The Perfectly Normal High School: A Slice of Life Quest! (Defunct)

[LuciDreamer]

Spoiler: Conversation with Big Sister

[] [ASK] Do you have a real face and voice?

"Hmm? Me?" Big Sister sounded confused. "Of course! This is my face and voice."

"No, that's your avatar," Silas insisted. Come to think of it, when had Big Sister ever used an avatar before?

"Well… yeah… but it is still me." Big Sister said.

"How do I word this… um…" Silas thought deeply for a second. "What would you say is your default face and voice?"

"Default?" Big Sister's avatar blinked. "Nothing."

"Argh," Silas groaned. "I'm sorry, you're not making much sense."

"Perhaps that is my intention?" Big Sister smiled. "Or perhaps I am incapable of telling you what you want to know?"

"Ah, Big Sister, confusing as… always…" Silas thought for a moment. Strangely, he couldn't remember Big Sister ever speaking to him as an avatar before. Or at all, even. She'd always been communicating to him via texting. But it still felt right somehow, like she'd been doing this forever.

Something was off, but Silas couldn't fathom what it could possibly be.

"Let's say…" Big Sister was speaking. Silas perked his head up. "Let's say… I do have a default face and voice, as you say. But let's say that if I did, I wouldn't want you to see or hear it. Would you be willing to accept that as an answer?"

"...sure," Silas replied, more confused than ever.

~~~​

[] [RESPONSE] I like having you around! You're fun and you've helped me so much already! I just... wish I could do well on my own, some day?

"Hmm? Are you… are you sure?" Big Sister's expression was unreadable.

"Well… yeah. I love you, Big Sister, but… it would feel weird if I relied on my Big Sister forever, right?"

"Hmm…" Big Sister sounded… sad? Disappointed? Angry? It was impossible to tell. But all in all, Silas suspected that his answer didn't entirely please her…

Big Sister: -5 REL

~~~​

[] [ATONE] Maeda Kirino

Success Threshold: 57.5 (Base) -20 (Loner) - 16.5 (Low CHAR) - 5 (Former NEET) + 20 (Atonement) + 10 (Big Sister Interference) = 66

DICE ROLL: 71
RESULT: FAIL

Coming back to school at the start of the week felt hard.

Oh, there were a litany of reasons for this. For one, the habit Silas had of waking up around noon was firmly entrenched into his internal clock. Waking up so early that the afternoon haze hadn't even yet settled in felt… weird. And miserable.

But there was another reason: Maeda. The way she forced him to stay in the classroom practically from dusk to dawn the other day still clawed at him, as did the constant insisting that he double check this paper or cross-reference this grade. She had a dogged determination that was downright scary. And she was probably still mad at him. And Silas was coming to school on Monday expecting to have an apology ready for her.

Shiver.

When Silas arrived, Yamaha was already swelling with students, as it usually was. It only took him a few minutes to find his homeroom - thankfully, after a few days of practice, he wasn't needing to rely on Big Sister's signage as often, which is always a plus. Class 4-1 wasn't quite full yet, but a few students, were already inside, talking animatedly with each other about frivolous things.

"Hey, Yamigawa-kun!" Matsuoka Yumika smiled.

"Hey, M-Matsuoka-san," Silas replied. Then he cursed himself. That damn stutter. He was going to have to work on that. "Err… have you seen Maeda-san?"

"Maeda-san? Oh, you mean Kirino?" Matsuoka rubbed her chin a bit. "Hmm… She was here earlier, but left in a hurry. She seemed angry about something."

"...Oh." Silas blinked. That was understandable.

"Hey, hey…" Matsuoka was leaning in closer, scrutinizing Silas's face. Her smile remained, but her expression was unreadable. "That's the look of someone who's guilty of something. You wouldn't happen to know why Kirino is upset, would you?"

"I-I mean, I…" Silas's face turned the tiniest shade of red. "I… visited the classroom over the weekend, and… messed some of her papers up."

"That's it?" Matsuoka seemed unconvinced.

"I knocked over a stack, and it knocked over another stack… and then it knocked over another stack… she had a lot of stacks of papers," Silas admitted.

"Hmm…" Matsuoka leaned in even closer. A few awkward seconds later, she retracted her face. "Well, you don't seem to be lying! Good on you! I hope you're really, really, really sorry about what happened with Kirino-chan?"

"Yes, of course."

"And you apologize to her with the deepest conviction in your heart?"

"With the deepest conviction in my heart!" Silas affirmed.

"Ah, that's good!" Matsuoka nodded, seemingly satisfied. Then she looked behind him: "Oh, hey, Kirino-chan! How long have you been there?"

Silas made a little gasp, did a one-eighty, and quickly stepped back all at the same time. Unfortunately, this little movement brought his foot directly into contact with a nearby desk, which promptly sent a sharp pain up his right leg. "GAH - I mean, M-Maeda-san! H-Hello!"

Maeda looked at him with tired eyes. "Heard your apology. Not impressed."

"But I - "

"Please," Maeda took a deep breath. "I'm sorry - truly sorry - for blowing up at you on Saturday, but I had a really bad weekend, okay?"

Under her breath, Maeda mumbled something that sounded a lot like 'containment breach' and 'too young for this,' but Silas pretended not to hear her. "I understand, Maeda-san, but - "

"Listen, you're a sweet kid, Yamigawa-kun, but it's gonna take more than a few empty words to make me less angry at you, alright?" Maeda said. She sighed again. "Where's the seating chart…"

With that, Maeda made her way to the her desk near the front of the room and plopped down, holding her head in her arms and closing her eyes.

"Huh…" Matsuoka mused, frowning. "That didn't work as I expected. Sorry, Yamigawa-kun."

"It's alright," Silas muttered. "It's really alright." He'd have to find a way to make it up to her, some day. Now that he thought about it, she had also seemed rather stressed last week, too. Was being a class representative really that hard?

~~~​

Far above him, from the refuge of one of the school's discreet security cameras embedded into the ceiling, Big Sister was looking down at the scene with deep fascination. The Maeda girl certainly is a piece of work, she thought to herself. So many different faces...

Maeda Kirino: +1 REL
SPECIAL: [EXTRA] Stay after school now counts as an ATONE action with Maeda.

~~~​

[] [TALK] Matsuoka Yumika

Success Threshold: 65 (Base) + 10 (Big Sister Interference) -20 (Loner) -6.5 (Low CHAR) -5 (Former NEET) = 43.5

DICE ROLL: 17
RESULT: SUCCESS!

INT CHECK: 5 - 4
Success!

Most days, Matsuoka is surrounded by people. Silas always thought they were all close friends, but the more he watched her, the more he came to realize that Matsuoka only really seemed to be close to Maeda, the girl named Shinohara, Hanamura, and, surprisingly, Allen. Matsuoka was friendly to everyone, of course, but she really devoted time and energy to talking to these particular people, and not as much to everyone else.

...Either that or all the time Silas had spent critically analyzing the character dynamics of his favorite anime and crafting complex webs of friendships and political alliances on Democratic Crusaders II had made him overthink things like this too much.

(Character Sheet updated)

Silas still didn't feel comfortable coming into the conversation without being invited, but when the audience around Matsuoka dwindled, Silas found it more than easy to sit by her and not seem awkward and nerdy for once in his entire life.

"Matsuoka-san, Can I sit here?" Silas asked, holding his bento box expectantly.

"Hmm?" Matsuoka turned, saw it was Silas, and smiled. "Of course, Yamigawa-kun! Every seat is an open seat!"

"Yeah, sit on down, Silas!" Hanamura said, still beaming in that creepy, chills-inducing way. "I'd love to know more about you!"

"Heheheheh… heh…" Silas chuckled half-heartedly as he sat himself down. Hanamura seemed nice, but the way he talked just sounded so… saccharine.

"So, Silas, where are you from?" Hanamura asked.

"Err, the north part of the city." Silas said. "Can you… not use my first name?"

"Whaaat?" Hanamura said, defensively. "Yumika-chan used it a couple times on your first day here. Why can't I?"

"Matsuoka-san stopped, though," Silas tried to explain, waving his hands in front of his face. A-And… um…"

"I only stopped calling you Silas because you told me to, though!" Matsuoka exclaimed.

"My point exactly. Why can't we just call each other by our first names? Like friends?" Hanamura scrunched up his face into a somehow even bigger smile.

"I… don't know you guys enough, though…" Silas mumbled, crossing his arms together. There was a bit of an awkward silence.

"Other things, let's talk about other things!" Matsuoka said suddenly after the short pause. "Like… um… movies! Yes, movies! We have the highest standards regarding movies, don't we, Chii-kun?"

"Yes, we certainly do. Hey, did you watch…"

Silas detached himself from the conversation a bit. This was… a bit hard. It was easier with Matsuoka leading the conversation the first week, but now he had to contribute a bit, too. And he didn't have anything to say. How would he? He hadn't gone to school in… forever!

Silas felt like he ought to just give up… and then he felt Matsuoka prod him on the shoulder.

She had this strange look in her eyes. Her expression was serious, but welcoming and supporting, as if she were reading his face the entire time and understood that they weren't getting very far with him. "Err… is movies not a good topic for you, Yamigawa-kun?"

"I… don't watch movies a lot," Silas admitted.

"Do you watch anything?" Hanamura said, looking rather surprised. "Come on, now, it's not like you're a complete blank slate."

"Well… I mean…" Silas mumbled.

"C'mon, Yamigawa-kun, what do you do for fun?" Matsuoka asked in a tone that sounded almost pleading.

