i don't know why this exists (aaa)
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Prologue 0.1 (DAY)
- Location
- the point is of no return and you have reached it!
Do you think that a person can know when a moment is about to change their life forever? When a single action—a simple decision, or even something as small as a flap of a butterfly's wings—is about to change the course of their history?
I lower my toothbrush back down from my mouth and rinse it off in the sink. Okay, so maybe this moment right here—maybe it wasn't a moment that was about to change my life forever. I frown at the reflection of my teeth.
But sometimes, somethings—somethings just jumped out at you.
My name is Yamada Felisa and I'm the only child of Yamada Hideyo and his late wife—my late mother—Inesita. My father and I live alone, mostly, in an apartment complex in the Nara projects. Most of the people in the apartment complex have moved out of the region, moving towards more prosperous parts of Nara, but my dad has always found peace in the humble nature of our home.
I was a student at Magdalena of Nagasaki—a private and Catholic school on the edge of Nara's projects—for the past eight years, but a recent law change has ended public funding of private religious schools, and Magdalena of Nagasaki was cutting down its programs in response. The letter informing my father of the cutbacks had came this week, but it was something Oneesama Marina had warned me about a while ago.
I finish putting on the last of my foundation, before frowning and starting over. This was going to be my first impression, and it was important to me that I made a good one.
Our winter break had finished yesterday, and that meant that today is the start of something new. I'm going to finish out the final term of my sophomore year at Nara West, a renown and storied public school. And that really should be a more exciting thing to me than it felt like.
Before he converted for my mama, my dad had gone to Nara West, and he had told me enough stories about the place that some part of me felt like I've already gone and graduated from there. It would be exciting, at least, to finally go through and check some of the taller tales he's told.
I flip open the small jewelry box that sat by my palette and pull out a pair of silver earrings; for the left ear, a crucifix—for the right ear, a hanging bar, inscribed with faint romaji. They were a gift from Oneesama; one of the few pairs she had owned before she fully joined the Nara convent. Looking at them again, in the pink light of our apartment's bathroom, I can't help but smile. She had said that she would write me; maybe I should go and write her first.
[x] I put them on.
[x] I put them back in the case.
Dad's voice interrupted my thoughts. "Liz, mister Adachi and miss Saito are stopping by in a few minutes to carpool. Are you going to be alright getting to school today?"
"I'll make it! Have fun at work, dad," I call back from the bathroom, before stepping outside and heading back towards my room. I know that he's offering to drop me off as part of the carpool, but something about being dropped off from mister Adachi's Civic—two hours before school started—on my first day at a new school sounds really embarrassing.
My dad laughs, and the sound carries across the apartment. His laugh has always been a hearty one, with a lot of throat action involved.
"You know I always do, Liz. There's some toast in the kitchen if you're feeling hungry." For a moment, his voice sobers. "Try your best to have fun today, okay? I know that new schools can be stressful, but they're a great opportunity, and I'm sure you'll make all sorts of friends."
"Yeah, of course," I call back, but my voice wasn't as loud or strong as his. There isn't any reply from him directly, but the creak of the apartment door opening and closing and the muffled sound of his footsteps towards the elevator let me know mister Adachi has arrived.
My room, like the rest of the apartment that my dad and I share, is humble. Laying back on the full-bed that took up most of the room and staring up at the pale lilac ceiling, I let out a breath I didn't really know I was holding in. I don't know why I'm making such a big deal out of this move; a lot of my classmates are making the same move, and it would be easy enough to slot in with them and maintain my old social circle.
Only, if I was being honest with myself, it's hard to say that I liked my group from Magdalena. Okay, no, if I was being honest with myself, it's hard to say that my group from Magdalena really liked me, either. As much as I tried, I was on the fringe there, and it had always been hard to feel like I wasn't intruding in on someone else's friendship. This was a chance to make new connections and to find out people who I could be more of myself around, maybe.
If it went well. It should go well. I'm Yamada Felisa, after all, and if Oneesama Marina hadn't managed to kill me in the past eight years, I doubt anything Nara West threw at me would come close.
I lower my toothbrush back down from my mouth and rinse it off in the sink. Okay, so maybe this moment right here—maybe it wasn't a moment that was about to change my life forever. I frown at the reflection of my teeth.
But sometimes, somethings—somethings just jumped out at you.
My name is Yamada Felisa and I'm the only child of Yamada Hideyo and his late wife—my late mother—Inesita. My father and I live alone, mostly, in an apartment complex in the Nara projects. Most of the people in the apartment complex have moved out of the region, moving towards more prosperous parts of Nara, but my dad has always found peace in the humble nature of our home.
I was a student at Magdalena of Nagasaki—a private and Catholic school on the edge of Nara's projects—for the past eight years, but a recent law change has ended public funding of private religious schools, and Magdalena of Nagasaki was cutting down its programs in response. The letter informing my father of the cutbacks had came this week, but it was something Oneesama Marina had warned me about a while ago.
I finish putting on the last of my foundation, before frowning and starting over. This was going to be my first impression, and it was important to me that I made a good one.
Our winter break had finished yesterday, and that meant that today is the start of something new. I'm going to finish out the final term of my sophomore year at Nara West, a renown and storied public school. And that really should be a more exciting thing to me than it felt like.
Before he converted for my mama, my dad had gone to Nara West, and he had told me enough stories about the place that some part of me felt like I've already gone and graduated from there. It would be exciting, at least, to finally go through and check some of the taller tales he's told.
I flip open the small jewelry box that sat by my palette and pull out a pair of silver earrings; for the left ear, a crucifix—for the right ear, a hanging bar, inscribed with faint romaji. They were a gift from Oneesama; one of the few pairs she had owned before she fully joined the Nara convent. Looking at them again, in the pink light of our apartment's bathroom, I can't help but smile. She had said that she would write me; maybe I should go and write her first.
[x] I put them on.
[x] I put them back in the case.
Dad's voice interrupted my thoughts. "Liz, mister Adachi and miss Saito are stopping by in a few minutes to carpool. Are you going to be alright getting to school today?"
"I'll make it! Have fun at work, dad," I call back from the bathroom, before stepping outside and heading back towards my room. I know that he's offering to drop me off as part of the carpool, but something about being dropped off from mister Adachi's Civic—two hours before school started—on my first day at a new school sounds really embarrassing.
My dad laughs, and the sound carries across the apartment. His laugh has always been a hearty one, with a lot of throat action involved.
"You know I always do, Liz. There's some toast in the kitchen if you're feeling hungry." For a moment, his voice sobers. "Try your best to have fun today, okay? I know that new schools can be stressful, but they're a great opportunity, and I'm sure you'll make all sorts of friends."
"Yeah, of course," I call back, but my voice wasn't as loud or strong as his. There isn't any reply from him directly, but the creak of the apartment door opening and closing and the muffled sound of his footsteps towards the elevator let me know mister Adachi has arrived.
My room, like the rest of the apartment that my dad and I share, is humble. Laying back on the full-bed that took up most of the room and staring up at the pale lilac ceiling, I let out a breath I didn't really know I was holding in. I don't know why I'm making such a big deal out of this move; a lot of my classmates are making the same move, and it would be easy enough to slot in with them and maintain my old social circle.
Only, if I was being honest with myself, it's hard to say that I liked my group from Magdalena. Okay, no, if I was being honest with myself, it's hard to say that my group from Magdalena really liked me, either. As much as I tried, I was on the fringe there, and it had always been hard to feel like I wasn't intruding in on someone else's friendship. This was a chance to make new connections and to find out people who I could be more of myself around, maybe.
If it went well. It should go well. I'm Yamada Felisa, after all, and if Oneesama Marina hadn't managed to kill me in the past eight years, I doubt anything Nara West threw at me would come close.
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Prologue 0.2 (DAY)
- Location
- the point is of no return and you have reached it!
Magdalena of Nagasaki is a Catholic school, and it's a school that demanded adherence to a strict uniform. For the past eight years, I had worn the same combo of blouse and skirt, matched on occasion with the few pieces of school approved "spirit wear" – hoodies, scarves, leg warmers, the occasional athletic pant – that we were allowed for Homecoming games and other spirit days.
Nara West, in stark contrast, is a public school, and one in close proximity to the Statesmen Office at Kōriyama. School uniforms had gone the way of formal honorifics in public schools. And that's exciting. Going from a place where the only items I could accessorize were my shoes, to a place where the world was my canvas—it's all a little scary, but maybe that scariness is what made this small part of it exciting.
My style for the day is…
[x] In a word, comfy. An oversize shoulder sweater in cream, with black leggings and a pair of chunky FILAs. It wouldn't be hard to blend in in this sort of look, and I have a winter coat to throw over it for my walk.
[x] Casual, but not "leggings in public" casual. A chiffon-top blouse with a floral pattern, matched with light-wash jeans and some Adidas Gazelles. This outfit would be pretty close to what I wore to Magdalena, just replacing the skirt with a pair of jeans and switching out the blouse.
[x] A bit extra, but what's life without the extravagance? A mid-length dress in burgundy, matched with white-laced heels and a pair of silver necklaces. To pair with it, I even have a black winter cloak that accentuates the reds of the dress and the tone of my eyes. On the other hand…if I wasn't confident, I could see myself regretting this outfit by the end of the day.
