For a second there I actually thought we got those fancy descriptions to go with our stats and had to check the update again. Kudos on the great summary of our character's abilities.
...so I guess, running straight into a zero-stat disaster next just to get a taste? How bad can it be?
(I don't think he is that bad. Take Smarts, for example. He's done the online lessons, which he'd be unable to follow if he were as dull as his stat implies. He is also playing complex strategy games. He is probably bad at demonstrating it where or when it matters.)
[X] He'll be studying everything. He had already been doing some remedial lessons recommended by the school online, but he just needed to go over everything one more time. (Smarts Check, DC 10. On success, gain a moodlet.)
[X] Just suck it up and wear the whole thing. It's proper. And the right thing to do.
I feel like this is what I would do in Silas's position which also likely means it's the absolute wrong decision but...!
[X] He'd been avoiding the Tower Greenhouse's residents for a while, but maybe he should try to force himself to show up during a busy hour. Get used to… people. Being around him. (Charisma Check, DC 10. On success, gain a moodlet.)
[X] Just suck it up and wear the whole thing. It's proper. And the right thing to do.
I feel uncomfortable not wearing the proper uniform, it's summer right? everyone is a little sweaty in summer.
Letsgo Go: "SELF-INTRODUCTION" 2 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO!!!! NANAMI ACQUIRE!
Alright, I have rejected free thinking. Now what do I do to ensure we get good grades?
Hmm, prim and proper in any weather, and with teachers vouching for us... are we going to end up on the Student Council?
[x] He'll be studying everything. He had already been doing some remedial lessons recommended by the school online, but he just needed to go over everything one more time. (Smarts Check, DC 10. On success, gain a moodlet.)
[x] Just suck it up and wear the whole thing. It's proper. And the right thing to do.
So, Sera's a NPC, the world activated a couple weeks ago, there are multiple disasters in the making and we can apparently progress habits if they'd grow narratively, rather than needing specific actions of that stat only?
[X] He'd been avoiding the Tower Greenhouse's residents for a while, but maybe he should try to force himself to show up during a busy hour. Get used to… people. Being around him. (Charisma Check, DC 10. On success, gain a moodlet.)
Being less shit at talking would be nice...
[X] Maybe he can leave the blazer at home? No one will mind, right? At the very least, he should leave it unbuttoned…
Game Over via heatstroke would be an embarrassing way to go
Btw, is the PN high school quest something that's going to be relevant to this one?
So, Sera's a NPC, the world activated a couple weeks ago, there are multiple disasters in the makinh and we can apparently progress habits if they'd grow narratively, rather than needing specific actions of that stat only?
1) Sera's will be a Character, yes. She isn't interactable yet, however.
2) The world did not 'activate' a couple weeks ago, except for in the sense that this story started at that time. The world was chugging along just fine before Silas... woke up, so to say.
3) Yes! More or less. You'll see how that pans out during the first school week, hopefully.
Yes, in a relative sense. All of the characters present in the old version are still here, and many of the plotlines brought up will come up again, but I don't want to get people in the trap of thinking they need to scour the old material to understand the new one.
'cause, you know, besides the original PNHS being written years ago... my writing was kinda bad!
The world did not 'activate' a couple weeks ago, except for in the sense that this story started at that time. The world was chugging along just fine before Silas... woke up, so to say.
Right, gotcha!
Mostly felt that way because this quest somehow gives me heavy Simulacrum vibes. Like we're a background NPC in a high school anime thing whose sentience got activated when the pilot episode aired which showcased the actual MC encountering the supernatural 2 weeks before the start of high school. Or something. Idk, it just feels like V1 of simulacrum with the sus reality and all, which really excites me. And sim basically dropped the fucky reality part after book 1, so seeing this fills the hole in my heart shaped like high school anime things where things are suspiciously strange.
Anyway.
Super hyped for this quest, and uh. Yeah. That. Very excited to see where this goes.
and also fervently praying this doesnt die off and instead becomes a 500k full school year spanning thread for the ages
And also also, the mechanics are cool and me enjoy them. I like. AP based quests with stat growth and training and stuff (kinda maybe like Core ig?) but slice of life high school is a niche I never knew I wanted fulfilled, but here I am!
