[X] You and Kaho need to have a Talk.
[X] You decide to go meet the mysterious sender of that letter.
[X] You have a stalker, which you're alright with. Your stalker is laughably incompetent, which you are not alright with.
Class seems to go by especially slowly today, and by the time lunch rolls around, you would be hopping in your seat with anticipation if you weren't so interested in the possible practical applications of acids and bases and their many possible misuses. As it is, while you pay attention until the end of class, the moment the end of class bell rings, you pack your everything away, in scrambled disarray, and practically pounce on an understandably startled Kaho to drag her up to the roof.
Once you reach the roof, you pause and look around, making sure that there's no one in the vicinity. Kaho moves to speak, before you hush her. You check the stairwell, the door, the other side of the fence, and the roof itself. There is a person in blue trying to look innocent against the doorway. You give them a Look, and they remove themself. Once you are well and truly certain the roof is clean, you take a moment to look at Kaho, really look at her. She doesn't look very good, to say the least. She's slightly slumped, looks like she hasn't slept in a while, and her normally impeccable uniform is ever so slightly askew.
You sigh, and sit down next to her. She goes to speak, and you interrupt her again. You pull out your own lunch and gesture for her to do the same. While she eats at a sedate pace, you do a few more circuits of the rooftop, and also try to check the area with surreptitious use of your monocle. You also check the doorway again for the eavesdropper in blue. Once you're reasonably certain that there are probably no eavesdroppers in the vicinity, and both Kaho and yourself have finished your respective lunches, you sit back down across from her.
"So," you begin, "I had an interesting weekend. Two very rude people in suits showed up to my house, and tried to do rude things to me. I dealt with the situation by leaving and finding other people to deal with the problem. I assume they were associates of yours?"
Kaho slumps further as you speak. "Yes. Of my family, actually. I didn't think they'd... Well, they clearly have."
"I- I suppose you ought to know what you've gotten yourself into," she concedes. "My family is old, and rich. Absurdly so. We're the upper crust of the upper crust, or we used to be anyway. Until the 20th century, we practically ruled this entire prefecture of Japan. Then the wars happened. My family was heavily invested in the military, and we lost almost everything. Since then, we've been scrabbling and scrambling to claw our way back to our previous power. Because of that, our clan puts a lot of emphasis on propriety and on power, and on keeping what we do have left very secure. Every child of our clan is expected to succeed in all walks of life, and failure is not accepted. "
She winces, and looks away from you. "I'm the third child of the clan head, so they expected more from me. I was always held to a higher standard, expected to excel at everything. On top of that, each of us was designed for a reason. My brother was trained to lead the clan. My sister was trained in diplomacy. I was supposed to be the warrior. That was the role they assigned me. Everything in my life was designed to prepare me for that function. No distractions were permitted. Nothing."
Now, she almost seems to be remembering more than speaking to you. "The first time I went to a friend's house, I was in 2nd grade. We had fun. Did girl things. Three days later, she and her whole family vanished. Completely erased. No records, the neighbors forgot them, even their apartment was empty. My family said they'd moved. I didn't believe it of course, I wasn't stupid. But the message was clear. So I didn't make friends, until I met a girl in sixth, who ignored my protests and befriended me anyway. She disappeared a week before finals. They found her all over an abandoned warehouse, with two of her friends."
She scrubs furiously at her eyes. "And then this
stupid blond idiot shows up in my class, and he talks to me, and he- when my family decides he's a problem- he
doesn't die when they decide to kill him."
She scowls at you through her tears. "I liked apathy better, it was less work. I hope you're happy for making me
fucking care, you bastard."
What do you say? Your reaction? Questions?
[] Write-in
The both of you are snapped out of your reverie by the sudden ringing of the warning bell. Both of you scramble downstairs, walking very quickly (but not running) back to class. As you continue, you glance over your shoulder again.
There! Another flash of blue! You've been seeing these sudden movements around since the day began, whenever you left your classroom. They signify that your stalker has erred again. You sigh. You have gym next; it's going to be a long period.
To your complete lack of surprise, you happen to be right. Gym class itself isn't difficult. You actually get reasonable amounts of exercise, and you also have avenues that your classmates are too lazy to exploit. Unfortunately, your performance during gym itself is abhorrent, by your standards. While your stalker did not follow you into the locker room, they're in the gym. The thing is, there's not much to hide behind in the gym, so they seem to have settled for simply hiding behind your classmates and hoping you don't notice them. It's about as effective as it sounds - not very.
This is officially embarrassing. You are going to have to do something about this. Assuming they don't follow you into your locker room, they're going to try to catch you outside the door. In that case...
You swiftly make your way out through the side door with a smirk. This should be fun. Now, assuming your stalker came directly from the gym, they should face the locker room from that direction, so if you go around, you should be able to get your hands on them. And indeed, there is your stalker, hiding behind a trash can and staring at the main door to the locker room. You amble up, grab them by the shoulders, and press them against the wall relatively gently.
"So," you purr malevolently, "you've been stalking me, rather badly. Why?"