[x] A little emo, if I'm being honest. An oversized and two-tone "Like a Prayer" t-shirt, with red katakana screen printed across it, matched with a ripped pair of dark denim jeans and checkered Vans. For the walk—or if I felt embarrassed in school—I had a leather jacket to throw on top. It was edgy, definitely, but hopefully still approachable.
[x] Something else from my closet… Write-in option. The choice of outfit has some effects on Felisa's style as a whole, as well as her interactions with characters in the prologue and early chapters, but it is not an extremely important choice.
And, before we get ahead of ourselves and set off for the school day, my height is…
[x] 5'0" – 5'4" / 152cm – 162cm
[x] 5'5" – 5'9" / 165cm – 175cm
[x] 5'10 – 6'2"/ 177cm – 187cm
[x] Over 6'2" / Over 189 cm
Confident in my outfit choice and reassured that I was not experiencing a new growth spurt—or, god forbid, shrinking—I set out to Nara West.
I was still early when I eventually made it to the courtyard outside Nara West, and I regret the choices that brought me here so early. The January air is brisk on my skin, and now that I'm not walking, I can feel the cold spread across me and each of the goosebumps that bristle and rise in its wake.
The courtyard at Nara West is walled off from the area of the city around it. The architecture of the walls and gates had the rustic charm of pre-occupation construction, and surprisingly, the outer walls look fairly free from the graffiti and markings that litter any open wall space in the projects.
The courtyard is fairly large, and it has this beauty to it that most of Nara has lost. An artificial river runs across one half of the courtyard, born from a fountain that built into the back-wall of the yard. There's a large shed near the fountain and the corner of the wall, which still had some sporting equipment leaning up against it.
The school proper takes up a large part of the walled-in space, and there's a trail of gray, white, red and coral stones that lead to the doors from the gates. An offshoot of that trail runs alongside the river and to the shed.
There are some benches speckled across the courtyard around the pathways, presumably to provide sitting or eating spaces outside the cafeteria for students at lunch and at breaks. I see some students, though none that I recognize, are sitting at one of the benches now—one in the group, a red-haired boy in a denim jacket, is clearly passed out on the bench.
There are a few other students standing around by the doorway to the school proper, kept into a few different groups. There's a group of three girls huddled close to eachother for warmth, all in similar outfits; a mixed gender group that is sitting down with their backs to the school wall, each enamored in their phones; and a pair, or a couple, of a guy and a girl that look to be chatting fairly loudly, with a lot of hand motions involved.
…it's good that I didn't ride with Dad. I don't know what I'd do if I had gotten here two hours early, empty as it is right now. I inhale and take a step forward. I should… go meet somebody, shouldn't I? Introduce myself? Make some new friends?
The sound of a familiar voice takes me out of my thoughts. "Hey! Felisa, is that you?" I don't turn back to acknowledge it just yet. That voice belongs to Okumura Reiji, a classmate of mine at Magdalena of Nagasaki.
I don't hate Reiji, but a lot of people do, and their reasons range from legitimate grievances to the (also legitimate) fact that he always smells like he just got back from the gym. Reiji was notorious for a lot of things—questioning ridiculous things in class and getting us held back ten minutes into our lunch periods, always trying to bum off of other people's Juul, talking about himself constantly—but at the heart of it, I don't think he's a bad person.
…Still, maybe I didn't want to spend my first day at a new school with Reiji at my side. I still hadn't responded to him, and if I walked over to one of the other areas or groups, I might be able to play it off completely.
Yeah, okay. It's settled. I'll…
[x] Say hi to Reiji. It'll kill some time between now and class's start, and really, there aren't too many people here to see us chatting.
[x] Avoid Reiji by…
-[x] Approaching the Chatting Couple
-[x] Approaching the Girl Group
-[x] Approaching the Sleeping Boy's Group
-[x] Approaching the Phone Using Group
-[x] Walking down the path to the shed
Nara West, in stark contrast, is a public school, and one in close proximity to the Statesmen Office at Kōriyama. School uniforms had gone the way of formal honorifics in public schools. And that's exciting. Going from a place where the only items I could accessorize were my shoes, to a place where the world was my canvas—it's all a little scary, but maybe that scariness is what made this small part of it exciting.
My style for the day is…
[x] In a word, comfy. An oversize shoulder sweater in cream, with black leggings and a pair of chunky FILAs. It wouldn't be hard to blend in in this sort of look, and I have a winter coat to throw over it for my walk.
[x] Casual, but not "leggings in public" casual. A chiffon-top blouse with a floral pattern, matched with light-wash jeans and some Adidas Gazelles. This outfit would be pretty close to what I wore to Magdalena, just replacing the skirt with a pair of jeans and switching out the blouse.
[x] A bit extra, but what's life without the extravagance? A mid-length dress in burgundy, matched with white-laced heels and a pair of silver necklaces. To pair with it, I even have a black winter cloak that accentuates the reds of the dress and the tone of my eyes. On the other hand…if I wasn't confident, I could see myself regretting this outfit by the end of the day.
[x] A little emo, if I'm being honest. An oversized and two-tone "Like a Prayer" t-shirt, with red katakana screen printed across it, matched with a ripped pair of dark denim jeans and checkered Vans. For the walk—or if I felt embarrassed in school—I had a leather jacket to throw on top. It was edgy, definitely, but hopefully still approachable.
[x] Something else from my closet… Write-in option. The choice of outfit has some effects on Felisa's style as a whole, as well as her interactions with characters in the prologue and early chapters, but it is not an extremely important choice.
And, before we get ahead of ourselves and set off for the school day, my height is…
[x] 5'0" – 5'4" / 152cm – 162cm
[x] 5'5" – 5'9" / 165cm – 175cm
[x] 5'10 – 6'2"/ 177cm – 187cm
[x] Over 6'2" / Over 189 cm
Confident in my outfit choice and reassured that I was not experiencing a new growth spurt—or, god forbid, shrinking—I set out to Nara West.
. . .
I was still early when I eventually made it to the courtyard outside Nara West, and I regret the choices that brought me here so early. The January air is brisk on my skin, and now that I'm not walking, I can feel the cold spread across me and each of the goosebumps that bristle and rise in its wake.
The courtyard at Nara West is walled off from the area of the city around it. The architecture of the walls and gates had the rustic charm of pre-occupation construction, and surprisingly, the outer walls look fairly free from the graffiti and markings that litter any open wall space in the projects.
The courtyard is fairly large, and it has this beauty to it that most of Nara has lost. An artificial river runs across one half of the courtyard, born from a fountain that built into the back-wall of the yard. There's a large shed near the fountain and the corner of the wall, which still had some sporting equipment leaning up against it.
The school proper takes up a large part of the walled-in space, and there's a trail of gray, white, red and coral stones that lead to the doors from the gates. An offshoot of that trail runs alongside the river and to the shed.
There are some benches speckled across the courtyard around the pathways, presumably to provide sitting or eating spaces outside the cafeteria for students at lunch and at breaks. I see some students, though none that I recognize, are sitting at one of the benches now—one in the group, a red-haired boy in a denim jacket, is clearly passed out on the bench.
There are a few other students standing around by the doorway to the school proper, kept into a few different groups. There's a group of three girls huddled close to eachother for warmth, all in similar outfits; a mixed gender group that is sitting down with their backs to the school wall, each enamored in their phones; and a pair, or a couple, of a guy and a girl that look to be chatting fairly loudly, with a lot of hand motions involved.
…it's good that I didn't ride with Dad. I don't know what I'd do if I had gotten here two hours early, empty as it is right now. I inhale and take a step forward. I should… go meet somebody, shouldn't I? Introduce myself? Make some new friends?
The sound of a familiar voice takes me out of my thoughts. "Hey! Felisa, is that you?" I don't turn back to acknowledge it just yet. That voice belongs to Okumura Reiji, a classmate of mine at Magdalena of Nagasaki.
I don't hate Reiji, but a lot of people do, and their reasons range from legitimate grievances to the (also legitimate) fact that he always smells like he just got back from the gym. Reiji was notorious for a lot of things—questioning ridiculous things in class and getting us held back ten minutes into our lunch periods, always trying to bum off of other people's Juul, talking about himself constantly—but at the heart of it, I don't think he's a bad person.
…Still, maybe I didn't want to spend my first day at a new school with Reiji at my side. I still hadn't responded to him, and if I walked over to one of the other areas or groups, I might be able to play it off completely.
Yeah, okay. It's settled. I'll…
[x] Say hi to Reiji. It'll kill some time between now and class's start, and really, there aren't too many people here to see us chatting.
[x] Avoid Reiji by…
-[x] Approaching the Chatting Couple
-[x] Approaching the Girl Group
-[x] Approaching the Sleeping Boy's Group
-[x] Approaching the Phone Using Group
-[x] Walking down the path to the shed
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Character Sheet
- Location
- the point is of no return and you have reached it!
PENDING – this will be fleshed out following the conclusion of the prologue.
Non-Player Characters
- Location
- the point is of no return and you have reached it!
Only characters whose names have been uncovered are added to the Apocrypha name list.
Family members:
Dad: It'd kill me if I ever lost my dad… He's my anchor, and I'm his.
★★★★☆
Mama: My dad and I don't talk about what happened. Maybe one day.