"Err… " Silas searched throughout his entire life to try and find something - something - that he could tell them. Did he like psychological thrillers or horror flicks? No. Did he like Mihokujin live-action dramedies? No, he preferred his characters in two dimensions only. Did he do sports, go shopping, or spend time in the sun? No, no, and… hang on… NO! He had nothing except for anime, video games, and forum dynamics, and he couldn't tell any of them that he liked that kind of stuff, right?!

Behind Matsuoka, behind a window facing the city, a holoadvertisement was flicking to life. It seemed to be selling some sort of new soap - only some of the words seemed to have been replaced by text in bright red letters facing towards the window:


JUST SAY SOMETHING. ANYTHING. IT'LL BE FINE.


"Err... " Silas searched his brain. His response came out timidly: "D-Do you like RikuRiku?"

"RikuRiku…" Matsuoka repeated. "Where have I heard that before…"

Silas's heart fell.

"Oh!" Hanamura clasped his hands together. "Synthetimuse! Vocal synthesis!"

"Oh right!" Matsuoka said. "She's the virtual idol! Doh - " Matsuoka smacked her head. "How could I forget? She did a cover for our school's anthem last year!"

"Wait, she's real?!" Silas exclaimed enthusiastically. Matsuoka burst out laughing, His ears reddened.

"I wish, Sil - ah, Yamigawa-kun!" Matsuoka giggled. "No - what I mean is someone from Chii-kun's Computer Club made a music video of our anthem using her software. Her voice is cool! I love it!"

"Um…" Silas stuttered. "I...I love how people h-have used her voice and image to make stories!"

"Right?" Matsuoka said. "Omigod, and her uniform is so cuuuute! Gah, I wish we had school uniforms like that! Futuristic stripes with neon colors sounds sweet!"

"Y-Yeah, I know, right?" Silas responded. "I think it's cool, too! Everyone should wear them!"

"Wait, you want all the girls in this school to bare their midriffs?" Hanamura smirked. Silas blanched. "My, my, Silas, I didn't know you were so enthusiastic..."

"T-That's not - "

"BWAHAAAHAAA! Chii-kun, you're the one who thought of it that way, not Yamigawa-kun!" Matsuoka shrieked in laughter.

"She's right!" Silas said quickly. "She's absolutely right!"

"Oh, now I'm being teamed up on? Yumika-chaaaaaan, I thought we were friends!" Hanamura said with puppy-dog eyes.

"We are, but I won't let you bully Silas-I-mean-Yamigawa-kun! Not now, not ever!" Matsuoka said. "He's too precious and insecure to bully!"

"H-Hey!" Silas responded, but he was laughing, too. That strange look on Matsouka was gone, and for now Silas wouldn't have to dwell on it. These two really were pretty fun to talk with, truth be told. Even if Hanamura was a bit odd. And kept on smiling. At him. Creepily.

"Hey hey hey, I detect someone brooding and not talking!" Matsuoka exclaimed. "Anyway - I'd say we've got… I dunno… five more minutes 'till the end of lunch. What other music do you like? I want to know!"

"Well, erm…" Silas went over his head a few times. "I'm a bit partial to Reoru's music…"

Matsuoka was an engaging speaker, always proactive in the conversation, leading it this way and that so that Silas never got bored or ran out of things to say. Eventually, Silas realized she was doing this on purpose. It wasn't social manipulation in a negative context; rather, it seemed she just genuinely wanted everyone around her to be happy. Clearly, she was a lot smarter than she tried to make herself seem. Nevertheless, Silas came out of talking with her in higher spirits; and he felt that he was a little closer to her and Hanamura, too.

Some of Matsuoka's traits have been discovered!

Quick - Matsuoka has a quick mind. She is smart but doesn't flaunt her intelligence, though she clearly performs better in class than most of her peers. (+0.25 SKL per week. Trigger: Great INT)

Social Savvy- Matsuoka has the natural ability to read into social situations and seems to understand how she can manipulate social paradigms to better achieve what she wants. (+2 CHAR, +10 Success threshold to social interaction if Silas gains this trait. Trigger: High INT, Okay CHAR)

Matsuoka Yumika: +4 REL
Hanamura Chihiro: +2 REL

~~~​

[] [EXTRA] Walk around the city (May encounter effects, random, ???)

DICE ROLL: 50
RESULT: Okay

Miyao was the technological capital of the Imperial Republic. Sure, the capitol of Mikuoji may have the wealth and the politicians, but Miyao was the center of nearly every tech firm in the country. Even the brick-and-mortar retail centers, like the Miyao Hypermall, had shades of this; endless streams of advertisements for new computers and video games and devices flittered through the electronic billboards like leaflets in the wind.

It was more curiosity - and the lack of homework - that brought him to the Hypermall than anything else. Silas had never gone to the Miyao Hypermall before. He never wanted to. Far too many people were in there, with far too many prying eyes. But he felt more confident today, so he decided he might try it - besides, there was an arcade somewhere in there, and he wanted to see if the VR machines were working.

Thankfully, Silas's wandering took him to a pretty secluded part of the Hypermall. There were plenty of tech stores around, too. Silas quickly ducked his head into one of the smaller electronic stores to stare, wide-eyed, at the computers.

Oh, they were beautiful. Sleek, stylish, with big monitors and more gigabytes of RAM than he could count on his fingers and toes. There were so many, too… ones in different colors, ones with different graphics cards, towers and all-in-ones and laptops and smartphones...

Big Sis: No.

YamiOtako: I hadn't even typed anything yet.

Big Sis: You were going to ask if I was going to pay for that one. No.

YamiOtako: Why not?

Big Sis: There is a certain threshold, Silas. Using the National Drone Delivery Service to bring you your bento? That's fine. Hacking into the MSS's private network to provide you with unlimited and free Internet access? Also fine. Editing the National Census to acknowledge that you exist as a citizen of Mihoku? That's a given. But I'm not going to commit credit card fraud for you.

YamiOtako: …

Big Sis: You think I am being hypocritical. I am not.

Big Sis: Why are you still standing there.

Big Sis: If you want it so bad, why don't you work part-time? I'm sure you're perfectly cut out for it.

Big Sis: I was joking, don't actually consider getting a part-time job.

Big Sis: You're actually considering getting a part-time job.

Big Sis: Sigh.

It occurred to Silas that he didn't actually have any money. Like, at all. Big Sister always provided things for him. In fact, he had no idea when and how he even got his computer and his ancient flip-phone… they just were, and he'd accepted that he'd owned them without ever thinking about it.

Perhaps he should get a part-time job?

New Stat discovered: MONEY
MONEY is obtained by [WORK] actions, or by random chance. Silas can use MONEY to buy things he might want or need.

On his way out, Silas bumped into someone. "Oh, sorry!" Silas said quickly, before pushing the door and making his way outside.

"It's okay, it's okay, you're fine…" Nanami mumbled. She looked at the closing door. "Wait... Silas!?" Her voice reverberated throughout the Hypermall.

Silas didn't hear her.

~~~​

Towards the middle of the week, Silas suddenly became aware that there were a lot of posters in the hallways. It seemed it was club recruiting season; Literature Club, Astrology Club, Light Music Club (A rather cliche choice, if you asked him…), and more, all of a sudden the entire hallway to his homeroom felt like an advertisement boulevard.

Curiosity drove Silas to stop at one of the posters, which read "Drama Club" in bold, dramatic letters. Below it, the poster listed the kinds of things the Drama Club did: Critically analyzing popular media, understanding the film techniques used to evoke suspense or happiness, that sort of thing. The idea didn't seem too appealing to him, but then he saw the President's name: Matsuoka Yumika. Surely it couldn't be too bad if Matsuoka was involved, right?

On another poster, "Student Council" was printed in a neat, orderly font. The poster listed duties, responsibilities, and privileges of Council members, and while many of the privileges seemed like great fun the work seemed… drudgery, at best. Maeda Kirino's name wasn't anywhere on there, but Silas knew for a fact she was part of the Council.

Yet another poster read "Debate Club" in… a rather unimpressive-looking text. Clearly, whoever made the thing lacks any serious creative talent. But just skimming through the words made it clear that they were nonetheless passionate about the subject matter; the writer used rhetoric like "build the skills of a true leader" and "defend your ideals with strength and rigidity!" Silas was also pretty sure the boy named Allen was in it.

"Computer Club," which was written in… *sigh* ... Comic Sans, was one that Silas was genuinely interested in, and the poster itself advertised the club as a "friendly, social club for computer nerds of all kinds!" Silas realized he was most familiar with the type of things this club would be doing. But the Vice President of this club was none other than Hanamura Chihiro. Perhaps it was worth it?

And then there was the "Kendo Team" Yeah, no. No thanks. No. Noonononono. Silas needed to get fit, but organized sports? No. He'd find some other way.

