Miyao, walking out wearing this will probably end up with you being approached by a social service worker offering food and government shelter. (-1 CHAR, -1 COUR when equipped.)
Torn Polo Shirt - A collared gray polo shirt probably manufactured with cotton. Comfy, but the wear and tear looks awful in the public. (-5 ST to social interactions when equipped.)
Casual Fuzzy Slippers - A pair of black-and-white fuzzy slippers in the shape of the mythical pandabear, manufactured in Manipinoy. For indoor use. Comfy. (Can only be equipped at home.)
Pink Scarf - A simple pink scarf made from synthetic fibers, with little angular ornamentations stitched to the sides. Very cute. Sort of. Probably. Why does Silas own this, again? (+0.5 CHAR when equipped. Silas may get weird looks occasionally. Can only be equipped during cold weather.)
Cute Fedora - An otherwise intimidating-looking sleek black fedora completely ruined by an out-of-place pink cat stitched in on the right side. (-1 COUR when equipped.)
"So, um…" Yumika moved a little closer. "...I brought the Mystery you were talking about!" she pulled out a small paperback novella - Murder at South Stackers - and handed it to him. Silas looked at it confusingly before taking it. "...just had to make sure I gave a copy to you in a public space. So that your text wouldn't seem too out of place, in case errant eyes started looking looking our way." Yumika winked.
Inventory update. Silas gained item: Murder at South Stackers!
SERIOUSLY I MISSED AN UPDATE HOW THE HELL DID I DO THAT! ITS LIKE THE ONLY QUEST I ACTUALLY PAY ATTENITION TO ON THE ENTIRE SITE!
Note: just saw that the update existed: SERIOUSLY HOW THE SHITS!
"Sai-kun," Hana grinned, even as she clutched her stomach and her face winced in pain. "Don't tell me you didn't see the look on that other girl's face?"
Edit: I did read the last update. I somehow forgot everything that happened in it. I'm really impressed with my self while also super disappointed. Vote later.
Silas tried to remember when and why he ever acquired these things - but the only memories he could drudge up from the past five or so years (as far as he was willing to go) were of him and videogames and anime. And whenever he tried to think about it too hard...
Silas shook the weirdness away. He had a thing to go to, after all! He shouldn't worry himself with weird stuff.
"Ahh…" Hana touched her lower lip with a gloved finger. "Still, though, I've always used this terminal. I should have bumped into you at least once in the past… five years? Six?"
"I… never used this bullet train last year. Or the year before."
Hana cocked an eyebrow. "Were you just this year moved to the area or something?"
Silas swallowed. It felt like there was a sharp stone tearing up his stomach. He felt responsible for all of this; somehow, he knew the way he brought these people together uniquely made things as unbearable as possible, he was about to witness the breakup of two friends and it was his fault, his fault his fault his fault his fault -
There was whispering on the other end of the door after she closed it. There was whispering everywhere, in fact. It leaked through the wooden beams of their small tatami room like carbon monoxide, and was just as asphyxiating. Silas felt himself tugging at his coat collar. He couldn't bring himself to glance at them. How could he? Waves crashing. They made a loud noise. It blotted out everything else. It was his fault they were here, in this position. They had every right to hate him, after all. He's an awful person, wasn't he? Breaking everything he touched, severing anything he reached out to mend, he hurts people by doing things, why should he bother, it's not like anything matters anyway, you're stupid, you're insignificant, you can't even -
Silas's finger shook slightly. "Oh, it's… a-ah… haha…" he felt giddy as a schoolboy. Even though he already was one. "I-I just… I like this brand of chocolate."
"Chffclrrt?" Hana said through a chocolate muffin. "Shff - " she swallowed deeply. "What kind."
"Ahh…" Silas tried to pronounce the words for them. "Shoukakora. Shou… Ka… Kora. It's… it's n-normal chocolate mixed with caffeine beans and some sort of n-nut. It's really nice…" He smiled, snapping off a piece from inside the canister and bringing it to his nose. Snow and seawater, rifles with kind faces, a warm mug by the dockside... He was probably smiling like an idiot, he realized. His face got a little red.
When he put the small slice of dark chocolate into his mouth, it was everything he'd imagined - bittersweet and brittle, the chocolate broke apart in chunks and melted down his throat. He could smell the coffee beans, the tiny drizzle of nut, the gunpowder -
And at once, like a book snapping shut, the memory retreated deep into his mind.
So Silas is dealing with reflexively repressed trauma that gave him an inferiority complex along with anxiety and guilt, and it relates to him living alone.
Going to go with Dead Parents creating an AI to help their Son because they were Important People and were targeted by Government Assassins.
On another note, Shinohara omake incoming.
[X] [Eye of Miyao] (Sensitive) "Hey, you know what, I'm k-kind of tired… how about you two ride without me?"
This is the correct choice, even if I don't exactly want to go with it.
A bit under the weather, so will be responding properly a bit later (holy mother of updates, is there a lot to respond to!). But as to the choice in hand...
I support this. There is a rift between Hana and Yumika that they alone can't mend in the span of ten minutes. Even Silas taking it very badly and very personally only made them suspend their mutual bickering, but not being distant to each other. The differences were there for a while, and the story that caused them to be at odds about the situations dates back a few years.
I just don't see anything good coming out of sticking two people bitter at each other together, and hoping for the best. At most they would agree not to show it in front of you, but that rings a bit hollow.
The problem is with Shinohara. Yumika tries to make it up to her, but runs into a wall... and there is something there that makes a normally rather gentle Hana treat her friend with uncharacteristical coldness. We should address it.
Yes, turning Yumika away will probably hurt her short-term, but if we can reach out to Hana and talk her into accepting her friend's apology (if only by appealing that part of this is our fault - we were the one to confide in Yumika and tell her about the Foundation - so could she forgive her at the very least so that we did not feel guilty about causing discord between friends?), then it should make up for it.
Hana is the offended party here - don't know whether rightfully so - and she doesn't want to hear another word from Yumika about it. It is time for us to take over since there is no painful history between us two to lash out at us and ignore our words.
Helping Hana vent safely out of Yumika's earshot would probably help with the eventual peacemaking, too.
That hinges on one important condition though, that Silas decides to be proactive for once, and comes up with a solution - not simply be content to hear her out. I dearly hope the brief leading experience he got today wasn't for nothing.
[X] [Eye of Miyao] (Sensitive) "Hey, you know what, I'm k-kind of tired… how about you two ride without me?"
I'm a bit hesitant about just hoping they have a moment and everything is fixed on the wheel... But this is supposed to be a group outing. The three of us are supposed to be a unit. And this is as close as we come to what I think the optimal option would be, which is to blow the secrecy of the problem out of the water and address it outright, with moderation from a trusted party (in this case, Silas).
Hopefully, Yumika and/or Hana can sense why Silas is letting the two of them go together, and feels badly enough about it to try to rebuild whatever bridge got burnt down.
Edit: Also, might be a reasonable opportunity to slip into a porta-potty or something and glance at that book Yumika gave us. There's almost definitely something contained in there. Something important. And a portable toilet is probably the least likely room to be bugged in all of Miyao.
See, I can respect the 'though thick and thin' attitude, but then hop on and act the part of the leader, even if it raises potential complications for yourself.
That's not cheating, that's creating a credit card account.
You'll be owing the bank some en afterwards. Which you will be expected to pay, because BS does not do credit card fraud. Dispersing crowds with casualties in the hundreds, yes. Fraud - we have standards!