☆☆☆☆☆
Nara West:
Shinju: She is, to my knowledge, some sort of demon witch woman--okay, I shouldn't exaggerate. Most schools have good enough wards to keep the demons out, and I doubt a school in this holy of a city would be slacking.
According to Raahithya and Miyuki, she has some sort of leverage over the teachers that keeps her from being punished for anything she does.
She's in my third period class, which is a study hall.
☆☆☆☆☆
Chiharu Kagome: The girl I sit next to in my first period class, United States History, and my second period class, International English. She seems weird, and she's friends with Shinju, who is the only person I've met today that I think I'd call an enemy. I have a weird suspicion that she might be Reika's sister. There seems to be some conflict between her and Sayumi?
★☆☆☆☆
Chiharu Reika: One of the girls I met outside on my first day. She's in my fourth period class. She's tall, pretty, and her makeup is always stunning. I think there's something going on between her and Makiko, maybe? Like the other members of Sayumi's group, I don't know her very well. I have a weird suspicion that she might be Kagome's sister.
★☆☆☆☆
Tabata Makiko: One of the girls I met outside on my first day. She's in my third period study hall. She's short—but not as short as me—and she has a lot of energy. She's very friendly, but I'm not sure if she was joking or not about stalking Daisuke. Like the other members of Sayumi's group, I don't know her very well. She invited me to come and get lunch on my first day.
★★☆☆☆
Hattori Sayumi: One of the girls I met outside on my first day. She's in my second period class, International English, where she kind of seems like a teacher's pet. She's the tallest woman I've met in my life, but she doesn't make that into something intimidating. She broke the ice in my first conversation at Nara West and let me escape Reiji, which I will be forever grateful for. Like the other members of her group, I don't know her well. She invited me to come and get lunch on my first day.
There seems to be some conflict between her and Kagome?
★★☆☆☆
Miyazaki Raahithya: Miyuki's best friend, apparently. He's a boy in my first period class, United States History, as well as my third period study hall. He looks to be of mixed Indian-Japanese descent. He's nice, but weird, and he makes a lot of off-color jokes. Outside of Miyuki, he doesn't seem to have very many friends.
★☆☆☆☆
Parker Miyuki: Raahithya's best friend, apparently. She's a girl in my first period class, United States History, and in my fourth period class, Precalculus. She has an odd sense of fashion. She's smart, and seems to be generally likable, but she doesn't seem to be on good relations with anyone in my first period class other than Raahithya.
★★☆☆☆
Kojira Sumire: An apparently close friend of Daisuke's, who went to Magdalena Youth when she was younger. I don't know very much about her, but if she is a friend of Daisuke's, I have faith that she's a good person. She's in my second and forth period classes.
☆☆☆☆☆
Yokoyama Sugi: A friend of Sayumi's, maybe. She's in my second period International English class. She seems nice enough, but I haven't really had any personal interactions with her. Her voice is pleasant, and I think that she may be a singer who I've heard at past recitals.
☆☆☆☆☆
Murata Haru: Murata Seiichi's identical twin. He's a gamer, apparently. He's in my second period International English class and my third period Study Hall.
☆☆☆☆☆
Murata Seiichi: Murata Haru's identical twin. He's a gamer, apparently. He's in my second period International English class and my third period Study Hall.
☆☆☆☆☆
Tian Jiayang: A very flamboyant Chinese girl, with an amazing and high maintenance hairdo. She is extremely fit and has both a commanding presence and figure. She speaks fluent Mandarin, Japanese, and as far as I've seen so far, English. She's in my second period International English class and my third period Study Hall.
☆☆☆☆☆
Shao Suyin: Tian Jiayang's best friend, as far as I can see. They seem to go everywhere together. She has a refined and ethereal nature audible in every word she says and visible in every movement she makes. She speaks fluent Mandarin, but her English and Japanese both seem to be lacking, with Jiayang taking on a more translation-emphasizing role. She's in my second period International English class and my third period Study Hall.
☆☆☆☆☆
Mr Nishimura: He's a weirdo and the teacher of my first period United State History class. As far as I can tell, he puts on an image of a hard-ass teacher for clout with his students, but he doesn't seem to actually have any negative energy.
☆☆☆☆☆
Mr Shimabukuro: The old man who teaches my fourth period Precalculus class. Please God, help him find a better sense of fashion.
☆☆☆☆☆
Okamoto Hana: The young and vibrant teacher of my second period International English class. I have mixed feelings about her, and she seems to have a lot more money than her job would normally give her. She seems to get along really well with Sayumi, though, and seems to genuinely care about us students.
★☆☆☆☆
Magdalena of Nagasaki:
Oneesama Marina: One of the leading nuns, and my favorite teacher at Magdalena of Nagasaki. She saw something in me: talent. Taking me under her wing, she has helped me through private choral lessons for years, genuinely believing that I can be the next great gospel—or R&B—singer to rock the world.
Our relationship extends outside of strictly school matters. She's been one of my better friends throughout the years, even as I turned more inward throughout school.
★★★☆☆
Okumura Reiji:A former classmate of mine at Magdalena of Nagasaki, who is now in my second period International English class. He's…undeniably jacked, but he's always been annoying to hang out with, and going to a public school is probably going to make that worse. Hopefully he's over that crush Oneesama Marina pointed out a few years back.
Reiji has been acting differently from what I anticipated throughout the first day. Maybe I've misjudged him, or maybe he's underwent some character development this past week.
I am a horrible human being.
★☆☆☆☆
Sawada Daisuke: A classmate of mine at Magdalena of Nagasaki. He's a soccer prodigy, a singer and a master violist. There are rumors he's already signed with a sneaker deal with a local group, and colleges from across the States have been coming to watch his games.
Daisuke and I have taken choir together for years, and we've worked together on multiple projects because of that. I have a lot of fond memories of working with Daisuke, and he is genuinely a good man. He resents a lot of the fame and eyes that watch him, but he respects me, and he seems grateful that I won private lessons with Oneesama over him.
Daisuke is in my second period International English class. He's apparently friends with Reiji now, which is weird, because I remember them disliking each other.
★★☆☆☆
Family members:
Dad: It'd kill me if I ever lost my dad… He's my anchor, and I'm his.
★★★★☆
Mama: My dad and I don't talk about what happened. Maybe one day.
☆☆☆☆☆
Nara West:
Shinju: She is, to my knowledge, some sort of demon witch woman--okay, I shouldn't exaggerate. Most schools have good enough wards to keep the demons out, and I doubt a school in this holy of a city would be slacking.
According to Raahithya and Miyuki, she has some sort of leverage over the teachers that keeps her from being punished for anything she does.
She's in my third period class, which is a study hall.
☆☆☆☆☆
Chiharu Kagome: The girl I sit next to in my first period class, United States History, and my second period class, International English. She seems weird, and she's friends with Shinju, who is the only person I've met today that I think I'd call an enemy. I have a weird suspicion that she might be Reika's sister. There seems to be some conflict between her and Sayumi?
★☆☆☆☆
Chiharu Reika: One of the girls I met outside on my first day. She's in my fourth period class. She's tall, pretty, and her makeup is always stunning. I think there's something going on between her and Makiko, maybe? Like the other members of Sayumi's group, I don't know her very well. I have a weird suspicion that she might be Kagome's sister.
★☆☆☆☆
Tabata Makiko: One of the girls I met outside on my first day. She's in my third period study hall. She's short—but not as short as me—and she has a lot of energy. She's very friendly, but I'm not sure if she was joking or not about stalking Daisuke. Like the other members of Sayumi's group, I don't know her very well. She invited me to come and get lunch on my first day.
★★☆☆☆
Hattori Sayumi: One of the girls I met outside on my first day. She's in my second period class, International English, where she kind of seems like a teacher's pet. She's the tallest woman I've met in my life, but she doesn't make that into something intimidating. She broke the ice in my first conversation at Nara West and let me escape Reiji, which I will be forever grateful for. Like the other members of her group, I don't know her well. She invited me to come and get lunch on my first day.
There seems to be some conflict between her and Kagome?
★★☆☆☆
Miyazaki Raahithya: Miyuki's best friend, apparently. He's a boy in my first period class, United States History, as well as my third period study hall. He looks to be of mixed Indian-Japanese descent. He's nice, but weird, and he makes a lot of off-color jokes. Outside of Miyuki, he doesn't seem to have very many friends.
★☆☆☆☆
Parker Miyuki: Raahithya's best friend, apparently. She's a girl in my first period class, United States History, and in my fourth period class, Precalculus. She has an odd sense of fashion. She's smart, and seems to be generally likable, but she doesn't seem to be on good relations with anyone in my first period class other than Raahithya.
★★☆☆☆
Kojira Sumire: An apparently close friend of Daisuke's, who went to Magdalena Youth when she was younger. I don't know very much about her, but if she is a friend of Daisuke's, I have faith that she's a good person. She's in my second and forth period classes.
☆☆☆☆☆
Yokoyama Sugi: A friend of Sayumi's, maybe. She's in my second period International English class. She seems nice enough, but I haven't really had any personal interactions with her. Her voice is pleasant, and I think that she may be a singer who I've heard at past recitals.