Silas took a long time to stare at the posters. Incidentally, each one had an induction meeting on the exact same date, which was Thursday of this week. What to do… what to do…

~~~​

IT IS NOW THE MIDDLE OF WEEK 2
Choose which CLUB to attend the Induction Meeting for! Silas may choose another club at a later date if the first one doesn't pan out, with certain consequences.

[] [CLUB] Drama Club (+0.5 CHAR, +0.25 CRE, +0.25 COUR per week, ???)
[] [CLUB] Student Council (+0.25 CHAR, +1 SKL, +0.25 INT per week, ???)
[] [CLUB] Debate Club (+0.25 CHAR, +0.5 COUR, +0.25 INT per week, ???)
[] [CLUB] Computer Club (+0.25 CHAR, +0.5 INT, +0.25 CRE per week, ???)
[] [CLUB] Kendo Team (+0.25 CHAR, +0.5 PHYS, +0.25 COUR per week, ???)

Please choose TWO [TALK] or [ATONE] actions and two [EXTRA] or [JOB] actions:

[] [ATONE] (Who?)
[] [TALK] (Who?)

[] [EXTRA] Study (SKL +0.5)
[] [EXTRA] (Special) Otaku stuff!
-[] Grand Strategy games! (INT +0.25)
-[] Anime, music, "culture!" (CRE +0.25)
-[] Forum scrolling! (CHAR +0.2)
[] [EXTRA] Exercise… yay? (+0.25 PHYS)
[] [EXTRA] Walk around the city (May encounter events, random, ???)
[] [EXTRA] Stay after school (May meet classmates there, ???)
[] [EXTRA] Talk with Big Sis (???)

[] [JOB] Look for a part-time at school
[] [JOB] Look for a part-time at the Hypermall (Too… many… people…)
[] [JOB] Look for a part-time online
[] [JOB] Look for a part-time… somewhere

 

[LuciDreamer]

A/N: Sorry if this vote is a bit underwhelming. I'd planned to make this a full update, but I felt a bit burned out today... so anyway, we're now entering the midturn!

Silas had the distinct feeling that he was being watched.

Not by Big Sister, no. Well, by her, too, but he was always being watched by Big Sister, and that never felt strange at all. But today, he felt someone... else was watching him. Someone just out of sight. And that bothered him.

He suspected it might be Maeda. In fact, all day she'd been casting nervous, worried-looking glances in his direction. Was she still angry at him? It was hard to tell with her. She seemed to bottle up her emotions a lot, he had noticed. All week she hadn't even made a single reference to her outburst on Saturday, as if she were trying to forget it had even happened. Maybe she was ashamed that she had blown up at him like that? Or maybe she just didn't want to talk about it? Maybe she legitimately felt like it wasn't something important to bring up?

The more and more Silas tried to mull it over in his head, however, the more he felt like it would be rude to analyze her like that. She was a person with secrets, after all; and everyone had secrets. That's just a fact of life, right? But, inevitably, Silas was curious. The people around him were interesting, and he wanted to know anything and everything about them, their interests and hobbies, their personalities, their relationships... but would that be considered crossing a social line somewhere? Would Matsuoka or Hanamura think of him differently if they knew he was analyzing them like that?

SILAS IS DEVELOPING A TRAIT
Choose one of the following:

[] Gain "Extrospective" (+CHAR, +INT, Increased chance of learning traits and personalities, ???)
[] Gain "Inquisitive" (+2 INT, Add more precise information to Character Sheet, new actions?, ???)
[] Gain "Sensitive" (+2 CHAR, +10 Success Threshold [TALK] actions, +15 Success Threshold to [ATONE] actions, ???)

People were inherently interesting, he had decided long ago. They had so many dimensions and social paradigms... but he had also thought long ago that for those very reasons he had wanted nothing to do with them. People were strange, and judgmental, and weird, and complex. They were better off being observed from behind a screen and within the sanctity of Big Sister's watchful gaze. He'd gotten a lot better, of course, but coming into the school year he realized just how difficult social interaction was, no matter how friendly he wanted to be.

Silas didn't want to be a loner... he wanted friends. Lots of them! But the very act of socializing was so daunting that he found it difficult to even talk to his classmates about trivial things, like the weather or grades. Maybe he ought to start small...

NEW QUEST!
Silas wants to have 2 Friends (REL >= 20) by the beginning of week 7.
Success: "Loner" Stat evolves
Failure: Temporary CHAR loss, ???

Silas felt a tap at his shoulder. He blanched, thinking Dorima had come to harass him again - but to his surprise, it was Maeda behind him trying to get his attention.

She looked very pale.

"Err... Yamigawa-kun," she said. Her voice was barely above a whisper above the class's cacophony. "I need to talk to you."

"Um - "

"It won't be long. Can you just please... ah... what was I...? Oh, right. Dammit. Please. Can you... hurry? I need to do this before I... before I forget." Maeda said. Tentatively, SIlas noticed she was crossing her eyes and constantly tapping Dorima's desk. She looked like she'd seen a ghost.

"Why?"

"Listen, I don't have time for questions. I'm gonna forget if I don't... I mean... you need to hurry, it's urgent," Maeda said. There was an edge to her voice. "Can you come to the empty classroom across the hall real quick? It'll only be a second, I promise."

Maeda didn't want to tell him something. That much was obvious. And this nervousness... he'd never seen her express that emotion before. He felt that he had better go along with whatever Maeda was asking. Either something really bad had happened just recently, or she was about to confess to him.

And as much as Silas thought that would be awesome, he doubted the latter would be the case.

MAEDA IS ASKING SOMETHING OF SILAS (This is neither a [TALK] nor an [ATONE] action, but still requires an action slot.)
Choose a response:

[] "...sure?"
[] "Sorry, but no."

If yes, choose a [TALK] or [ATONE] action to cancel:
[] [CANCEL] Matsuoka Yumika
[] [CANCEL] Shinohara Hana

 

[LuciDreamer]

A/N: As usual, this was fun to format. I'll be updating the Character Sheet tomorrow.

[] "...sure?"

It was a shame that he'd be losing an entire lunch bell of socializing - he was even planning on talking with Matsuoka again, too, and she was always fun to be around! But it was obvious that whatever Maeda needed from him had been gnawing at her conscience. Something about the expression on her face and her body posture. Knowing that, how could he turn her down?

"Thanks, Yamigawa-kun. Can you… hurry? I'll be at 4-2."

Maeda slipped away before Silas could get a word in edgewise. It was a few moments before he could catch up to her. It was lunchtime everywhere in the school, so the hallway was a bit busy, with throngs of people buzzing about on their free time. 4-2, by contrast, was eerily quiet once he slipped the sliding door shut. There was nobody in the room but Maeda and him.

"Right, right…" Maeda shook her head a bit. "...Take a seat, err… right here, please."

"No problem?" Silas replied. "What's this all about?"

"Err…" Maeda scratched her head and scrunched up her eyebrows. "Just sit down."

"Um… kay…" Silas took a seat next to a desk. Facing opposite from him was another desk, with a vacant seat. Shyly, Nanami waved her hand hello, knowing full well that Silas was staring at the empty air directly behind her.

Maeda got out a notepad and scribbled something down. "What do you see directly in front of you?"

"A… window," Silas answered, truthfully. It was a pretty nice one. Shiny, with a good view of the outside. A delivery drone was buzzing by.

"Okay… anything else? Describe everything in your field of view right now."

"Well, there's the rest of the wall. And… some bookshelves?" Silas looked around the room some more. He realized some of the computers were flashing slightly - a sign to show him that someone was there. "...Some computers, a newsreel monitor, a TV Set, Big Sister…"

"Who?" Maeda perked up at this, staring at Silas intently.

"Gah, um… nothing. No one. I see no one in front of me right now," Silas said quickly.

"Are you sure?" Maeda prodded.

"Yes, I'm sure. Certain. There is no… there is no physical human besides you in my field of view right now," Silas said, confident that his choice of words didn't constitute a real lie. Big Sister didn't have a physical presence, after all! Not that he knew, at least. And Nanami had to try really hard to stifle a sniffle.

"And your big sister?" Maeda asked. "Try to think really, really hard."

"I don't have a big sister," Silas said. Again, technically, he was being truthful. So it was okay!

Maeda let out a groan. Disappointment? Worry? "Hmm... " she grumbled. "Let's try this." She nodded discreetly in Nanami's direction. The girl, eyes pointed away from Maeda, pulled a tiny bread roll from within her jacket, and reached out to Silas. She held his hand with one arm, and placed the loaf on him with the other.

Silas blinked. There was a weird, tingly feeling in his fingers, and he was now folding a piece of bread.

"How'd you get that, Yamigawa-kun?"

"Hmm?" Silas asked.

"Who gave the bread to you?"

"You did, of course," Silas responded, mostly confused. "You walked over and handed it to me."

"I handed it to you from behind this column of desks?" Maeda asked. Her glasses seemed to shimmer. She was scribbling more in her notepad.

"Um… yeah. You… uh… scooted them around a bit. And then you moved them back in place," Silas said. Why was his head hurting all of a sudden? "How else did you give it to me?"

"I didn't give it to you."

"Of course you did!" Silas couldn't help but chuckle. "It's ridiculous to think that you didn't!"

"I swear I didn't."

"If you say so," Silas shrugged. Is this some sort of psychological test? He wondered. Punishment for wasting her time, now she's wasting my time? No, no… Maeda isn't like that. Then what could she…? No. No, I shouldn't pry.

Out of frustration and sadness, Nanami slammed her hands against her desk. "Silas…" she whimpered.

Silas heard a crash, and jumped in his seat. "Maeda? Did you just fall?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Oh… kay…"