And also also also, nice character theme. Good song, goes in liked!
...Not entirely sure why that's the theme though. Silas seems, ah, significantly more subdued I guess. Welp, guess I'll find out!
Scheduled vote count started by LuciDreamer on Sep 13, 2022 at 2:22 PM, finished with 17 posts and 6 votes.
[X] He'd been avoiding the Tower Greenhouse's residents for a while, but maybe he should try to force himself to show up during a busy hour. Get used to… people. Being around him. (Charisma Check, DC 10. On success, gain a moodlet.)
[x] He'll be studying everything. He had already been doing some remedial lessons recommended by the school online, but he just needed to go over everything one more time. (Smarts Check, DC 10. On success, gain a moodlet.)
To be perfectly honest, idkHOW's inclusion as a theme is more about the vibe that the song gives off, the MV which is thematically appropriate (imagine Silas staring at the words as they scroll by on the computer screen), the retro 1960s aesthetic which I am all for, and because I found iDKHOW recently and just wanted to share their songs to more people *shrug*
Yes, it's an intense song. Maybe if I wanted a more tonally appropriate song, I would have gone for Yoh Kamiyaama's "Yellow," or maybe the Jubyphonic cover. Link:
Yes, in a relative sense. All of the characters present in the old version are still here, and many of the plotlines brought up will come up again, but I don't want to get people in the trap of thinking they need to scour the old material to understand the new one.
Silas wasn't sure what to think about the Greenhouse.
It was really… lively. It had the kind of atmosphere of an alternative rock music video. Miyaojin were usually compassionate but distant. People weren't typically forthcoming with their emotions.
Maybe that's why he blended in so well in this city.
But the denizens of Tower 1—many of whom were older adults and their children, Silas had noticed—seemed to be a lot more carefree about how they interacted. Blunt, even. Very much un-Miyaojin.
A few of them, kids, mostly, had even come up to him, and asked if he was 'one of those weird Ozzie-or-whatever-they-were-called foreigners,' before being politely shooed away by their parents.
That had, honestly, been the most uncomfortable part of his short stay up there. Especially because he couldn't exactly find his voice to speak.
Children were intimidating.
Still, after a few hours, he felt more at-ease with being there. He didn't quite feel like an outsider. He noticed most of the people who came here to relax at the Greenhouse were also its workers. It was a strange dynamic they had with this place.
Towards the end of the evening, everyone came together at the lounge, squashed so tight that a couple people even shared a seat with Silas. Silas quickly got up to move. There was free space on the edge of the balcony.
But the couple turned to him, and one of them insisted, "Oh, no, please, don't go. Just pretend we aren't here! We won't be bothersome."
Every bone in his body screamed for him to leave. He was starting to feel claustrophobic, surrounded in this tight-knit group of people. As his eyes flickered across the crowd, which was getting closer and closer together, Silas realized it was starting to get a bit hard to breathe, and a deep panic was rising in his gut.
Social Anxiety Check (Charisma)!
1d20 = 13 vs 10
Success!
…but it calmed down after a moment. It didn't feel quite right to leave, so he didn't.
There was a commotion, and Silas noticed Mr. Eryk had sat himself down near the middle of their small lounge. He had a guitar. Little Miyuki was bringing over a microphone and, behind her, someone else was lugging a speaker. It seemed like they were beginning a song.
There was a mild crackling, and Eryk's voice sounded all over the rooftop: "Can everyone hear me alright?"
After a chorus of confirmation, he chuckled. "Alright. Thanks, everyone. You know, it's been almost thirty years since I first immigrated to Miyao. Ten of those years have been with you. I never expected to find a particularly warm welcome in Miyao—"
For some reason, a couple people laughed at that.
"—but y'all have been the best to me, and I mean that. Thirteen years ago, my Ellie came to me, and she shared with me a dream of green fields and verdant trusses in the middle of a concrete metropolis. She would have been proud to see what we've done with the place.
"So… thanks. For everything. When I see y'all here, working hard like this, I see a little of her in each of you. It means a lot."