☆☆☆☆☆
Murata Haru: Murata Seiichi's identical twin. He's a gamer, apparently. He's in my second period International English class and my third period Study Hall.
☆☆☆☆☆
Murata Seiichi: Murata Haru's identical twin. He's a gamer, apparently. He's in my second period International English class and my third period Study Hall.
☆☆☆☆☆
Tian Jiayang: A very flamboyant Chinese girl, with an amazing and high maintenance hairdo. She is extremely fit and has both a commanding presence and figure. She speaks fluent Mandarin, Japanese, and as far as I've seen so far, English. She's in my second period International English class and my third period Study Hall.
☆☆☆☆☆
Shao Suyin: Tian Jiayang's best friend, as far as I can see. They seem to go everywhere together. She has a refined and ethereal nature audible in every word she says and visible in every movement she makes. She speaks fluent Mandarin, but her English and Japanese both seem to be lacking, with Jiayang taking on a more translation-emphasizing role. She's in my second period International English class and my third period Study Hall.
☆☆☆☆☆
Mr Nishimura: He's a weirdo and the teacher of my first period United State History class. As far as I can tell, he puts on an image of a hard-ass teacher for clout with his students, but he doesn't seem to actually have any negative energy.
☆☆☆☆☆
Mr Shimabukuro: The old man who teaches my fourth period Precalculus class. Please God, help him find a better sense of fashion.
☆☆☆☆☆
Okamoto Hana: The young and vibrant teacher of my second period International English class. I have mixed feelings about her, and she seems to have a lot more money than her job would normally give her. She seems to get along really well with Sayumi, though, and seems to genuinely care about us students.
★☆☆☆☆
Magdalena of Nagasaki:
Oneesama Marina: One of the leading nuns, and my favorite teacher at Magdalena of Nagasaki. She saw something in me: talent. Taking me under her wing, she has helped me through private choral lessons for years, genuinely believing that I can be the next great gospel—or R&B—singer to rock the world.
Our relationship extends outside of strictly school matters. She's been one of my better friends throughout the years, even as I turned more inward throughout school.
★★★☆☆
Okumura Reiji:
Reiji has been acting differently from what I anticipated throughout the first day. Maybe I've misjudged him, or maybe he's underwent some character development this past week.
I am a horrible human being.
★☆☆☆☆
Sawada Daisuke: A classmate of mine at Magdalena of Nagasaki. He's a soccer prodigy, a singer and a master violist. There are rumors he's already signed with a sneaker deal with a local group, and colleges from across the States have been coming to watch his games.
Daisuke and I have taken choir together for years, and we've worked together on multiple projects because of that. I have a lot of fond memories of working with Daisuke, and he is genuinely a good man. He resents a lot of the fame and eyes that watch him, but he respects me, and he seems grateful that I won private lessons with Oneesama over him.
Daisuke is in my second period International English class. He's apparently friends with Reiji now, which is weird, because I remember them disliking each other.
★★☆☆☆
Last edited:
Foreward
- Location
- the point is of no return and you have reached it!
Hi. This isn't my first quest, but it's my first one in a while, so it may take me a while to fall into a rhythm with my posts and with my writing. Genre-wise, this is going to be a sort of "urban fantasy" story, taking on a lot of theming and elements from magical girl stories, visual novels, alternate history stories and a few other genres.
My main goals with the quest are to tell an engaging/interesting story and to improve my writing skills. Please feel free to PM me if you see grammatical errors, spelling errors, word choice or etc. in the text that you feel should be corrected; constructive feedback is always more than welcome.
The prologue section of this quest will flesh out a lot of Felisa's backstory by the choices you make, writing past events retroactively to explain why she makes the decisions that she makes. After the prologue, her personality will be more defined, and the apocrypha posts will be fleshed out with more information about her personally and about some of her past friends/acquaintances.
This quest is not stat-based, but on occasion, I may require a roll. I do not intend on outright lying in any of my posts in this discussion, but I will note that all narrators in this story are unreliable, and any knowledge that I offer you will be knowledge that the MC currently has or knowledge that she can easily obtain. If a question could be answered in world by a Google search, I will answer it to the veracity of a Google search.
For the first vote, please follow this ballot:
MC Name:
[x] Felisa ("Fefe" or "Elise" nicknames)
[x] Alejandra ("Jani" or "Ally" nicknames)
[x] Gabrielle ("Gabby" or "Ella" nicknames)
Earrings:
[x] I put them on.
[x] I put them back in the case.
Style:
[x] In a word, comfy.
[x] Casual, but not "leggings in public" casual.
[x] A bit extra, but what's life without the extravagance?
[x] A little emo, if I'm being honest.
[x] Write-in description or name of writer
Height:
[x] 5'0" – 5'4" / 152cm – 162cm
[x] 5'5" – 5'9" / 165cm – 175cm
[x] 5'10 – 6'2"/ 177cm – 187cm
[x] Over 6'2" / Over 189 cm
Courtyard:
[x] Say hi to Reiji. It'll kill some time between now and class's start, and really, there aren't too many people here to see us chatting.
[x] Avoid Reiji by…
-[x] Approaching the Chatting Couple
-[x] Approaching the Girl Group
-[x] Approaching the Sleeping Boy's Group
-[x] Approaching the Phone Using Group
-[x] Walking down the path to the shed
My main goals with the quest are to tell an engaging/interesting story and to improve my writing skills. Please feel free to PM me if you see grammatical errors, spelling errors, word choice or etc. in the text that you feel should be corrected; constructive feedback is always more than welcome.
The prologue section of this quest will flesh out a lot of Felisa's backstory by the choices you make, writing past events retroactively to explain why she makes the decisions that she makes. After the prologue, her personality will be more defined, and the apocrypha posts will be fleshed out with more information about her personally and about some of her past friends/acquaintances.
This quest is not stat-based, but on occasion, I may require a roll. I do not intend on outright lying in any of my posts in this discussion, but I will note that all narrators in this story are unreliable, and any knowledge that I offer you will be knowledge that the MC currently has or knowledge that she can easily obtain. If a question could be answered in world by a Google search, I will answer it to the veracity of a Google search.
For the first vote, please follow this ballot:
MC Name:
[x] Felisa ("Fefe" or "Elise" nicknames)
[x] Alejandra ("Jani" or "Ally" nicknames)
[x] Gabrielle ("Gabby" or "Ella" nicknames)
Earrings:
[x] I put them on.
[x] I put them back in the case.
Style:
[x] In a word, comfy.
[x] Casual, but not "leggings in public" casual.
[x] A bit extra, but what's life without the extravagance?
[x] A little emo, if I'm being honest.
[x] Write-in description or name of writer
Height:
[x] 5'0" – 5'4" / 152cm – 162cm
[x] 5'5" – 5'9" / 165cm – 175cm
[x] 5'10 – 6'2"/ 177cm – 187cm
[x] Over 6'2" / Over 189 cm
Courtyard:
[x] Say hi to Reiji. It'll kill some time between now and class's start, and really, there aren't too many people here to see us chatting.
[x] Avoid Reiji by…
-[x] Approaching the Chatting Couple
-[x] Approaching the Girl Group
-[x] Approaching the Sleeping Boy's Group
-[x] Approaching the Phone Using Group
-[x] Walking down the path to the shed
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
[x] Felisa ("Fefe" or "Elise" nicknames)
[x] I put them back in the case.
[x] In a word, comfy.
[x] 5'5" – 5'9" / 165cm – 175cm
[x] Say hi to Reiji. It'll kill some time between now and class's start, and really, there aren't too many people here to see us chatting.
[x] I put them back in the case.
[x] In a word, comfy.
[x] 5'5" – 5'9" / 165cm – 175cm
[x] Say hi to Reiji. It'll kill some time between now and class's start, and really, there aren't too many people here to see us chatting.
- Location
- Germany
[x] Felisa ("Fefe" or "Elise" nicknames)
[x] I put them on.
[x] A bit extra, but what's life without the extravagance?
[x] 5'0" – 5'4" / 152cm – 162cm
[x] Avoid Reiji by…
-[x] Approaching the Girl Group
I see no reason not to be fabulous, if given the choice. And as far as avoiding Reiji goes, the girls do seem like the most approachable/not preoccupied option.
[x] I put them on.
[x] A bit extra, but what's life without the extravagance?
[x] 5'0" – 5'4" / 152cm – 162cm
[x] Avoid Reiji by…
-[x] Approaching the Girl Group
I see no reason not to be fabulous, if given the choice. And as far as avoiding Reiji goes, the girls do seem like the most approachable/not preoccupied option.
[x] Felisa ("Fefe" or "Elise" nicknames)
[x] I put them on.
[x] A bit extra, but what's life without the extravagance?
[x] 5'0" – 5'4" / 152cm – 162cm
[x] Avoid Reiji by…
-[x] Approaching the Sleeping Boy's Group
[x] I put them on.
[x] A bit extra, but what's life without the extravagance?
[x] 5'0" – 5'4" / 152cm – 162cm
[x] Avoid Reiji by…
-[x] Approaching the Sleeping Boy's Group
[X] Felisa ("Fefe" or "Elise" nicknames)
[X] I put them on.
[X] A bit extra, but what's life without the extravagance?
[X] 5'10 – 6'2"/ 177cm – 187cm
[X] Avoid Reiji by…
-[X] Approaching the Girl Group
[X] I put them on.