This is getting weirder and weirder by the moment… Silas thought. "Um… are we done here?"

"Not quite. I want to keep you for a few more minutes," Maeda said. She was furiously typing into her MiPhone, now. "A few more tests. Need more info."

"About what?"

"About…" Maeda suddenly looked at her phone confusedly. "About… something… important? To be frank, I honestly have no ide - "

"MAEDA!!" Nanami screeched.

Maeda looked as if she'd been hit by something. "Oh! Right! Um… it's something. Definitely something. Can't tell you. It's… uh… Student Council stuff. Confidential. Yeah." Nanami calmed down, looking relieved.

"Confidential?" Silas laughed. "What, is the Student Council some sort of intrigue organization? Do you guys have secret files and and codenames and stuff?

To his surprise, Maeda laughed. "You have no idea…"

"U-Um…" Silas squirmed in his seat uncomfortably.

"Anyway," Maeda snapped her notepad shut. "I… oh dear, is that the time? I think that's it... Hopefully you can get back to class before - "

Suddenly, an electronic bell beeped above them. It was time for third block. "...shoot," Silas said. "I still had a rice taco left."

"Wow, it's already been ten minutes?" Maeda said. "That went by… way too quickly. You ought to get back to class now, Yamigawa-kun."

"Aren't you coming, too?" Silas asked.

"Nah, I have to… do some more things real quick."

Silas rolled his eyes. Again with the ambiguity. "Well, seeya."

"See you," Maeda waved goodbye as Silas slipped the sliding door open. "Wait - Yamigawa-kun, wait up. One more thing."

"Mhmm?" Silas asked.

"You're not… curious? At all?" Maeda said.

"Oh, no no," Silas smiled. "I… uh… I'm pretty sure whatever it is you wanted for me to do is something you don't want me to know the specifics of. It just… it feels rude to be… um… asking too much."

"You know I'm hiding something from you, then."

"Yes."

"But you… don't care?"

Silas shook his head. "If you don't want to tell me, I'm fine with that. I… want to respect your privacy, you know? And… you seem like a good person. So I don't think I have anything to worry… about… woah, I feel chilly all of a sudden."

Nanami had wrapped herself around Silas's waist. She buried her face in his stomach, her body shaking in dry sobs. It was a pitiful noise.

Silas blinked. Maeda was looking at him weirdly… sadness? But what could she possibly be sad about?

Gosh, people were so confusing sometimes.

"...It's nothing, Silas. Probably just the air-conditioning," Maeda said.

"Mmkay," Silas replied nonchalantly. The cold feeling was going away now. "Seeya around, Maeda!"

"See you," Maeda said. When the sliding door slipped shut, Maeda walked towards the door herself, but her fingers stopped just short of the handle. She patted Nanami on the shoulder, a pithy sign of comfort, the only one she dared to give.

"You're gonna be alright, Nanami," she whispered to the space in front of her. "I have friends. We're - we're close. We're smart, too. And we know a thing or two about things that aren't supposed to make sense. And… we're gonna try to get him to see you again. Okay? I promise." Maeda cringed slightly; her smile faded. She hated making promises she might not keep.

Silently, Nanami nodded. "You're not… gonna forget too, right?"

Maeda's smile returned. "I'll… try. If I forget, you have to keep reminding me, okay? I'm better at remembering memetic - err - at remembering things than most. But you have to remind me."

"Okay," Nanami whispered. "I don't want to be forgotten."

"...I know."



Maeda Kirino: +1 REL

Silas has gained a Trait!
Sensitive - Silas is highly attuned to the emotions of the people around him, and is good at detecting when the people he talks to are feeling uncomfortable. This makes him a better communicator, but also means he's a bit oblivious to the things that people want to hide. (+2 CHAR, +10 Success Threshold [TALK] actions, +15 Success Threshold to [ATONE] actions. Silas detects liked Stats faster.)

One of Maeda's Traits has been partly discovered!
Secretive - Maeda keeps a lot of things bottled up inside of her. Perhaps it's for the better? (???)


[] [CLUB] Drama Club (+0.5 CHAR, +0.25 CRE, +0.25 COUR per week, ???)

"Um… hi."

Silas had no idea what he had been thinking.

It was supposed to be the simplest thing, right? Just walk into the Drama club room and start talking with people. It was just like class! And Matsuoka would be there to help him, and everything would be fine and dandy!

...And now he was standing at the doorway to the Drama club room, with at least seven pairs of eyes trained at his exact spot. They looked like giants; titans, even, and he felt smaller and smaller every passing second he stood there. And amongst those in attendance, there was a distinct lack of Matsuoka, which didn't exactly make things much better!!

"Um… my name is Yamigawa Silas. N-Nice to meet you all?" Silas practically squeaked.

One of the boys spoke up: "...Reizei Renji. Vice President of the Drama Club. Err… do you have the wrong room or something?"

A voice from behind Reizei suddenly barked, "Yeah, and my addendum to that question is as follows: Who exactly the hell are you?!"

"Kuroda-san!" one of the girls whispered fiercely.

"E-Err… I… I sort of... " Silas's knees were rubbing against each other. "I… saw the sign and I… um…"

Stop staring at me, stop staring at me, stop staring at me!!

Was it his imagination, or was an image of Big Sister's facepalming avatar just now disappearing from a nearby screen? That traitor!

"HEEEY FRIIEEEENDS!" Matsuoka's voice suddenly echoed down the hallway as she skidded into the club room, armfulls of sweets in hand. "I BROUGHT THE SNA - oh, Yamigawa-kun? Hey! You wanted to join the Drama Club?"

Matsuoka looked confusedly between herself, the petrified Silas, and the rest of her club. "Why're you all so quiet?"

"...You know Yumika-san?" the Vice President asked.

Silas stuttered a reply: "E-Err… yes. She's in my class 4-1."

"He's the self-introduction kid!" Matsuoka explained. And then the dreadful silence was finally broken.

"Ohhhh…" the Vice President sighed. "Well, a friend of Matsuoka's... Anyway. Sorry, ah… Yamigawa-kun? I thought you were some weirdo or something. We don't get a lot of people who want to join Drama willingly. So, nice to meet you!"

"T-Thanks!" Silas breathed.

"Wait, self-introduction kid?" someone mumbled.

"You know, the one who introduced himself to class by shouting 'SELF INTRODUCTION!' to the first person he met?"

"Oh, yeah!"

"So! Um…" Matsuoka silenced the two with a very subtle glare. "Silas! Welcome to Drama. We make stageplays and watch movies!"

"And we analyze them," the Vice President, Reizei, added.

"Well yeah, that too," Matsuoka said with a wave of her hand. "But that's work. Drama's all about the fun! The thrill! The popcorn!"

"Sheesh, you're selling it hard, aren't you, Kaichou?" Reizei muttered.

"Well, it's true!" Matsuoka replied defensively. She put her hands on her hips. "Besides, it's important that Drama gets new members! We don't want to go the way of the Music Club, isn't that right?

The entire room seemed to gasp, and Reizei, for his part, recoiled a bit. "Sick burn... " someone muttered.

"Well, it isn't like you're doing any better!" Reizei fired back. He was grinning devilishly. "Or do I have to remind you how half of your members ran off with Hanamura after he founded the Computer Club?"

"U-Um…" Silas looked between the two and felt he had to intervene somewhere. "... Club induction ceremony?"

"Oh, right, that," Reizei seemed to suddenly realize that Silas was still standing there. He cooled down a bit. "We… uh… we didn't anticipate anyone would come, so… like, we don't have any freaking confetti or anything…"

"Really? But the recruitment poster looked nice!" Silas said.

"You really think so?" one of the boys perked up. "Oh! Err… Mikado Yoshi. I do most of the promotional materials and presentations. Nice to meet you!"

A boy did the poster? Silas thought to himself. "Nice to meet you, too, Mikado-kun. And yeah, I think it looked alright…"

Matsuoka pulled on Silas's arm. "This is Reizei Renji! He's our Vice President. He's insufferable and kind of a jerk, but other than that he's very boring, and also an idiot!"

"Hey!"

"And over here…" Matsuoka pointed to one of the girls. Bizarrely, her hair was blue. As in, bright teal. "...is Rakuyama Riku. Yeah, I know! Rakuyama Riku, Reizei Renji. They were made for each other!"

"Ugh, no…" Rakuyama rolled her eyes, chuckling. Out of the corner of his eye, noticed Reizei was a tint redder than before. Rakuyama faced Silas and put on a genuine-looking smile. "Nice to meet you, Yamigawa-kun. I was part of the Music Club too, like Renji-kun."

"And here…" Matsuoka pointed to a tall student in the back. "Is…"

"My name, good sir, is Count Etrosq of the Rhodok Republic, defender of Saren and vassal to the rightful ruler of Calradia, King Graveth!" he exclaimed, waving his arms around in an aggressive manner. "Normally I cut the throats of commoners who barge into my presence unannounced, but I was in a good mood today!"

Silas instantly thought of that boy Allen was arguing with a few classes ago… what was his name again? Taro?

"...His name is Kuroda Harima. He's our best actor!" Matsouka continued, with no change in tone. "And he's an idiot, too, like Renji!"

"Since when did I become part of this?" Reizei snarled.

"And finally…" Matsuoka pointed towards a corner of the roo - wait, Shinohara is here, too? "This is Shinohara Hana! You know her, right?"

"Hey, Silas," she said politely, waving her hand a bit.

The effect was instantaneous. "Wait wait wait wait wait… what?" Mikado said, his jaw dropping. "What?! Yamigawa-kun, you and Shinohara - "

"What's the meaning of this?!" Kuroda shouted.

"Intimacy alert! Intimacy alert!" Rakuyama yelled.

"First names!!" Matsuoka screeched. "You two use first names!! There's a history there! I must know, now!"

"W-Wait, um…" Silas shook his head violently. "I swear, I - "