He looked like he was about to speak again, but he was quickly interrupted by clapping and hollering. Silas, mesmerized, found himself joining the crowd.
"As some of you might remember from long ago, my wife and I used to sing a little song together, during those hard nights in the middle of the, ahah, the Troubles of the Twenty-noughts. Me and some of the others, we thought we might reproduce it for y'all. It's an Amberrish folk song, an old tune from way back when. And it goes a little something like this."
From the instrumentalists behind him came the risings of a melody. It was a slow, almost rambling tune, punctuated by Eryk's guitar and a soft percussion. Silas felt the energy in the room change; people began to clap to the beat, swaying with the rhythm.
There was a slight crackling in the speaker as Eryk adjusted his microphone. After a moment's delay, his words rang out in Amberrish:
"Lover, tell me, if you can.
Who's gonna buy the wedding bands?
Times being what they are?
Hard and getting harder all the time?"
And the crowd sang back. Their accents were shaky, and their pronunciation of the Amberrish sounds was broken, in that way Miyaojin tended to break Eastern languages. And some of them were out of tune. Okay, most of them were out of tune. But they sung with the force and veracity of a group that knew the words by heart:
"Lover, when I sing my song
All the rivers gonna sing along
And they're gonna break their banks for me
To lay their gold around my feet
All a'flashin' in the pan
All to fashion for your hand
The rivers gonna give us the wedding bands!"
Eryk hollered out, and the crowd responded happily.
The singing went on for a long while after that, with Eryk ceding the floor to anyone else who wanted it. Apparently, today was an important holiday for a lot of people. They called it 'Color Day.' Silas wasn't sure why. They hung streamers of teal and red and white, sang songs in broken Amberrish and Mihokugo, and they danced.
He was sure their voices echoed onto the streets below, with how loud they got.
And again, there was that strange, earthy smell Silas remembered from earlier in the week. It was starting to get overpowering, to be honest… but he couldn't quite place where it was coming from.
Still, it was… really nice. Being there. He even caught himself humming along, more than once. He was surprised how much people could have an… effect on him.
Silas left the rooftop as it got closer to midnight, slipping away even as the people around him seemed content to stay long into the evening. He left, feeling a little lighter, but not being sure why.
Silas has gained the following Moodlet:
Sociable (x1): Silas is feeling talkative lately. (+1 Temporary Charisma. Expires at the beginning of the next turn.)
Silas has alleviated another incoming disaster!
It won't be enough... but Silas is about as prepared as he could ever be.
<><><>
His morning went by almost mechanically. He woke up with his alarm (Big Sister poked him a few times to get him to wake up), showered, and looked over his assembled schoolthings. He had a bag, a few notepads and binders, pencils, a pen, a student ID, a wallet, and some other assorted things.
And then he decided to get into his uniform… or, well, most of it.
As he stared at himself in the mirror, Silas couldn't help but feel a little… proud. He looked professional. Like a salaryman, or a junior scientist for the Miyao Robotics Company, or an intern for GOZO Corp, or a special investigator for CominSec-POL.
He was feeling oddly restless. Silas guessed it was the momentum starting to hit him. He'd been (kind of) preparing for this for months now.
Or was it weeks? It didn't matter which.
So there was little left for him to do but go. All his anxiety, all his trepidation… it faded away. For now, it was background radiation, a gentle click-click of a geiger counter that he could shuffle away into the recesses of his mind.
It was a short walk to the station. He could make it to the train, at least. And maybe he'd deal with things from there.
Silas had found a nice, quiet corner to squeeze himself into, at the back of the train. At least from here, he could see without (mostly) being seen. And the train wasn't too crowded, anyway.
He was surprised how subdued the atmosphere was. A few Yamaha students (he assumed they were Yamaha students; they were dressed like him) milled about, chatting in hushed tones, and near the front of the train, a Junior High student was excitedly sharing something on their phone with their friends.
But besides that, people were quiet. It was soothing.
The automatic announcement system on the train buzzed to life: "Now approaching: Yamaha. North. Yamaha. North. For your safety, please stay away from the sliding doors until the train has stopped. Thank you."
And soon enough, they were out.