[X] A bit extra, but what's life without the extravagance?
[X] 5'10 – 6'2"/ 177cm – 187cm
[X] Avoid Reiji by…
-[X] Approaching the Girl Group
- Location
- the point is of no return and you have reached it!
Okay. Vote is closed as of [8:49 PM CST].
Felisa is 5'1, currently wearing a dress and earrings and approaching the girl group to avoid Reiji.
Update will be coming out sometime tomorrow or sometime in the AM tonight.
Felisa is 5'1, currently wearing a dress and earrings and approaching the girl group to avoid Reiji.
Update will be coming out sometime tomorrow or sometime in the AM tonight.
Prologue 0.3 (DAY)
- Location
- the point is of no return and you have reached it!
"Hey," I say, holding the quavers out of my voice. The trio of girls react almost as one, blinking and turning over towards me. Now closer to them, I can make out more distinct features of each of them.
The trio is standing in a sort of triangle formation, and with my approach, that has shifted and became a sort of diamond. Though they seem caught off-guard by my approach, their expressions are more curious than annoyed.
"Hi—" the girl to my left says, giving me a smile. "—are you one of the new transfers?" She's almost a foot taller than me, and that's with the heels I'm wearing right now. Her hair is short and blonde, spread in a beautiful array of tight curls at the ends of smooth waves.
"Yea, from Magdalena," I respond, returning her smile. Her words remove a lot of the awkwardness and tension of my approach, and I'll be forever thankful for that.
The girl to my right perks up. "Oh, no way! One of my BFFs goes there, did you know Daisuke?" Her face has gone from perky to dreamy as she says the name, and though she's still looking in my direction, I think that her mind is elsewhere.
I take in her appearance more as she daydreams, presumably about Daisuke. This girl is a lot closer in height to me, and with my heels on, I think I might actually be taller; though it's hard to tell, especially with her black hair all pulled up into a messy bun atop her head.
The first girl speaks again before I can. "Makiko, stalking someone doesn't make you their BFF." Her voice is playful, and even as she throws the barb, she's smiling at Makiko.
Makiko doesn't smile back, though. Her face has become mortified—or mock-mortified. I don't know her well enough to tell the difference in the expression.
"Sayumi!" Makiko says—and now she's more obviously pretending, as I can hear her holding back a laugh. "You can't just say that! What if she knows Daisuke? You're going to expose me!"
"Oh, I hope she does know Daisuke," the final girl says, and her voice isn't what I expected. Compared to the other two, who had traditionally feminine voices, hers was much lower and contralto. "I've heard some curious things about him, Makiko…"
"Oh, like you'd know anything about a boy, Reika," Makiko replies, pouting out towards her. As she pouts and exhales, she blows out some cold air towards Reika.
Reika, like Sayumi, was significantly taller than me, though she luckily wasn't as tall. Her hair, which fell down a few inches past her shoulders, was a pastel pink, obviously dyed. Some blonde roots were starting to show through, but the colors meshed well together.
Reika flutters her eyelashes at Makiko, not bothering to give a verbal response. Makiko blushes and looks away. Confused, I look over to Sayumi, who gets about halfway into a shrug before she stops herself.
"So sorry! I should've given you a proper introduction. You probably know this by now—but I'm Sayumi, Hattori Sayumi." After introducing herself, she quickly puts her hand beneath her chin and makes a duck-face, posing for only a second before returning to her normal.
"Short stack to your right—" she pauses, reconsidering her insult. "—yeah, short stack to your right is Makiko. She says she's Tabata Makiko—"
"I am!" Makiko interjects, but Sayumi cuts her off again.
"—and that she's related to that gymnast, Tabata Atsuko, but she also says she's friends with Daisuke, so…" Sayumi trails off, giving a little laugh.
"I'm Reika," Reika says, taking over where Sayumi left off. Sayumi looks almost hurt that Reika didn't let her finish the introductions. "Chiharu Reika, but my family isn't really from around here."
Makiko gives Reika a curious glance after that, and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be seeing the meaningful eye-contact they're having right now. Sayumi glances at me expectantly, and I realize I'm waiting too long to introduce myself.
"Right! It's a pleasure to meet all of you," I say, giving a genuine smile. I tilt my head just slightly to the side, letting my earrings pick up a little twirl and glint in the light. "I'm Felisa—Yamada Felisa—and like I said, I'm a transfer student from Magdalena."
Sayumi returns the smile. Reika flutters her eyes at me, and for a moment, her makeup catches my attention.
Guided by the fade and crease of her deep-blue eyeshadow, a curved line of rhinestones wraps around the top of each of Reika's eyelids. Another pair of rhinestones rests just beneath the eyes, glinting in the light and giving the impression of tears building. What I had on felt much less extravagant in comparison.
"It's nice to meet you too, Felisa," Reika says, and our eye contact breaks.
"Yeah!" Makiko adds. "But, um, about my question—do you know Daisuke?"
There were a couple of Daisuke's at Magdalena of Nagasaki, but I'm pretty sure that I knew which one she was referring to.
Sawada Daisuke is in my grade, and at Magdalena, he was one of the most popular people in the school. He's a singer and a member of the soccer club, the star forward that got our team to Pacifics two years ago. He has this sort of playboy-poet-starving artist aurora around him that just pulls people in.
Daisuke and I, though…
[x] "Not really. Sorry, Makiko," I say, offering her a slight frown after my words.
[x] "I had choir with him for the past few years. He's a good guy," I say, trying to sound reassuring.
[x] "I played soccer with him growing up… well, he played soccer, I mostly just tried to keep up." I'm rubbing the back of my neck as I speak, embarrassed by my admission.
[x] "We've been friends since childhood… His dad and mine have been friends since before I was born."
Eventually, it's time for us to move inside and make it to our regular classes. I split from Sayumi's group and walk over to my first class, which luckily enough is on the first hallway from the main entrance.
The class is United States History, with a focus on the integration of the Pacifics region. It isn't my favorite type of history; pre-colonial history, and the stories of the old shoguns, daimyos and emperors were always more in line with my historical tastes.
But it's a required part of our education, and complaining about it was unlikely to do anything about that.
I'm one of the last people to make it into the classroom when I step in, and given how late in the year it is, most of the spots are already clearly taken. There are still a few open desks, though.
There's a desk near the back of the room between a black-haired boy in an old leather jacket and a girl in a loose, mint-colored shoulder sweater. Black specks, presumably from that jacket, cover the floor around the boy's desk. The girl's desk is neatly organized in contrast, with a variety of folders in shades of lilac, lavender and coral.
There's a desk on the edge of the room, beside the windows. On the side closer to the rest of the class, there's a woman with long blonde hair—it looks to be around waist length, but it's hard to tell, since she's sitting down. She's wearing a vintage jacket and staring aimlessly out the window.
There are several desks at the front of the room, all open and available. It looks like people don't want to sit in the front row for this class. Right now, there's only one guy sitting in the front row at all, and he looks to be in some sort of half-dead stupor. He's wearing a bright lavender hoodie, and I can see Air Pods resting in his ears.
I guess these are my options for period one. I'll sit by…
[x] Leather boy and sweater girl
[x] The windows
[x] The front row, by hoodie boy
[x] The front row, by myself
The trio is standing in a sort of triangle formation, and with my approach, that has shifted and became a sort of diamond. Though they seem caught off-guard by my approach, their expressions are more curious than annoyed.
"Hi—" the girl to my left says, giving me a smile. "—are you one of the new transfers?" She's almost a foot taller than me, and that's with the heels I'm wearing right now. Her hair is short and blonde, spread in a beautiful array of tight curls at the ends of smooth waves.
"Yea, from Magdalena," I respond, returning her smile. Her words remove a lot of the awkwardness and tension of my approach, and I'll be forever thankful for that.
The girl to my right perks up. "Oh, no way! One of my BFFs goes there, did you know Daisuke?" Her face has gone from perky to dreamy as she says the name, and though she's still looking in my direction, I think that her mind is elsewhere.
I take in her appearance more as she daydreams, presumably about Daisuke. This girl is a lot closer in height to me, and with my heels on, I think I might actually be taller; though it's hard to tell, especially with her black hair all pulled up into a messy bun atop her head.
The first girl speaks again before I can. "Makiko, stalking someone doesn't make you their BFF." Her voice is playful, and even as she throws the barb, she's smiling at Makiko.
Makiko doesn't smile back, though. Her face has become mortified—or mock-mortified. I don't know her well enough to tell the difference in the expression.
"Sayumi!" Makiko says—and now she's more obviously pretending, as I can hear her holding back a laugh. "You can't just say that! What if she knows Daisuke? You're going to expose me!"
"Oh, I hope she does know Daisuke," the final girl says, and her voice isn't what I expected. Compared to the other two, who had traditionally feminine voices, hers was much lower and contralto. "I've heard some curious things about him, Makiko…"
"Oh, like you'd know anything about a boy, Reika," Makiko replies, pouting out towards her. As she pouts and exhales, she blows out some cold air towards Reika.
Reika, like Sayumi, was significantly taller than me, though she luckily wasn't as tall. Her hair, which fell down a few inches past her shoulders, was a pastel pink, obviously dyed. Some blonde roots were starting to show through, but the colors meshed well together.