"I met him when he was talking to Allen. He insisted on first names," Shinohara said quickly. This seemed to pacify the club room, much to Silas's relief.

"Aww…" Rakuyama deflated. "And here I thought we'd be getting some good old-fashioned club drama… why'd you have to ruin the fun?"

"Well anyway!" Matsuoka said, instantly bringing all the attention to herself, and, conveniently, away from SIlas and Shinohara. She did that a lot, Silas was beginning to realize. "That was the Drama Club official induction ceremony!"

"It was?" Reizei blinked. "But isn't there like a formal process - "

"Nope! You're now a member of the club, Yamigawa-kun!" Matsuoka declared.

"Desperate, much?" Reizei mumbled.

"Shut up, Reizei!" Matsuoka said cheerily. "Induction ceremony over! Let's clap!"

The club did a few rounds of polite clapping, with Matsuoka - naturally - leading the charge. It felt… kind of awkward, and a bit patronizing. But it seemed genuine, at least. He smiled wearily in reply. "Now… Yamigawa-kun! Let's eat!"

At that, she dumped the bags she had brought with her - piles upon piles upon piles of sweets, candies, chocolates, and sugar buns toppled onto the center table. Silas gaped.

"DIBS ON THE CHOCO-LEEKS!" Rakuyama screeched.

"Hey - save some for me!" Reizei rushed over.

Silas stood, frozen to the spot. For some reason, it didn't feel right for him to just go to the table and start stuffing his mouth… as much as he really wanted to… I mean, he wasn't really part of these peoples' in-group yet!

"You there!" the boy named Kuroda called out from beneath a barrel of mochi icecream. "The fire is warm; come seat yourself here, and let us enjoy the bounties of the earth together!"

"Yamigawa-kun! Table! Food!" Matsuoka urged. "Work comes later! Right now - FOOD!"

Silas's resistance didn't last long after that. Happily, he sat himself at the table, and started munching along with everyone else. He had a feeling this was going to be a fun year.



Matsuoka Yumika: +3 REL

Silas is now CLOSE ACQUAINTANCES with Matsuoka!


Shinohara Hana, Kuroda Harima, Reizei Renji, Rakuyama Riku, Mikado Yoshi: +5 REL

Silas is now ACQUAINTED with Kuroda, Reizei, Rakuyama, and Mikado.


Silas gained a Trait!
Drama Club Newbie - Silas is a member of the Drama Club! When he spends time with his club, he'll be learning the various nuances of communication and expression, and he'll find it a lot easier to interact with club members. (+0.5 CHAR, +0.25 CRE, +0.25 COUR per week. +5 Success Threshold with all Drama club members. Lost if Silas leaves Drama Club.)



[] [TALK] Shinohara Hana

Success Threshold: 52.5 (Base) + 10 (Big Sister Interference) + 10 (Sensitive) + 5 (Drama Club Newbie) +1.25 (Okay INT) - 10 (???) -20 (Loner) -16.5 (Bad CHAR) - 5 (Former NEET) = 27.25

DICE ROLL: 7
RESULT: Success! Phew!



"So…"

Well, this was a bit awkward.

"...Do you like debating? You hang out with Allen a lot…"

"No."

"Oh."

Silas realized that he actually had absolutely nothing to talk about with Shinohara. Probably because he knew nothing about her… but that wasn't his fault, right?

"Why do you hang out with Furai-ku - err, Allen?" Silas asked.

Shinohara curled her lips into a frown. "Why do you care?"

"I-I don't mean to pry, honest!" Silas said, instantly recognizing the disapproval wrought on Shinohara's face. "I just thought… you know… I was interested."

"Hmm."

Shinohara took a sip from her ramune. Gingerly, Silas took a sip from his rice taco.

"So… uh… movies. You're in Drama too, right? What kind of movies do you like?"

Thankfully, that seemed to pique her interest. "You go first," she said, turning the conversation around.

"Oh! Err…" Silas scratched his head. "I like… fantasy a lot," he admitted.

"High Fantasy or Low Fantasy?"

"What's the difference?"

"High Fantasy is a bit heavy on magic and elves and dwarves and shit," Shinohara explained. "It tends to focus on fantastical stories about epic heroes and Gods. Low Fantasy is more down-to-earth. It's still got elements of fantasy, but it tends to focus on conflict found in the real-world - like war between kingdoms or political intrigue."

"...huh. I guess… I prefer High Fantasy, then?"

Shinohara nodded. "Figures."

"I mean - " Silas continued. "I like Low Fantasy, too. I marathoned Game of the Throne a couple months ago…"

"Oh, you watched that, too?" Shinohara smiled. "That show's thrilling. You've good taste."

"Uh... thanks."

Shinohara leaned in a bit closer. "Hey, between you and me, you should bring that up with Allen next time you talk to him," she said.

"...huh? Why?"

"He doesn't like to admit it, but he's a huge Game of the Throne nerd. I think it's because of its realism and politics… or something. I'm sure if you make a couple of lead-ins to that, he'll open up a lot," Shinohara said.

"Oh. Thanks!" Silas replied. That seemed like something important to store for later…



One of Allen's Traits has been discovered!
History Nerd - Allen loves history, and especially modern media that depicts history in what he sees as a realistic light. (+5 Success Threshold with Allen when this trait is discovered)



"What about Horror movies?" Silas asked. Shinohara's face lit up. Success!

"They're my favorite, actually," Shinohara said. "Did you watch The Square?"

"Ohhh! Yeah!" Silas said enthusiastically. "There was an anime adaptation of it a few months ago!"

"Anime?" Shinohara frowned, but it quickly faded. "So yeah, I loved that one. Remember the part where that girl was dragging the poor student into the TV screen?"

Silas shivered. He was pretty sure that particular scene broke more than a few decency laws, or something... "I kind of wanted to forget about that, actually…"

"It was the best part, though!" Shinohara exclaimed. "The hopelessness on the girl's face - her actor really knows how to do despair! How she tried to cling desperately to the chair, but it was no use; the tendrils of the tentacles were too strong! They dragged her in… sloooowly… and she screamed and screamed but there was nothing she could do!" Shinohara slapped her fingers to her cheeks. Her expression was ecstatic. "'HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME!' Hahaaha, oh god, that was funny! 'GET AWAY FROM ME I DON'T WANT TO DIE! NO, NO NO!!' Hahahhaa… hahah... ahaah… hah… ha…"

Somewhere near the front of the room, Kamasaki-sensei was asking everyone to get ready for third block. But Silas didn't hear her. His face was white.

"Y-You're a bit scary, Shinohara-san…"

"Oh! Sorry, Yamigawa-kun!" Shinohara seemed to be trying to wipe her face of emotion entirely. She was still beet-red, though. "You weren't supposed to… I shouldn't have… I should… yeah."

"Right! I'll… be b-back in my seat n-now!" Silas stuttered, eager to get away. What was wrong with this girl?!

"...Yeah, that would be for the best. Seeya around, Yamigawa-kun," Shinohara replied, keeping her eyes on her food.



Shinohara Hana: +2 REL

One of Shinohara's Trait's has been partially discovered!
Movie Sadist - Shinohara seems to… really enjoy watching movie characters in nightmarish situations. It's kind of creepy. (???)[/b]



[] [EXTRA] Stay after school (May meet classmates there, ???)
(COUNTS AS [ATONE] Maeda Kirino)

Success Threshold: 57.5 (Base) -20 (Loner) - 16.5 (Low CHAR) - 5 (Former NEET) + 20 (Atonement) + 10 (Big Sister Interference) = 66

DICE ROLL: 68
Result: Autofail



Silas put his hand on the sliding door screen, thinking he was going to be making an attempt to atone to Maeda, again.

When he slid the door open, though, he was greeted by the sight of not one, but at least thirteen people - arguing angrily around desks which had been arranged in a neat little circle. No one seemed to notice him enter.

"...I'm telling you, you're taking this too far!" Maeda was saying. "We can't just leave her out there, we need to - "

"For the last time, Six, we don't have Site-01 operational yet!" one of the boys shot back. Silas recognized him as the Student Council Kaichou. "Until we get basic functionality, we can't enact proper procedures for -"

"Proper procedures?! All we need is a locked office or room or something! She's not Keter, for Christ's sake!"

"How do we know?! We don't take chances with these kind of things! You, of all people, should know that!"

"...Did someone leave the door unlocked?"

All eyes turned to Silas. "Um… hi," he said, lamely.

"THERE'S NO PRIVACY IN THIS SCHOOL, IS THERE?!" the Kaichou yelled exasperatedly. "GODS, I WANT THE OLD OFFICE BACK! SIX! AMNESTICS! NOW!"

"Yamigawa-kun!" Maeda rushed to him before any of the others could react. "Sorry 'bout this…" she said. Silas didn't even have time to think before she jammed something sharp into wrist and -



Silas was walking home, in a bit of a daze. He blinked a few times, trying to remember what exactly went wrong with his attempt to atone to Maeda… but nothing came up. Huh. That's a shame.



(NO EFFECT)



[] [JOB] Look for a part-time online



Success Threshold: 25 (Base) +10 (Big Sister Interference) +1.25 (Okay INT) = 36.25

DICE ROLL: 1
Result: HOLY SHIT



Silas didn't know what it was.

Maybe it was Big Sister's subtle guidance and manipulation of the Web, or maybe he'd just gotten plain lucky. But when he logged on to JuubunNaSokudo.com, literally within seconds he found exactly what he was looking for.



RECRUITING MODERATORS FOR THE AH FORUM

Right, so apparently this subforum's kind of exploding, so I need a few moderators to help me police this shit while I'm busy at work.

Please know that this isn't !!FUN!! work. You're not gonna be paid well, and the odds are pretty high that no matter what you do you're probably gonna end up hated by approximately half of the fuck-munchers on this god-damned subforum (Appreciate ya guys ), since most of us are apparently psychopaths and socially retarded.

Oh, and see the above paragraph? That's the kind of language you're gonna be sifting through and infracting on a regular basis. Just a heads up. That's not an outlier; the people here talk like that. Like, on a regular basis.

We're a fun group.