It was a beautiful spring morning, Silas noted. A gentle wind blew through the city, and the sun wasn't too bright. As he made his way down the street to his school, he felt the crunch of pink blossoms beneath his shoes. They had planted these cherry trees, he realized, all along the boulevard. He wondered if that was a deliberate thing.
He followed the current of students, constantly conscious of himself, trying not to stick out. He wasn't sure how to reach out to these people. He wasn't sure he wanted to. For now, he tolerated them, and they tolerated him.
He turned a corner, and he saw it: Yamaha Senior High. It was a proud, graying building, with wide windows, though even it looked small next to the skyscrapers that surrounded it. It was bordered on all sides by a tall plaster wall; there was a metal gate at the front, rolled over to the side.
Silas briefly imagined that it could be a really nice hardpoint for protecting the students during a zombie apocalypse, assuming the wall formed an unbroken perimeter around the building and this was the only primary entrance.
At the entrance stood a few well-dressed looking students wearing armbands, and an adult. One of the students held a clipboard, and their eyes crossed paths. Silas tried to look away.
"'Scuse me!" He had a youthful, but stern voice. "I need a name for the book. Name and class?"
"U-Uh… " Silas fidgeted with his wallet. He pulled out his ID. "T-This. Here."
"You could just tell me? Oh, whatever." He took the ID, and scribbled something into his book. "Yamigawa Silas-senpai, Class 4-2. You're a late-join, hmm? Do you know where your classroom is?"
"Uh. No. Sorry." Silas shook his head.
The boy gestured towards the building. "Go in, take the left staircase. You'll be on Floor 4, near a north-facing classroom."
"Ah. Thank you…" Silas took his card back. "I-I'll be… going now."
"Course, senpai. And thanks for the support." He winked.
"Support?"
"Well, not many of the upperclassmen support us underclassmen on the dress issue!" He chuckled. "Good on you! Show it to those stuck-up jerks in the third year. I'd do the same as you if I weren't elected…"
The girl next to him shot him a glare. "Hey. Watch it. You represent the Student Council. Act like it."
"Ahh screw off, Maeda-senpai. You're not my mother." He stuck his tongue out.
The girl shook her head. She grumbled, "Tachibana-kun, I swear to Miku…"
Silas decided to quickly leave before that brewing conversation got uncomfortable. Still, Silas felt somewhat confused. What dress issue?
His confusion wasn't helped once he entered the cluttered halls of Yamaha Senior High. It seemed like most of the students were dressed like him—that meaning, almost nobody had their blazers on, though a few seemed to be wearing that sweater vest that he saw in the set but didn't consider bringing. And then there were some who didn't look like they were wearing the uniform at all!
Of course, the most of the Student Councilors he saw had the full kit, but… was it really a given that hardly anyone bothered with the uniform code in this school?
This was so unlike what he'd watched in anime. Maybe he ought to watch more modern shows…
Silas seems to have unknowingly made his allegiance clear to various factions of the student body??
He will need to ask someone what exactly this means at a later date.
+3 to ?? because of ???
Total ??: +5
Class 4-2 was… busy. Yes, that was a safe way to describe it. Busy. The girl he assumed was their Student Council Representative was pacing in between the sensei's desk and a stack of papers at her own desk, while some other students heckled her with questions. Silas couldn't process exactly what their problem was.
He tried to find a nice corner to sit. He settled for a seat near the back corner of the classroom—away from the window. A nice place to scurry himself, where he could see, but not be seen. He pulled out his things, and waited, fiddling with his pencil.
Silas was early. Students filtered into the classroom in small groups or pairs, with the occasional lone straggler quickly joining a group of friends and chatting happily. It seemed like everyone here mostly already knew each other.
Silas squirmed in his seat a little, and fiddled with his pencil again. He didn't like this… waiting. And a deep sense of unease was rising in his gut again. Like he was waiting for a wave to crash over him.
Just… waiting. And listening.
Eventually, their sensei arrived. She looked at the class, tapped the podium with her fingertips, and gestured towards their student rep. She looked at the teacher, and then herself, and then the class, which seemed to be in a state of generalized chaos.