Reika flutters her eyelashes at Makiko, not bothering to give a verbal response. Makiko blushes and looks away. Confused, I look over to Sayumi, who gets about halfway into a shrug before she stops herself.
"So sorry! I should've given you a proper introduction. You probably know this by now—but I'm Sayumi, Hattori Sayumi." After introducing herself, she quickly puts her hand beneath her chin and makes a duck-face, posing for only a second before returning to her normal.
"Short stack to your right—" she pauses, reconsidering her insult. "—yeah, short stack to your right is Makiko. She says she's Tabata Makiko—"
"I am!" Makiko interjects, but Sayumi cuts her off again.
"—and that she's related to that gymnast, Tabata Atsuko, but she also says she's friends with Daisuke, so…" Sayumi trails off, giving a little laugh.
"I'm Reika," Reika says, taking over where Sayumi left off. Sayumi looks almost hurt that Reika didn't let her finish the introductions. "Chiharu Reika, but my family isn't really from around here."
Makiko gives Reika a curious glance after that, and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be seeing the meaningful eye-contact they're having right now. Sayumi glances at me expectantly, and I realize I'm waiting too long to introduce myself.
"Right! It's a pleasure to meet all of you," I say, giving a genuine smile. I tilt my head just slightly to the side, letting my earrings pick up a little twirl and glint in the light. "I'm Felisa—Yamada Felisa—and like I said, I'm a transfer student from Magdalena."
Sayumi returns the smile. Reika flutters her eyes at me, and for a moment, her makeup catches my attention.
Guided by the fade and crease of her deep-blue eyeshadow, a curved line of rhinestones wraps around the top of each of Reika's eyelids. Another pair of rhinestones rests just beneath the eyes, glinting in the light and giving the impression of tears building. What I had on felt much less extravagant in comparison.
"It's nice to meet you too, Felisa," Reika says, and our eye contact breaks.
"Yeah!" Makiko adds. "But, um, about my question—do you know Daisuke?"
There were a couple of Daisuke's at Magdalena of Nagasaki, but I'm pretty sure that I knew which one she was referring to.
Sawada Daisuke is in my grade, and at Magdalena, he was one of the most popular people in the school. He's a singer and a member of the soccer club, the star forward that got our team to Pacifics two years ago. He has this sort of playboy-poet-starving artist aurora around him that just pulls people in.
Daisuke and I, though…
[x] "Not really. Sorry, Makiko," I say, offering her a slight frown after my words.
[x] "I had choir with him for the past few years. He's a good guy," I say, trying to sound reassuring.
[x] "I played soccer with him growing up… well, he played soccer, I mostly just tried to keep up." I'm rubbing the back of my neck as I speak, embarrassed by my admission.
[x] "We've been friends since childhood… His dad and mine have been friends since before I was born."
…
Eventually, it's time for us to move inside and make it to our regular classes. I split from Sayumi's group and walk over to my first class, which luckily enough is on the first hallway from the main entrance.
The class is United States History, with a focus on the integration of the Pacifics region. It isn't my favorite type of history; pre-colonial history, and the stories of the old shoguns, daimyos and emperors were always more in line with my historical tastes.
But it's a required part of our education, and complaining about it was unlikely to do anything about that.
I'm one of the last people to make it into the classroom when I step in, and given how late in the year it is, most of the spots are already clearly taken. There are still a few open desks, though.
There's a desk near the back of the room between a black-haired boy in an old leather jacket and a girl in a loose, mint-colored shoulder sweater. Black specks, presumably from that jacket, cover the floor around the boy's desk. The girl's desk is neatly organized in contrast, with a variety of folders in shades of lilac, lavender and coral.
There's a desk on the edge of the room, beside the windows. On the side closer to the rest of the class, there's a woman with long blonde hair—it looks to be around waist length, but it's hard to tell, since she's sitting down. She's wearing a vintage jacket and staring aimlessly out the window.
There are several desks at the front of the room, all open and available. It looks like people don't want to sit in the front row for this class. Right now, there's only one guy sitting in the front row at all, and he looks to be in some sort of half-dead stupor. He's wearing a bright lavender hoodie, and I can see Air Pods resting in his ears.
I guess these are my options for period one. I'll sit by…
[x] Leather boy and sweater girl
[x] The windows
[x] The front row, by hoodie boy
[x] The front row, by myself
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
[x] "I had choir with him for the past few years. He's a good guy," I say, trying to sound reassuring.
[x] The front row, by hoodie boy
[x] The front row, by hoodie boy
- Location
- Germany
[x] "I played soccer with him growing up… well, he played soccer, I mostly just tried to keep up." I'm rubbing the back of my neck as I speak, embarrassed by my admission.
[x] The windows
Though I also feel for those pangs of anxiety at the start. Good to see those didn't lead to a crash.
[x] The windows
Ah, I'm starting to suspect we have a protagonist of good taste on our hands.
Though I also feel for those pangs of anxiety at the start. Good to see those didn't lead to a crash.
[x] "I played soccer with him growing up… well, he played soccer, I mostly just tried to keep up." I'm rubbing the back of my neck as I speak, embarrassed by my admission.
[x] The front row, by hoodie boy
I'm guessing that the window seat will lead to Felisa being distracted, and I'm hoping for good grades. I'm fine with either choir or soccer for the Daisuke vote.
[x] The front row, by hoodie boy
I'm guessing that the window seat will lead to Felisa being distracted, and I'm hoping for good grades. I'm fine with either choir or soccer for the Daisuke vote.
- Location
- the point is of no return and you have reached it!
Vote will be open until [8 PM CST] tonight.
There will likely be an update tonight, but it may end up being tomorrow morning instead.
VOTE CLOSED, starting on update now || There's currently a tie between choir and soccer. Considering @Mount. Elements said they are fine with either option, I'm going to begin writing the update with their vote as a vote for choir instead.
There will likely be an update tonight, but it may end up being tomorrow morning instead.
VOTE CLOSED, starting on update now || There's currently a tie between choir and soccer. Considering @Mount. Elements said they are fine with either option, I'm going to begin writing the update with their vote as a vote for choir instead.
Last edited:
Prologue 0.4 (DAY)
- Location
- the point is of no return and you have reached it!
"I had choir with him for the past few years. He's a good guy," I say, trying to sound reassuring.
Makiko's eyes widen. "Wait, he can sing?... You can sing?"
I nod my head. "Yeah. Magdalena is a Catholic school, and we had a big emphasis on our choral programs. When we were younger, we used to sing together a lot in the church choirs."
"Oh…so like, you just do church singings, then?" Makiko tilts her head a little bit, and though her question might've been a bit insulting, I could tell that there was no ill will behind it.
Sayumi laughs. "I'm sure that she does more than just church singings, Makiko. Don't be rude."
The three are looking at me, then, with a mixture of expecting and bored—Reika seems utterly uninterested in the current topic—eyes. Not wanting to let them down, I nod again.
"Yeah, um, Oneesama—sorry, my teacher Sister Marina, she always said I have a real talent for singing. I took private lessons with her for the past three years, and she's helped me develop my voice and range in a lot of ways I didn't expect."
As I talk, Reika's attention returns to me, and I can see a bit of surprise coming across the faces of the three gathered. Makiko covers her mouth for a minute, before she shakes her head and lets the words gush out of her mouth.
"That's so cool! Can you sing for us? Not here, obviously, but like, during lunch—we have this spot hidden behind—"
"—Makiko—," Makiko's words are interrupted, as Reika and Sayumi scold her in unison.
"—well, um, hidden behind something, and we'd love to hear you sing. I know that I may not look like the most artistic person in the world, but music is one of my absolute favorite things." Makiko finishes, a blush growing across her face.
Reika and Sayumi glance at each other, and then Sayumi glances at me, and Reika glances at Makiko. Makiko promptly looks at her feet.
Sayumi laughs, cutting me off before I can reply, and gives me a smile. She runs a hand through her hair, before tossing some curls that had came out of position back behind her ear.
"If you'd like, Felisa, you're more than welcome to get lunch with us. No singing required. It gets pretty hectic during lunch, though, and we try to stay out of the crowds…so if you want to come, I'll be waiting out by the school's east doors for a few minutes." She winks at me. "No hard feelings if you end up with other plans. I know first days can be hectic."
"Thanks." I smile back to her.
There's a pause in the natural flow of conversation, but it doesn't last for long. Reika's low voice breaks the silence.
"…You said Daisuke sings, though? Is he any good?" As Reika speaks, Makiko's attention is drawn back from the ground, and she returns to watching me expectantly.
"He's good for his year," I say back, not really intending any insult. Reika's eyebrow cocks for a moment, before a wry smile forms on her lips. Makiko giggles.
"But not good enough for private lessons?" Sayumi asks, sharing Reika's smile. My eyes flick away and Sayumi laughs, a heartier and fuller sound than Makiko's continuing giggles.
I start to respond more, but it's getting difficult to hear each-other, as the courtyard fills up with more people and more conversations. Sayumi pulls out her phone, flashing me her KDDI-SK captcha, and I scan it.
Quickly enough, her contact profile, as well as Reika's and Makiko's, appear on my phone.