I need people who are either committed (for some god-awful reason) to keeping this subforum clean, or otherwise are willing to take a lot of heat. Rates start at about 500￥ per hour. Yes, I know it's shitty pay. Don't care. PM me. Thanks, all.



-DreamerLuci



...okay, well not exactly what he was looking for. But it wasn't physical work, it was online and it paid… and it was for being a moderator on a forum! Moderating wasn't that hard, right?!

"I… don't think this is a good idea," Big Sister cautioned from behind the webpage. "Preliminary scans of the "AH Forum" are… oh dear… I did not know that clowns could be sexualized like that."

"I mean, it's something…" Silas argued.

"A true conjecture…" Big Sister replied.



Tentatively, Silas opened a PM box for the user "DreamerLuci."



YamiOtako: I saw your recruitment post. Can I be a mod?
DreamerLuci: Wat so soon?
DreamerLuci: Cmon man I was busy with sumthin
DreamerLuci: Gimme a sec

DreamerLuci: Mmmkay. so you wanna be a moderator?
YamiOtako: Yes.
DreamerLuci: ur account doesn't say that you've frequented this subforum much. Just sayin. not gonna accept just anyone, ya know.
DreamerLuci: hold that thought
DreamerLuci: I'm gonna send you a from with questions on it. easy stuf, yeah? i'll judge your merit based on that. Can you shoot me an email?

YamiOtako: TacoSai@mimail.com

DreamerLuci: ...really, man?
YamiOtako: Sorry. I like tacos a lot.
DreamerLuci: sigh. its all good. The file should be arriving in a few minutes. send it back whenever. appreciate ya.



"She seems nice," Big Sister commented.

"How do you know it's a she?" Silas wondered aloud before coming to the obvious answer. "Oh. Right."

After a few minutes of refreshing his empty mailbox, Silas finally got the form DreamerLuci was talking about. It was… long. Most of the questions seemed kind of vague, like "What is the proper way to address an angry forum-goer?" and "At what point of a heated argument is mod intervention necessary?" The more he looked at it, the more Silas realized that he'd have to set aside an entire evening just to go through it all…



(New Action Available)



WEEK 2 IS NOW ENDING
Please choose, at most, two [TALK] or [ATONE] actions and two [EXTRA] actions. One [CLUB] action is required, for a total of FOUR.

[] [ATONE] (Who?)
[] [TALK] (Who?)



[] [EXTRA] Study (SKL +0.5)
[] [EXTRA] (Special) Otaku stuff!
-[] Grand Strategy games! (INT +0.25)
-[] Anime, music, "culture!" (CRE +0.25)
-[] Forum scrolling! (CHAR +0.25)
[] [EXTRA] Exercise… yay? (+0.25 PHYS)
[] [EXTRA] Walk around the city (May encounter events, random, ???)
[] [EXTRA] Stay after school (May meet classmates there, ???)
[] [EXTRA] Talk with Big Sis (???)
[] [EXTRA] [JOB] Fill out the Moderator Application


[] [CLUB] Hang out (Random REL Increase with club members)
[] [CLUB] Help the Officers (REL Increase with Matsuoka & Reizei, ???)
[] [CLUB] Work (???)

 

[LuciDreamer]

A/N: Wew lad. Sorry about the wait! I lost my muse for a bit…
My biggest conflict this time round was trying to consolidate the happy-go-lucky, ecstatic tone I started out with with the fact that there is clearly something going on in this school that Silas does not see. I hope I did well!



[] [ATONE] Maeda Kirino

Success Threshold: 57.5 (Base) - 20 (Loner) - 5 (Former NEET) - 6.25 (Low CHAR) + 10 (Big Sister Interference) + 15 (Sensitive) + 40 (Atonement #3) = 91.25

DICE ROLL: 88
Result: Success!

Maeda seemed to be getting busier and busier as the week dragged on, always jotting down quick notes in her notebook and sending streams of messages on her phone - Student Council work must have begun in earnest sometime in the past couple of days. It made actually getting close enough to her to talk very hard - there was never time during class, and Maeda always seemed to spend every moment of their lunch bell out on Student Council business or just conspicuously absent from the classroom.

Not today, though, thankfully. Silas scooted himself over next to Maeda as she wolfed down her bento - interestingly, a Western meal, Silas noticed - and sat uncomfortably for a few awkward moments before Maeda finally decided to acknowledge Silas's presence.

"You… uh… need something, Yamigawa-kun?" she asked.

Silas gulped. Would it be better to come clean immediately or do a lead-in? "Err… I just wanted to talk with my class representative a bit. Because… Um…"

"Get to the point," Maeda mumbled through her ham sandwich. "Don't have all day."

"I wanted to say sorry for messing up your work last weekend," Silas squeezed the words out quickly; he didn't want to stutter for this. "Err… I never got a chance to properly apologize. I'm sorry."

"Hmm? What? That?" Maeda asked. Then she seemed to think for a bit. To Silas's relief, she chuckled softly. "Oh… yeah. Um… sorry, part of the blame's gotta fall on me. Err… apology accepted."

"Oh… that's good," Silas replied half-heartedly.

Maeda took another bite of her sandwich. Silas decided to sip his ramune. A couple of times, Maeda seemed to be on the verge of saying something before shutting her mouth. The silence was a long one.

"I have nightmares," Maeda said suddenly.

"...Huh?"

Maeda repeated: "I have nightmares. They're… part of the reason why I was so irritable last weekend. I don't get them often, but recently they've been getting… worse. Like, progressively. Stress of being elected class representative again probably didn't help…"

"Nightmares?" Silas repeated incredulously. "But you seem so… stable…" Silas glanced at the new window in the corner of the classroom, where Maeda had punched out the glass last weekend. "I mean…"

"Don't bother trying to justify my anger to yourself, Yamigawa-kun. I have a short temper; I'm just really good at hiding it," Maeda smiled. "And breaking that glass felt good… It's stress relief. Really, really expensive stress relief."

"Anyway, " Silas decided to switch topics. "They must have been bad if you were that… angry… er... What kind of nightmares? - I-I hope I'm not talking out of line…"

"Don't be ridiculous, it's fine," Maeda waved him off. She seemed to think for a moment, scratching her head. Silas noticed there were tiny, dark circles under her eyes. "It's mostly just… general stuff. Like being trapped in a dark room with no way out and only a tiny candle for light, which was slowly burning itself to a puddle on the floor... or being stuck in a glass container that's slowly filling with water, with a tiny pocket on top that I can't fit through… or waking up and suddenly realizing that my entire family has disappeared. That sort of thing."

"Do your…" Silas started. Maeda didn't seem particularly comfortable talking about this; it was probably move on. "Do your parents matter a lot to you?"

"Yeah, of course," she replied quickly. "Don't yours?"

Silas hesitated, bringing his arms closer to his chest. Maeda raised an eyebrow. "...I've never met my parents."

"Really? Who do you live with?"

"I live alone," Silas said, before correcting himself: "I mean, I have Big Sister with me, and she's basically my mother. She's a nice mother, too."

A blushing anime girl faded into a screen behind Matsuoka, with the words, "Awwww shucks" written in the foreground.

"I… don't really have any connection to my mother and father, being honest," Silas admitted.

"Huh," Maeda scratched her chin. "I guess… I think I know how that feels."

"You've been separated from your family before?" Silas asked.

"In a way," Maeda said in a way that silenced any attempts at pursuing the subject. "Hey. You've been trying to talk to me a lot these past couple of weeks - I've noticed. Why is that, exactly?"

"Oh, um…" Silas felt his cheeks reddening a bit. "I've just been trying to find the time to apologize."

"That's it?" Maeda asked. "No… ulterior motive? You don't want anything from me? Didn't Matsuoka set you up to this? I'd be totally fine if any of that were true, you know."

"N-No, I'm serious! I just… I wanted to. And I hadn't really had the chance to until now." Silas said. "Actually, I was gonna try to apologize afterschool the other day, but... "

"...Oh." Maeda looked guilty for some reason. "I see. Yeah, sorry about that. You're a good kid, Yamigawa-kun."

"You say that a lot. As if you're older than me!" Silas laughed.

Maeda giggled. The dark spots under her eyes seemed a little lighter. "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I kind of want to know more about your big - "

"Maeda-san."

"Hmm?" Maeda turned her head - the Student Council Kaichou was looming over the both of them, with a very sour look on his face. Silas flinched a little when he saw him - for some reason, seeing the Kaichou's face opened up some sort of unpleasant memory in the dark recesses of his mind. Subconsciously, he scratched at a tiny red mark on his right arm. "We asked for you in the Council room fifteen minutes ago."

Maeda grimaced. "Ichiro-kun, you just texted me saying that I could take the lunch break off." She showed her phone to the boy. "See?"

"I can assure you, I did no such... thing..." the Kaichou raised his eyebrows, confused. "I… never sent this message, Maeda. None of us did."

"Really?" A strange expression washed over Maeda and the Kaichou's facial features. Fear? Anxiety? Paranoia? It was gone in an instant, though, and Maeda went on as if this were a normal occurrence. "Oh, well then. I'll be in the Council room soon."

"Yes, please be there. We have business to discuss," the Kaichou said curtly. He left the room with a sort of military-like precision, bumping clumsily onto the side of the doorway on his way out. "GAH! Damn wall… stupid body… let's go!"

Silas watched him leave. "He seems…"

"Yeah, our Kaichou is a bit of an idiot, as much as he likes to pretend he's still a master of intrigue," Maeda smirked. "Still, he's our idiot. Anyway, I've gotta go. Seeya, Yamigawa-kun. Oh, and thanks."

"See ya…" Maeda was gone with a flash, taking after the Student Council Kaichou with what seemed like a renewed purpose. She seemed a bit lighter on her feet, too.