She walked over to the teacher's podium, and grabbed a small hammer. She then made her way to her own desk, and slammed it down, causing a sharp clap to echo throughout the room. Then she did it again. "Quiet! Everyone sit down! Please!"
The effect was immediate. People melted away from their friend groups, and seats were taken in relatively short order.
The girl sighed in relief. "Thank you. We will now begin the morning procedures. As you all know, you are now one year away from graduation. Your conduct reflects the… best that Yamaha Senior High has to offer to the City of Miyao. Please do not take that for granted. Err… sensei? Would you like to say anything?"
The woman waved her off. "Couldn't have said it better myself," she said.
"Great! Grand. Wonderful." The class representative took a deep breath. "Now. Time for my favorite part, heh." She gestured towards the class as a whole. "Kiritsu!"
There was a sudden scraping of chairs against the floor. Silas was confused. What just happened? Everyone was standing now.
"R—" The girl stopped… and she turned to look directly at Silas.
The girl cleared her throat. "Kiritsu!" She said again.
Silas lunged for the table and forced himself to stand. His face was red and his heart was roaring and oh god how could he forget this very basic ritual what was he some sort of troglodyte—
"Rei!"
The class bowed, and Silas stuffed those bad thoughts into his gut and bowed along with them. The class called out: "Good morning!"
"Chakuseki!"
And then everyone was seated.
Was… was Silas already sweating? His body felt hot. He was burning up. Ahh, shit, he was going to die…
"We have some new people in our class today, so we'll start off with introductions. When I call your name, please tell us something about yourselves. Yes, even if you've done it before. Yes, you can say the same thing you said last time."
Oh.
"Aomori Tammi-san!"
"Hai! I'm Tammi-chan! Come to the naval airstation this weekend to see Echo Squadron do tricks for the yearly airshow! My mom's on ground crew, so I can get you in for free!"
Oh, he should have expected this. He'd have to… talk to people. And tell them. About himself.
Silas stared into his desk as the class representative rattled off a list of names, and the students who belonged to them answered in kind. He was… barely paying attention.
"Ibara Kel-kun!"
"Yo! I am Kel."
"...anything else?"
"No."
"Fair enough. Inoue Sara-san! That's me. Hello, class. I am your class representative. I like Eastern food, and my MiiChat handle is Sara Inoue, one word, hashtag-one-five-seven-nine. Please friend me, if you haven't yet. Kunihara Yuri-kun!"
"Hai!"
What would he say? What was there to say?! He didn't know how to speak when he wanted to. His voice was ugly, and crackly, and he had an awful stutter, and, and…
"Mikado Yoshi-kun!"
"Hey. It's Yoshi Mikado. I, uh. I like computers? Come by the Drama Club on Thursdays to see our improv stuff. Yumika-chan would love to host you. Also, I run the A/V Club, if you're interested."
Names passed by in a flash. It felt like it had barely been a quarter of a minute from the start of the naming, and then…
"Ahh! The late-joiner. Yamigawa Silas-kun?"
Silas looked up at her, wide eyed.
"...please stand and address the class." There was a silence. She blinked. She gestured at him with her head. She seemed to be asking him to do something. Anything.
"Uh… okay…" Silas rose. Oh wow. They were all staring at him. He supposed that was only fair. He was supposed to be talking. The floor was his. It was his cue.
Cue… Wait, wasn't there something he was forgetting?
"So… a-ah…" Silas scratched the back of his head, and all at once he became aware of how much hair he had. God, he probably looked like a mess, didn't he? "S-Sorry about… all that."
"It's okay. Go on." The student rep nervously flitted with a strand of her hair.
He swallowed, took a deep breath, and tried to push through the words: "H-Hello. I am Yamigawa Silas. I… like video games. I'm not very... good... at this. Still, it's…" he looked around. For some reason, he had their rapt attention. "...wonderful t-to… meet you all."
The class rep—Sara—seemed to be looking at him almost pitifully. "...thank you, Yamigawa-kun. It is wonderful to meet you as well. Though you're a newcomer to our class, we're all going to treat you with respect and neighborliness. Right?"
There was a curt ripple of laughter, and general agreement.