Eventually, it's time for us to move inside and make it to our regular classes. I split from Sayumi's group and walk over to my first class, which luckily enough is on the first hallway from the main entrance.
. . .
I'm still in the process of actually sitting down in the chair when the blonde sitting beside me starts to speak.
"No, dangerous, I—" but her words are cut off by the sound of the door slamming at the front of the class room. I look at her, and my face must betray my confusion, because her mood drops in seconds from a tentative worry to something close to mourning.
Her eyes pull my attention, and again I feel underdressed. Perfect golden linework dances around each eye, forming a serene and recognizable pattern I couldn't put a name to; a mist of rich blues and indigos loosely follows the golden lines, drawing out her eyes and accentuating the stark, bright blue of her pupils.
I make a second of eye-contact, and she tries to push that mourning face back into a reassuring smile. She mouths something, but I don't really make out what it is. I start to open my mouth to speak, but she frantically starts to shake her head.
A loud crack disrupts the room, and my attention snaps to the front of the room.
There's a man at the front of the class—presumably the teacher of the class—and he's leaning back against the desk with a smirk on his face. He's holding a flexible ruler to his side, carefully bending it further and further away from the desk.
He's somewhere in his late twenties, by the looks of his face, but he's somewhere from the early nineteen-hundreds by the looks of his khaki suit and jacket. Somehow, he's managed to color match his hair to his jacket, and his khaki-brown pompadour glistens with enough gel to hold together his probably-failing marriage—okay, no, I shouldn't assume.
"Unfortunately, for all of you in pursuit of higher learning," he begins, his voice frighteningly dry, "the school has informed me that due to the transfer situation and the influx of new students from Magdalena of Nagasaki, I should pushback any tests, exams, term assignments or assessments until the end of the week."
The room is deathly quiet as the teacher speaks. I swallow, glancing around the room to try and gauge if this was a normal situation. Each other student in the room is looking intently at the teacher, and I snap my head back to attention, hopeful that he won't notice the brief deviance.
"Fortunately, though, for the slackers in this class, your education is not necessarily forfeit," As he speaks his tone shifts from dry to wry. "There will be no written examinations today. Instead, we will be doing something more—"
His lips curl up, turning from a smirk to a smile, and he releases the ruler he had been bending for the past minute. The plastic snaps back, hitting into the desk with another crack.
"—practical."
He gets up from his desk, then, going over to the screen at the front of the room. He drags his finger across the dull screen and it lights up, showing a list of names distributed across several different groupings.
"Today, we will be working as small groups on presentations related to the term's main topic: inter-Pacifics relation following the Integration. Each of your groups has been carefully selected based on your typical in class contributions…or, as it may be, your lack thereof." He shakes his head then, and for a moment, the wry smile on his face changes to something more genuine.
And then it's gone, and he continues, pointing to the corners of the room and spilling out the names of the members of the class. I can't make out most of them, and there aren't any names I recognize as classmates from Magdalena.
As he finishes the list, most members of the class are standing up and moving to the corners of the room. I'm still sitting down, as is the hoodie-boy in the front row, who seems to have slumped off. The teacher walks over to hoodie-boy and knocks on his desk a few times.
He sits up, and wordlessly, the teacher points to the group in the back corner. Quickly, hoodie-boy gets up and hurries to the corner, his face turning to a pearly white. Then the teacher's eyes shift to me, and he approaches, taking much more refined strides.
I sit up at attention, and his face turns to a crisp and artificial smile.
"Yamada Felisa, is it? Miss Maruyama spoke highly of you in her letters to the school, and I will be pleasantly surprised should they prove true." It takes me a second to process who he means by miss Maruyama—it's been a longtime since anyone called Oneesama Marina that.
He doesn't let me reply, instead gesturing to the group a few feet behind where I'm sitting. "You'll be working with this group today. I don't know how much your education on Magdalena talked on politics, but I've assigned you to the group on the Philippines…"
He pauses, before saying in an almost hinting-voice, "perhaps you've picked up some bits of their history from your classes on Catholicism?"
His face turns stern, then, and he gestures again for me to get up and head to the group. I get up, quickly but controlled, and move to join the group beside the windows. There aren't many familiar faces among the group, but I can recognize the blonde who I sat next to, and I position myself to stand next to her.
There are five members in the group, including myself, and we've formed into a sort of impromptu circle beside the windows. The majority of the group, like the majority of the class, is female.
Most of the group already know each other, which makes sense, since I seem to be the only transfer student here. That being said, it seems like they're less interested in the actual topic at hand and more interested in discussing what they've done over winter break.
"—which, yeah, I understand where Mami is coming from, but from my perspective it's like, the two of them aren't dating, they haven't been dating for almost a year now," the woman across from me paused for breath, recuperating and straightening her hood.
The girl speaking is wearing this oversized white hoodie that almost completely covers her tiny pair of denim shorts. With each word, she gestures for the boy standing beside her, moving throughout hundreds of different tiny symbols and inflammatory gestures.
"I'm just saying, I guess, there's no reason for Yumi to be getting mad at me now, right? If I was trying to hurt her, I wouldn't have made him wait this long." She sighs as she finishes speaking, shaking her head one more time to the boy. As soon as she's done gesturing, her hand makes its way to her hair, where she begins to twirl a brown strand around her finger.
"Right, right," the boy says, his voice deeper than I'd expect. "She definitely needs to, uh, back off." As much as he's trying, though, his voice sounds conflicted. His skin is noticeably darker than the other members of the group, and as I process that, I can start to hear an accent in his words.
"…Yeah, right," the girl in the hoodie repeats, turning her head to look over to the girl beside me. The glitter intermixed in her moss-colored eyeshadow catches the light, giving an alluring sparkle to her tanned face. "Anyway, Kagome, you do anything?"
The girl I sat next to—Kagome—shrugs to that. "Some of this, some of that."
Moss-eye hoodie-girl pouts at that. Then, evidently done with this standing business, she pulls herself up onto the desk behind her, sitting down and going to stare out the window.
The dark-skinned boy yawns, going to sit down in the chair of the desk moss-eye hoodie-girl had plopped herself onto. She adjusts as he sits, but doesn't seem to pay him any mind, continuing to stair aimlessly out the window.
The last member of the group, another girl, looks at me, and I can tell she's out of place in this group. She had been quiet earlier when the others were speaking, but now, it's clear there's something she wants to say.
She's wearing a dusk-blue 3RACHA shirt, tucked into a pair of tight white jeans held up by a Chanel belt. Her face—which is disconcertingly gaunt, and devoid of any makeup—is adorned by one of the biggest pairs of glasses I've seen, a pair of clear, gold-rimmed aviators.
The redhead 3RACHA-shirt girl breaks our eye-contact and sighs. She takes a seat on the floor beside the windows, fairly close to where I'm standing, pulls the class's assigned textbook out from her bag and starts to flip through the section on the Philippines.
Well, so much for working as a group, then. The only thing for me to do is…
[x] Take charge of the group. We have a preparation to prepare, people!
[x] Help 3RACHA-girl plan out our presentation. No need to make enemies with the others.
[x] Start up a conversation with someone. It'd be a good idea to make some friends.
-[x] 3RACHA-girl
-[x] Kagome
-[x] Moss-eye hoodie-girl
-[x] Dark-skinned boy
[x] Text someone. I've picked up a few numbers today, and I obviously have my Dad and Oneesama's numbers in my phone.
[x] Relax in silence. If nobody else here was worried, I'm sure it'll turn out fine.
Makiko's eyes widen. "Wait, he can sing?... You can sing?"
I nod my head. "Yeah. Magdalena is a Catholic school, and we had a big emphasis on our choral programs. When we were younger, we used to sing together a lot in the church choirs."
"Oh…so like, you just do church singings, then?" Makiko tilts her head a little bit, and though her question might've been a bit insulting, I could tell that there was no ill will behind it.
Sayumi laughs. "I'm sure that she does more than just church singings, Makiko. Don't be rude."
The three are looking at me, then, with a mixture of expecting and bored—Reika seems utterly uninterested in the current topic—eyes. Not wanting to let them down, I nod again.
"Yeah, um, Oneesama—sorry, my teacher Sister Marina, she always said I have a real talent for singing. I took private lessons with her for the past three years, and she's helped me develop my voice and range in a lot of ways I didn't expect."
As I talk, Reika's attention returns to me, and I can see a bit of surprise coming across the faces of the three gathered. Makiko covers her mouth for a minute, before she shakes her head and lets the words gush out of her mouth.
"That's so cool! Can you sing for us? Not here, obviously, but like, during lunch—we have this spot hidden behind—"
"—Makiko—," Makiko's words are interrupted, as Reika and Sayumi scold her in unison.
"—well, um, hidden behind something, and we'd love to hear you sing. I know that I may not look like the most artistic person in the world, but music is one of my absolute favorite things." Makiko finishes, a blush growing across her face.
Reika and Sayumi glance at each other, and then Sayumi glances at me, and Reika glances at Makiko. Makiko promptly looks at her feet.
Sayumi laughs, cutting me off before I can reply, and gives me a smile. She runs a hand through her hair, before tossing some curls that had came out of position back behind her ear.