Maeda Kirino: +4 REL
Maeda Kirino is now ACQUAINTED with Silas



As she left, though, he had to wonder… Why did he want to apologize to Maeda so much?

[] He was feeling guilty. (Trait gain?)
[] He wants to become Maeda's Friend. (Trait gain?)
[] He wants to learn more about Maeda. (Trait gain?)
[] Does he really need a reason? (Freight train?)



[] [TALK] Allen

Success Threshold: 55 (Base) - 10 (Erudite) - 7.5 (Low COUR) - 20 (Loner) + 10 (Big Sister Interference) + 10 (Sensitive) + 5 (History Nerd) = 42.5

DICE ROLL: 78
Result: Failure

"...and this one's named Toranpu-kun! He has a bad temper and he's a bit hard-headed, and he's an enormous showboat. He acts mean to most people around him, too, so most people think he's a jerk!"

"...he seems awfully one-dimensional, though."

"He is not! Toranpu-kun is just… misunderstood! That's how I characterize him, at least - a blundering fool with too much power."

Silas couldn't quite believe his eyes. Of all the things he thought he might see today, this wasn't one of them: Allen and Dorima-san, getting along. The two most vitriolic people he knew so far were apparently on the track to becoming best of friends.

People were weird.

"Ah… oh… haha! Oh, that's clever. I'm guessing Mister Toranpu - "

"Toranpu-kun!"

"Whatever. So Mister Toranpu and this… what was it? 'Yuu esu ei?' This fictional country you've created - it's a stand-in for the Ambernian Republics, isn't it?"

"You're absolutely right!"

"Dude, that is amazing! Do you have any political maps or outlines, yet? Oh! And lore! Every fictional country needs lore! What political philosophy does he represent? Does he - "

"Stop! Too many questions!" Dorima snapped. She recoiled a bit. "...anyway, I… don't have any of that stuff. I just have these drawings… well, there's a place online where I keep a few of my stuff… some people there write fiction for me sometimes, too."

"Cool, shoot me a link sometime. Maybe I can help with the worldbuilding! Oh, wow - that building Mister Toranpu is standing in front of, it looks so… holyshit, man. What's it called?"

"I call it 'White House.'"

"...why?"

"No idea. It's white. And it's a house. White House."

"Now that just seems lazy. What kind of idiot would come up with a name like that? Hey, maybe you should call it - "

Silas cleared his throat, and Dorima and Allen suddenly realized he was there, standing awkwardly just a few feet from their shared table and holding his bento box. "...hi."

Dorima glared, and Allen peeked at his smartwatch. Neither of them looked particularly accommodating. "...can I sit here?"

"Isn't there anyone else you could sit with, Yamigawa-kun?" Dorima asked. "We're busy."

"Yeah. Shiru - "

"MY NAME IS DORIMA!" the color in Dorima's cheeks grew a little bit in intensity.

" - and I are discussing something important. Very important. And, like, no offense to you, man, but… this table's occupied."

"We're world-building!" Dorima exclaimed. "...and you're not part of the process. In fact, every second you stand there makes the process go slower. Shoo."

"Now, you don't need to be so blatant…" Allen said.

"Yamigawa-kun isn't worthy of nuance!" Dorima insisted. They continued their friendly bickering for a few seconds before returning to their original conversation - pointedly ignoring him in the process.

Silas backed away, feeling deflated. He turned back to his food, and didn't feel like talking with anyone else for the rest of the lunch period. Which was fine - Big Sister spent most of the rest of the block sending consoling messages to him through his phone. She's always so thoughtful, Silas thought to himself, smiling.



Allen Furai, Dorima Shiru: +0 REL

Character Sheet Updated



[] [CLUB] Work (???)

"Yamigawa-kun?" The club room was empty save for Matsuoka, who was sitting comfortably in a corner and munching on some lightly-salted potato chips. "Oh hey! Nice of you to show up early!"

Silas looked around. "Early?"

"Well… Yeah!" Matsuoka stuck another chip into her mouth. "Riku-san won't be here for another hour. She has piano lessons somewhere in the school with Renji-kun, I think. Heheh. That's what she said, at least... " she broke into a mischievous grin. "Shinohara isn't here, but she doesn't show up all the time. And Kuroda and Mikado won't usually arrive for another fifteen minutes. You're early!"

"...huh." It occurred to Silas just how small this club was…



[] [REACT 2] Silas doesn't mind it, though. He could devote more of his energy to fewer people, that way!
[] [REACT 2] And it bothers him. The loneliness is a bit chilling, even with Matsuoka around... Maybe he could help make the club bigger?



"Anyway, your timing is perfect!" Matsuoka continued. "I needed someone to sort through the movies we were going to watch for next week's meeting! It's just some organizational stuff. Renji-kun wants us to have more direction this year, you know?"

"What was it like last year?" Silas asked.

"Omigod, it was horrible!" Matsuoka giggled. "We spent most days doing nothing but watching movies, and sometimes Renji-kun would make us all listen to his freestyle poetry, but that was about it. This year, we're gonna be doing stuff! ...Probably, at least."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Well…" Matsuoka winked. "It's in the works. That's all you've got to know! For now, though - " Matsuoka got up from her seat and grabbed a long-looking list. She pushed it into Silas's hands. "Here's the list of movies. Pick… um… five, or something. You have a MiPhone, right? If not, just use the computer."

SIlas stared confusingly between the list and Matsuoka. "Wait - what? You're entrusting this to me?"

"Sure, why not," Matsuoka replied nonchalantly. "I trust your judgement!" She started walking towards the door.

"W-Wait! What kinds of movies did you guys watch last year?!"

"Movie movies!" she replied. "Just choose whatever! It'll be fine!"

"And where are you going?!"

Matsuoka stood under the threshold. "The cafeteria's serving cupcakes! I'll be back in fifteen minutes. Bye!"

"Uh… okay then. Bye, Matsuoka-san!"

"Hmm?" Matsuoka paused just before leaving the room. She glanced book and Silas, looking him up and down. "...One week."

"...What?"

"I'll give you about one week!" Matsuoka explained cheerily. "Then you can start calling me Yumika-san if you want. And I'll also start calling you Silas-kun. Err - no, that sounds weird… Ah! Sai-kun. Does that sound like a deal?"

"Um - " Silas's mind drew a blank. "Okay?"

"Great! Seeya, Yamigawa-kun!" Yumika smirked as she ducked into the hallway, leaving SIlas alone in the clubroom with a list of movies - wait, had the club president just dropped all of her work onto his lap?!

Silas looked over the paper - it was a long list. His heart jumped, though, when he realized he recognized some of the titles; a number of the movies were anime-style original productions or live-action films of shows he really, really liked. But there were other movies he recognized, too - popular romcoms, psychological thrillers, a couple horror shows…

And he had absolute control over which ones Matsuoka would be choosing for their club meeting next week.

Grinning, Silas slid his way into one of the computers. It booted up without his pressing a button; Big Sister was here. These next few minutes were going to be fun.



Choose One:

[] [CLUBWORK 1] It'd probably be best to leave out all the anime titles…
[] [CLUBWORK 1] It is time! Bring on the meganekko! The tsunderes! The rich otaku culture! The constant jokes about male leads falling on the female characters' panties! DRAMA CLUB WILL BE ASSIMILATED!

Choose One:

[] [CLUBWORK 2] Gear the choices towards seinen and action movies. Sure, most of them are a bit cliche, but surely everyone will love watching the Power of Friendship overcome adversity… right?
[] [CLUBWORK 2] Gear the choices towards horror flicks. Fall is coming up, after all; it would be in season. Plus, The Square just got a new remaster, filled with new vocals and audio and more realistic tentacles this time!
[] [CLUBWORK 2] Gear the choices towards romantic comedies and tragedies. Nothing is more sweet than a genuine love story, or more gut-wrenching than a genuine love story gone wrong. Though, some of the more recent ones have been pretty cheesy...
[] [CLUBWORK 2] Gear the choices towards fantasy. Epic tales of heroes, kingdoms, conquest, and political intrigue! ...at least, when the writers aren't busy writing character stereotypes and making the male lead's harem bigger.
[] [CLUBWORK 2] Gear the choices towards sci-fi and psychological thrillers. Nothing like a good futuristic dystopian movie to keep everyone on their toes, even if sometimes the special effects overshadow the movie itself.
[] [CLUBWORK 2] No, no, there's gotta be something else… (Write-in)



About a half-hour later, Silas had consumed nearly twenty of the movies on the list, but he still had plenty to go. His eyes were glued to the screen, and his earbuds blocked out the outside world. His work was meticulous, and his fingers danced across the keyboard. At this desk, he was at home.

There was a light tap on his shoulder. Silas jumped in his seat, and his earbuds fell.

"Here," Rakuyama was handing him a cupcake. Her offer was genuine. "You seemed busy."

She turned away and walked back to the table without another word. Silas hadn't noticed, but the rest of the Drama Club had arrived. Matsuoka was leading a lively conversation with Mikado and Kuroda, the latter of which seemed to be re-enacting some sort of dramatic fight scene. Rakuyama and Reizei were off to the side a bit, having a mini-conversation by themselves, with Shinohara hugging the corner and talking only occasionally.

There was a rather conspicuous seventh and eighth chair, both of them empty, even though food and drink had been placed in both spots.

Silas's eyes slid between the screen, himself, and the Drama Club group seated just a few meters away. His fingers froze on the mouse. He had the sudden urge to leave his chair. The group seated a few meters away - they were at once inviting and intimidating, so friendly to the point where he couldn't even imagine inserting himself into their conversation.