"Good. You may be seated, Yamigawa-kun. Welcome to Class 4-2."
Silas gratefully took his seat, appreciating the attention fading away.
God, that was awful. Surely it couldn't get any worse than that, though.
Because Charisma > 0, Silas has made it through self-introductions without causing a scene! He won't die of shame trying to talk to anyone in his class now! Probably!
Objectives updated! Please check the Objectives Tab for more details.
Silas Yamigawa
Some kid from nowhere. Gray hair, skittish, and kind of smooth-brained. Has maybe two brain cells to rub together at any given time.
Four in the morning, but we're having such a lovely time~
Mad as a hatter with a dagger and a dollar sign~
Aristocrat, tip your hat and break your mother's heart
And when the sun comes up
You find a brand new god.
Statuses: Exercising (x1) - Silas is exerting his body beyond its natural baseline. +1 to all Physique Checks. (Expires at the end of the next turn) Sociable (x1) - Silas is feeling talkative lately. (+1 Temporary Charisma. Expires at the beginning of the next turn.)
Habits: Daydreaming - Silas spends a lot of his waking hours imagining things: fantastical plots, military engagements, spaceships, tetris blocks, mahou shoujo… that sort of thing. (+Imagination) Takes Walks - Silas likes to spend his free time pacing his neighborhood… just because. It helps calm his nerves. (+ Physique)
Traits:
Tabula Rasa - Silas is extremely maladjusted for a person of his age. He's gonna have trouble with… pretty much everything.
Stutterer - Silas punctuates his sentences with awkward mumblings and repetitions. (-1 to social checks)
???
Relationships:
Big Sister - Silas's Big Sis and legal guardian. Her real name's Seraphine.
Silas no Mirai
Silas is having trouble… conceptualizing who his older sister is as a person, rather than as just his Big Sister. A fog settles in his mind whenever he tries to force himself to recall just these simple things. Perhaps he just needs a new perspective. Or an old one?
Objective 1: Gain Base Imagination +3. Base Imagination is increased by building positive habits, and not through Traits.
Reward: Big Sister becomes an interactable Character, more Objectives.
Kiritsu! Rei! Chakuseki!
Silas just wants to make it through the week without dying, causing an incident, or alienating the entire school. He can manage that, right?
Objective 1: Survive (the first week of classes) Objective 1a: Don't embarrass oneself during self-introductionsSuccess! Result: +1 to ??
Objective 1b: Have the basic ability to follow along during class activities
Objective 1c: Make some connections with one's peers
Objective 1d: Be able to do P.E. without dying of exhaustion
Reward: ???
?? ?? Is a really important thing that Silas is already being affected by, but does not know about yet.
Currently, ?? is at +6 for the following reasons:
Base: +2
???: +3
???: +1
Once Silas discovers ??, it will appear as a Status on his character sheet.
Yo~ho~! Sorry about the wait! Apparently, professors are allowed to schedule midterms outside of class hours, and double apparently, they have no scruples about scheduling two right on top of each other! Late in the evening! On a Friday night!
I've been having a stressful week~
Glad it's over, though. For now, anyway.
So this update was split into two parts for readibility (and to reduce my workload this week---so I could study lmao). Part II should be out soon-ish!
Ahh yes. If only TI came out a day earlier though, so I could enjoy it before my weekend ends ^_^
....really looking forward to trying out an Academy run. I never see the more pro- or neutral- alien factions represented in demos and Early Access by people who've streamed the game.
But the denizens of Tower 1—many of whom were older adults and their children, Silas had noticed—seemed to be a lot more carefree about how they interacted. Blunt, even. Very much un-Miyaojin.
Expats? Cultural rebels? Covert Intelligence of Ambernia agents?
Eryk is a confirmed foreigner. I wonder if Silas' choice of his residence was not accidental. Well, Big Sister's choice, really. I doubt Silas is "there" enough to take care of his day-to-day living. Where does his living expenses come from, anyway?
As some of you might remember from long ago, my wife and I used to sing a little song together, during those hard nights in the middle of the, ahah, the Troubles of the Twenty-noughts.