"If you'd like, Felisa, you're more than welcome to get lunch with us. No singing required. It gets pretty hectic during lunch, though, and we try to stay out of the crowds…so if you want to come, I'll be waiting out by the school's east doors for a few minutes." She winks at me. "No hard feelings if you end up with other plans. I know first days can be hectic."
"Thanks." I smile back to her.
There's a pause in the natural flow of conversation, but it doesn't last for long. Reika's low voice breaks the silence.
"…You said Daisuke sings, though? Is he any good?" As Reika speaks, Makiko's attention is drawn back from the ground, and she returns to watching me expectantly.
"He's good for his year," I say back, not really intending any insult. Reika's eyebrow cocks for a moment, before a wry smile forms on her lips. Makiko giggles.
"But not good enough for private lessons?" Sayumi asks, sharing Reika's smile. My eyes flick away and Sayumi laughs, a heartier and fuller sound than Makiko's continuing giggles.
I start to respond more, but it's getting difficult to hear each-other, as the courtyard fills up with more people and more conversations. Sayumi pulls out her phone, flashing me her KDDI-SK captcha, and I scan it.
Quickly enough, her contact profile, as well as Reika's and Makiko's, appear on my phone.
Eventually, it's time for us to move inside and make it to our regular classes. I split from Sayumi's group and walk over to my first class, which luckily enough is on the first hallway from the main entrance.
. . .
I'm still in the process of actually sitting down in the chair when the blonde sitting beside me starts to speak.
"No, dangerous, I—" but her words are cut off by the sound of the door slamming at the front of the class room. I look at her, and my face must betray my confusion, because her mood drops in seconds from a tentative worry to something close to mourning.
Her eyes pull my attention, and again I feel underdressed. Perfect golden linework dances around each eye, forming a serene and recognizable pattern I couldn't put a name to; a mist of rich blues and indigos loosely follows the golden lines, drawing out her eyes and accentuating the stark, bright blue of her pupils.
I make a second of eye-contact, and she tries to push that mourning face back into a reassuring smile. She mouths something, but I don't really make out what it is. I start to open my mouth to speak, but she frantically starts to shake her head.
A loud crack disrupts the room, and my attention snaps to the front of the room.
There's a man at the front of the class—presumably the teacher of the class—and he's leaning back against the desk with a smirk on his face. He's holding a flexible ruler to his side, carefully bending it further and further away from the desk.
He's somewhere in his late twenties, by the looks of his face, but he's somewhere from the early nineteen-hundreds by the looks of his khaki suit and jacket. Somehow, he's managed to color match his hair to his jacket, and his khaki-brown pompadour glistens with enough gel to hold together his probably-failing marriage—okay, no, I shouldn't assume.
"Unfortunately, for all of you in pursuit of higher learning," he begins, his voice frighteningly dry, "the school has informed me that due to the transfer situation and the influx of new students from Magdalena of Nagasaki, I should pushback any tests, exams, term assignments or assessments until the end of the week."
The room is deathly quiet as the teacher speaks. I swallow, glancing around the room to try and gauge if this was a normal situation. Each other student in the room is looking intently at the teacher, and I snap my head back to attention, hopeful that he won't notice the brief deviance.
"Fortunately, though, for the slackers in this class, your education is not necessarily forfeit," As he speaks his tone shifts from dry to wry. "There will be no written examinations today. Instead, we will be doing something more—"
His lips curl up, turning from a smirk to a smile, and he releases the ruler he had been bending for the past minute. The plastic snaps back, hitting into the desk with another crack.
"—practical."
He gets up from his desk, then, going over to the screen at the front of the room. He drags his finger across the dull screen and it lights up, showing a list of names distributed across several different groupings.
"Today, we will be working as small groups on presentations related to the term's main topic: inter-Pacifics relation following the Integration. Each of your groups has been carefully selected based on your typical in class contributions…or, as it may be, your lack thereof." He shakes his head then, and for a moment, the wry smile on his face changes to something more genuine.
And then it's gone, and he continues, pointing to the corners of the room and spilling out the names of the members of the class. I can't make out most of them, and there aren't any names I recognize as classmates from Magdalena.
As he finishes the list, most members of the class are standing up and moving to the corners of the room. I'm still sitting down, as is the hoodie-boy in the front row, who seems to have slumped off. The teacher walks over to hoodie-boy and knocks on his desk a few times.
He sits up, and wordlessly, the teacher points to the group in the back corner. Quickly, hoodie-boy gets up and hurries to the corner, his face turning to a pearly white. Then the teacher's eyes shift to me, and he approaches, taking much more refined strides.
I sit up at attention, and his face turns to a crisp and artificial smile.
"Yamada Felisa, is it? Miss Maruyama spoke highly of you in her letters to the school, and I will be pleasantly surprised should they prove true." It takes me a second to process who he means by miss Maruyama—it's been a longtime since anyone called Oneesama Marina that.
He doesn't let me reply, instead gesturing to the group a few feet behind where I'm sitting. "You'll be working with this group today. I don't know how much your education on Magdalena talked on politics, but I've assigned you to the group on the Philippines…"
He pauses, before saying in an almost hinting-voice, "perhaps you've picked up some bits of their history from your classes on Catholicism?"
His face turns stern, then, and he gestures again for me to get up and head to the group. I get up, quickly but controlled, and move to join the group beside the windows. There aren't many familiar faces among the group, but I can recognize the blonde who I sat next to, and I position myself to stand next to her.
There are five members in the group, including myself, and we've formed into a sort of impromptu circle beside the windows. The majority of the group, like the majority of the class, is female.
Most of the group already know each other, which makes sense, since I seem to be the only transfer student here. That being said, it seems like they're less interested in the actual topic at hand and more interested in discussing what they've done over winter break.
"—which, yeah, I understand where Mami is coming from, but from my perspective it's like, the two of them aren't dating, they haven't been dating for almost a year now," the woman across from me paused for breath, recuperating and straightening her hood.
The girl speaking is wearing this oversized white hoodie that almost completely covers her tiny pair of denim shorts. With each word, she gestures for the boy standing beside her, moving throughout hundreds of different tiny symbols and inflammatory gestures.
"I'm just saying, I guess, there's no reason for Yumi to be getting mad at me now, right? If I was trying to hurt her, I wouldn't have made him wait this long." She sighs as she finishes speaking, shaking her head one more time to the boy. As soon as she's done gesturing, her hand makes its way to her hair, where she begins to twirl a brown strand around her finger.
"Right, right," the boy says, his voice deeper than I'd expect. "She definitely needs to, uh, back off." As much as he's trying, though, his voice sounds conflicted. His skin is noticeably darker than the other members of the group, and as I process that, I can start to hear an accent in his words.
"…Yeah, right," the girl in the hoodie repeats, turning her head to look over to the girl beside me. The glitter intermixed in her moss-colored eyeshadow catches the light, giving an alluring sparkle to her tanned face. "Anyway, Kagome, you do anything?"
The girl I sat next to—Kagome—shrugs to that. "Some of this, some of that."
Moss-eye hoodie-girl pouts at that. Then, evidently done with this standing business, she pulls herself up onto the desk behind her, sitting down and going to stare out the window.
The dark-skinned boy yawns, going to sit down in the chair of the desk moss-eye hoodie-girl had plopped herself onto. She adjusts as he sits, but doesn't seem to pay him any mind, continuing to stair aimlessly out the window.
The last member of the group, another girl, looks at me, and I can tell she's out of place in this group. She had been quiet earlier when the others were speaking, but now, it's clear there's something she wants to say.
She's wearing a dusk-blue 3RACHA shirt, tucked into a pair of tight white jeans held up by a Chanel belt. Her face—which is disconcertingly gaunt, and devoid of any makeup—is adorned by one of the biggest pairs of glasses I've seen, a pair of clear, gold-rimmed aviators.
The redhead 3RACHA-shirt girl breaks our eye-contact and sighs. She takes a seat on the floor beside the windows, fairly close to where I'm standing, pulls the class's assigned textbook out from her bag and starts to flip through the section on the Philippines.
Well, so much for working as a group, then. The only thing for me to do is…
[x] Take charge of the group. We have a preparation to prepare, people!
[x] Help 3RACHA-girl plan out our presentation. No need to make enemies with the others.
[x] Start up a conversation with someone. It'd be a good idea to make some friends.
-[x] 3RACHA-girl
-[x] Kagome
-[x] Moss-eye hoodie-girl
-[x] Dark-skinned boy
[x] Text someone. I've picked up a few numbers today, and I obviously have my Dad and Oneesama's numbers in my phone.
[x] Relax in silence. If nobody else here was worried, I'm sure it'll turn out fine.
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EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
[x] Help 3RACHA-girl plan out our presentation. No need to make enemies with the others.
goddang cliques
goddang cliques
[x] Take charge of the group. We have a preparation to prepare, people!
Let's at least try to get the others to help out. If they refuse, then Felisa can at least say she made an effort to get them to help.
@Guiding Bolt, if the others refuse, does Felisa still work on the project with 3RACHA-girl? I want to make sure that the project is worked on so I might change my vote if the answer is no.
Let's at least try to get the others to help out. If they refuse, then Felisa can at least say she made an effort to get them to help.
@Guiding Bolt, if the others refuse, does Felisa still work on the project with 3RACHA-girl? I want to make sure that the project is worked on so I might change my vote if the answer is no.