And now that you've seen them, you're still not quite sure what gender they are. Fortunately, Japanese has gender-neutral pronouns. Ah, the conveniences of language. They try to give you an adorably innocent, confused look. Sadly for them, your typical response to cute things is to stab them. Or in this case, interrogate them.
They sigh, and slump in your grasp. "I was assigned to observe you upon your receipt of a communique from the Rebels - who you might know as the Delinquents. As a currently unclaimed high-value asset, you were deemed too risky to leave to your own devices. I was assigned to this operation as it was felt that your extant dislike for other authorities indicated you would respond most positively to an individual who did not seem to be attempting to influence you unduly. May I continue to observe you as per my assignment now?"
What do you say?
[] Yes, go ahead. The king's glory should be witnessed.
[] No. The king should not be bound by lesser authorities.
[] Write-in
You return to class rather thoroughly discomfited by that encounter. It seems you have at least one very capable and very observant stalker, in addition to your less adept one. Somehow, they've designated you a "high-value asset", which is flattering. It's also rather concerning, as it implies someone has been watching you long enough to decide that you are an individual who needs to be watched. Moreover, they're watching you closely enough to recognize your distaste for any other authority which claims to incorrectly supersede your own. This does not yet mean your mission is in jeopardy, but it might just make it harder.
That would be a bad thing.
As you return to the gym after school ends, you idly muse that you seem to collect stalkers. It's like a perpetual affliction. Do you just emanate that sort of aura? Perhaps people simply see you and think "There is a man who needs to be stalked." Perhaps one day,you will rule a kingdom of stalkers. The taxes will be paid, your court will meet for daily session, and you will never see a one of your petitioners. They will send ravens bearing complaints and pigeons with compliments, and you will rule an empty kingdom of hidden subjects.
You've reached the designated gymnasium, which is the one normally used for basketball. Carefully, you push the door open and enter.
Inside, there are five delinquents who could have walked out of any anime, arrayed around the center of the court. In front of them stands a brown-haired girl. At the center of the court, stands a girl in
Red.
"See, boss!" A short, cheerful girl with brown hair chirps. "I told ya he'd show up if ya just sent him the letter! Ya should listen t'me more often!"
"Mm, yeah," The girl in red muses. "Didn't see that one comin', that's for sure. Congratulations, you did a thing."
She twirls the blade in her hand and rests it on her shoulder as she walks towards you. Not to be outdone, you walk towards her with equal confidence, projecting power and simple assurance with your every step. Where you stride, she glides towards you with a speed that belies her size. She's actually shorter than you, you realize, but her presence more than makes up for it.
The two of you meet at the center of the free throw line, and lock eyes. You feel a pressure, an immense weight you cannot quite describe. It imposes on you a sense of inadequacy. It whispers to you of your weakness and of the superiority of the one standing before you. You smile wryly, and brush those foolish thoughts, unworthy of a king, away with a smirk and a breath of
Gold.
The two of you step back simultaneously, and blink as you do.
"You got some good eyes there, boy." She notes.
You shrug. "I'm the best," you inform her helpfully. "It comes naturally."
"That's what you think," she retorts. "I'm gonna offer you a deal here. I'm going to make you an offer. I want you to hear me out, and seriously consider taking me up on my offer. In exchange, I'll tell you something important, that you really need to know."
"Okay." You shrug. "The information first."
"Figures," She replies, looking you up and down. "I'm going to hazard a guess here. Ever since you've come to this academy, you've been having unsettling dreams. They vary a lot. Sometimes you're a king, sometimes a pauper. Male or female. Everything changes. All the time. But one thing remains the same. There's always a color. And that color... is Gold."
You struggle not to let your shock show on your face. She's fairly close, except you've had one dream over and over and over again. You dreamed you were a king, or maybe a puppet. Not sure which was which, either.
"Yeah, thought so." She remarks. Clearly, you need a better poker-face. "Congratulations, kid. You've been chosen. See, I had those dreams too. Except, my color? My color was Red. There are three of us in this school, all vying for control. Always have been. Except now, there's a fourth. You're breaking the balance, kid. You're not supposed to be here. You're an anomaly. A glitch in the Matrix. And I want to break this damn system, and you might just be the best tool to pull that off.
"So here's my offer. You join up with me. Kui-senpai says you're a good person, trustworthy. You'll be my second-in-command, until the day I leave. We'll work together, to build up as powerful a base as possible. And then we tear this damn school apart. We break the entire fucked-up system they play by. I don't care what happens after. I just want those other two to get wrecked, and for my crew to be safe. After that, you're free to do what you want."
"Whaddya say?"
[] Accept.
[] Refuse.
[] Actually, I have questions.
-[] Insert questions
[] Write-in
QM: Kaho does not want to share her backstory. At all. At least this got written. I'd tell you how wonderful the holidays have been for my productivity, but you wouldn't believe me. Take your time with the voting, there's probably a bunch of things you'd like to look into. This is a golden opportunity for you guys to get a few important questions answered.