Hmm, what year is it now? Eryk immigrated 30 years ago, and people here are supposed to remember him sing, so it should be sometime before 2040. Is it a "contemporary" setting of 2020s?
There are some allusions to date, but never anything concrete. 'Color Day'? Observed in the last days of April, or what is the current date? Has something to do with Ambernia and Mihoku. What kind of history do these countries have together?
The previous setting alluded to some kind of great war about three generations ago, so maybe it is something related to that.
He was feeling oddly restless. Silas guessed it was the momentum starting to hit him. He'd been (kind of) preparing for this for months now.
Or was it weeks? It didn't matter which.
So there was little left for him to do but go. All his anxiety, all his trepidation… it faded away. For now, it was background radiation, a gentle click-click of a geiger counter that he could shuffle away into the recesses of his mind.
Silas' sense of time is somewhat wonky. There were indications before, what with him "seeing his Big Sister for the first time", and having a constant sense of deja vu, but there's been more and more proof that something isn't right with his head.
Also, that's one weird analogy to calm oneself down. Listening to a Geiger counter click is not everyone's idea of relaxation. Not judging, of course!
As he made his way down the street to his school, he felt the crunch of pink blossoms beneath his shoes. They had planted these cherry trees, he realized, all along the boulevard.
"Course, senpai. And thanks for the support." He winked.
"Support?"
"Well, not many of the upperclassmen support us underclassmen on the dress issue!" He chuckled. "Good on you! Show it to those stuck-up jerks in the third year. I'd do the same as you if I weren't elected…"
"Uh… okay…" Silas rose. Oh wow. They were all staring at him. He supposed that was only fair. He was supposed to be talking. The floor was his. It was his cue.
Cue… Wait, wasn't there something he was forgetting?
Wow, you're sounding like an officer of the Imperial Peace Bureau there, rattling off all these unfounded conspiratorial accusations.
More seriously, this is mostly a generational thing Silas is experiencing here. The 2000s was sort of… bad, for a lot of Miyaojin, and those who were adults during that time have a lot of shared experiences.
The crisis also solidly entrenched Amberrish influences in what we'll call Miyao City counterculture.
You know, I was actually 50-50 as to whether I would use "Wedding Song" from the Hadestown concept album or "Ue o Muite" by Sakamoto Kyu. The latter probably works a lot better… but none of the acoustic recordings I could find really fit the tone I wanted.
It's not impossible! The Yamaha Senior High Student Council is famously lenient about existing Representatives inducting their friends into the Student Council by giving them nonsense titles.
Damn this story is scary. Silas is literally me except hes starting to change something. We really need to get some therapy, even if its just to get meds for the ADHD.
Kiritsu! Rei! Chakuseki!
Silas just wants to make it through the week without dying, causing an incident, or alienating the entire school. He can manage that, right?
Objective 1: Survive (the first week of classes) Objective 1a: Don't embarrass oneself during self-introductionsSuccess! Result: +1 to ?? Thank dice gods our success. That ?? is probably the +1 we got to our standing in blazer-less student body. Wonder what it does, and if 6 is high or not.
Objective 1b: Have the basic ability to follow along during class activities. Oh no! Unless our imaginiation somehow helps, then this will end in disaster. Well, not like we had any chance for student council with that clothing statement, anyway.
Objective 1c: Make some connections with one's peers A vote and some rolls I bet, one without a bonus due to stuttering canceling out our charisma. Praying to RNG-sus right now.
Objective 1d: Be able to do P.E. without dying of exhaustion ... Are we... are we jocks? +2 means we could do almost decently there!
Reward: ??? Is there a participation award? A "you tried" badge? Because I bet that's all we can get, aside from a "congratulations, you aren't a (complete) pariah!"
On one hand, I am glad we don't have to choose right now. On the other hand, there is no stopping the pain train. No last-minute cramming. No deep breaths to ease some of that anxiety. Just wait for class to start and Silas to get his first demerit.
Well, this took significantly longer than I wanted, but hey, at least it's done. Was aiming for a Scott-Pilgrimy artstyle kinda?
Also she's missing a face, because.
She doesn't have a face lmao. uses her npchood as excuse to not draw faces