He sighed, and put his earbuds back on. He felt this weird pang in his heart, but he couldn't quite place it.

Not quite yet…



Matsuoka Yumika: +2 REL
Rakuyama Riku, Reizei Renji: +1 REL



[] [EXTRA] [JOB] Fill out the Moderator Application

Where can you find the Community Guidelines?

Explain the importance of Rule Two and describe a situation in which a post might be intractable for violation of Rule Two.

What is a threadban? Use your own words. Dipshit.

A particular user is being, to put it nicely, a complete asshole, and is constantly tagging you, a moderator, demanding that you step in and threadban the people who is arguing with him. What is your response?

What does the phrase "Greytide Worldwide" mean, and what is the most common countermeasure used by the moderation team to counter it?

What are the names of the current moderation team? Their real names. Except mine, of course. Have fun.

Define "Romanticism," give me the name of one (fictional) country which embraced it, and tell my what effect that had on said country. Look in the Quest section of the subforum. Hint.



"...what?" Silas stared at the screen.

The questionnaire was a very weird one. Sure, some of the questions were rather cut-and-dry; tell me what this button does, describe that rule of the Community Guidelines… but then DreamerLuci would throw in a curveball, or a question with a subjective answer, or something only people dedicated to JubunNaSokudo.com would know about. Plus, she for some reason decided that every other word either had to be an insult to his intelligence or a snide remark about him wanting to be a moderator.

"...I would suggest checking the Path of Empires quest," Big Sister posited. "That one seems to have lots of references to pseudo-philosophy and the like."

He still managed to find the answers, of course. Especially with Big Sister around. "...thanks, Big Sis. Sheesh, what kind of questionnaire is this?"

"I believe Miss Luci believes that knowledge of the her subforum's culture is more important than actual code of conduct," Big Sister sighed an electronic sigh.

"Grr…" Silas mumbled. He glanced over at Big Sister - whether consciously or not, Big Sister was evoking her avatar to appear distant, and deep in thought. "Hey. You alright?"

"Hmm? Oh! Nothing," Big Sister replied. Something flickered in her eyes, but it was gone in a flash. "Just pondering something I saw earlier this week."

Silas nodded his head in understanding. Big Sister was always busy, after all, even when she wasn't.

It took many hours, but after much work Silas finally finished the goddamn questionnaire. Now the only thing to do would be to wait for a response…



DREAMERLUCI WILL REPLY… LIKE… WHENEVER, I GUESS.
SHE'LL DEFINITELY REPLY THOUGH. PROBABLY.



"Wow! You're pretty good at this, aren't you?"

Silas had to suppress the urge to break out into a smile of pride. Derivatives were hard, but he felt like he had this concept mastered. "Matsuoka-san, you're flattering me."

Matsuoka giggled. "I'm sure you'll be ready for the unit test next week!"

Silas smile faded. "..what?"

"You know?" Matsuoka raised an eyebrow. "The unit test? Derivative functions and stuff… oh, and I think the science teachers are gonna pop the unit test next week, too. And I overheard Kamasaki-sensei talking about an Ambernian quiz as well." Matsuoka shivered. "Speaking Ambernian feels so… dry."

"...oh."

"That's a look of worry!" Matsuoka exclaimed. "You shouldn't have that! I'm sure you'll be fine! You've studied, right?"

"..."

"...riiiiight?"

"A little."

"Heh," Matsuoka rolled her eyes. "Well, you ought to study, Sai-ku - err, I mean, Yamigawa-kun! But I'm sure you'll do alright regardless. Because Yamigawa-kun's so smart!"

"...thanks…" Silas tried to smile, but his stomach was churning. He hadn't been studying at all recently…

"...hey," Matsuoka was speaking. "If you feel uncomfortable, me and the Drama Club are gonna be organizing a study hall at my home over the weekend."

"Really?!" Silas tried not to sound to enthusiastic.

"Yeah! We're club members! It's what we do!" Matsuoka put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest proudly. "We're comrades! We help each other!"

"Matsuoka-san!"

"Hai, Kamasaki-sensei?" Matsuoka replied, without looking back.

"Please, class has started already. Turn around and face the board. I don't want to have to repeat myself."

"Haaaaiii!"

Matsuoka turned around, just in time to not notice Silas's face grow warm. I have a comrade...



UNIT TESTS AT THE END OF NEXT WEEK
SILAS NEEDS AT LEAST 2 SKL TO AVOID A NEGATIVE RESULT

Spoiler: Author's Note

A/N: From personal experience, just being smart isn't enough to be able to pass a test (eheheheh). Silas needs to do some studying.

WEEK 2 ENDS! WEEKEND 2 BEGINS!
Passive Bonuses Conferred (+0.5 CHAR, +0.25 CRE, +0.25 COUR)
Please select three [AFTERSCHOOL] activities and one [CLUB] activity. At least TWO of these must be "Otaku Stuff" due to Silas's Personality. Don't forget about the other votes earlier in the text.

[] [CLUB] Hang out (Random REL Increase with club members)
[] [CLUB] (Special) Attend Study Hall (??% SKL +0.5, ??% SKL +1)

[] [EXTRA] Study Alone (SKL +0.5)
[] [EXTRA] (Special) Otaku stuff!
-[] Grand Strategy games! (INT +0.25)
-[] Anime, music, "culture!" (CRE +0.25)
-[] Forum scrolling! (CHAR +0.25)
[] [EXTRA] Exercise… yay? (+0.25 PHYS)
[] [EXTRA] Walk around the city (May encounter events, random, ???)
[] [EXTRA] Stay after school (May meet classmates there, ???)
[] [EXTRA] Talk with Big Sis (???)

 

[LuciDreamer]

A/N: Wow haha this is awkward…
I recently changed my status to "Hiatus? I don't know the meaning of the word!" ...This was meant to be irony, because I expected to have an active update schedule this past week. Especially since the weekend turns are a lot shorter than the weekday turns. A lot shorter. But… then I got a few penpal letters… and a *shiver* dialectical journal project… and my brother's birthday put me out of commission for a whole Saturday… Heheh… Sorry.
Also, I'm going to start seriously consolidating these turns. First and foremost, this is a Quest, not a novel, and while the narrative is important, I have to make sure this seems more like a game with a strong narrative than a story with tacked-on mechanical effects and stats. Besides, getting all the information I want to portray into as few words as possible is a writing skill in it of itself. Also… I really just want to be able to update more often.

NEW STATUS!
Silas wants to know more about Maeda. New Information about her in the character sheet will be considerably more accurate and come with more detail. This ignores the penalty for "Sensitive". (Duration: 3 weeks.)

PERSONALITY EVOLVES!
Former NEET --> Student Otaku - Silas is slowly emerging from his NEET stupor, and he is more open to social situations... but only to people he already has a bond with, out of a fear of exposing his otaku-ness to others. Silas is incredibly appreciative of the people he has already met, but is slow to connect to new people now that the initial rush to find friends has passed. (Sociability set to Warm. +15 Success threshold to social interactions with all students whose REL >= 7 OR students who are fellow club members, -5 Success Threshold otherwise.)


Club Actions:
[x] [CLUB] (Special) Attend Study Hall (??% SKL +0.5, ??% SKL +1)

The walk to the drama club room was a long one, but Silas himself didn't mind the distance. There was a certain spring to his step, and he found himself absentmindedly humming one of RikuRiku's recent songs - something about sakura blooms in the wind, spinning and dancing in the glow of the afternoon light. It was a fun tune.

With a purpose, he grabbed, with both hands, the sliding door to the club room and forced it open. "U-Um… hi, guys! I'm - " he started to say. But he froze.

Shinohara was standing in the doorway, barely a few inches in front of his face. Whatever idle conversation that had been going on behind her died down.

"...here."

Shinohara's face scrunched up into something that looked like apprehension. She backed away slowly. Silas did, too. "...You."

"...Me." Silas couldn't look her in the eye. "Uh… hi, Shinohara."

"You," Shinohara repeated. She spoke in a quieter tone: "You weren't supposed to hear that…"

Suddenly, Shinohara pushed her way past Silas, ducking into the hallway and leaving a trail of papers in her wake. "Just realized I have stuff to do. Sorry, Yumika-san!" she said as she disappeared into Yamaha's labyrinth of hallways.

"...Uh… Hana?" Mikado scratched his head. "What was that all about…?"

Reizei concurred. "What's her problem? Yumika?"

"Oh no. Oh no," Matsuoka looked grief-stricken. "Sai-ku - ah - I mean, Yamigawa-kun, this isn't our fault, is it? No, no no… it's our fault!"

"Wait, what? How would it be - " Reizei was talking, but Matsuoka interrupted him.

"Remember last week? We were making fun of her since she used Yamigawa-kun's first name?"

"Oh, yeah! Shit, I didn't think she was taking that seriously…" Reizei sighed. "You don't think - "

"We must rush to the aid of our comrade at once!" Kuroda exclaimed. "She is in need of assistance! It is our sworn duties to protect - "

"-Um!" the clubroom fell silent. "It's… it's not you guys. It's probably my fault." Silas's eyes trailed the floor.

"Eh? Why?"

"I…" Silas fidgeted in place. They were looking at him, some of them with suspicion behind their expressions. His heart sunk; he hated the feeling that he'd let them down, even marginally, even if he didn't actually do anything. "I was talking to her the other day, and we brought up horror movies, and… u-uh… she might have… revealed more about herself t-than she wanted to?"

To his surprise, the room started uttering sighs of understanding. "Ohh… hahah… yeah…" Rakuyama scratched her head. "Well, uh… I don't… I mean…"

"Hana is quite..." Kuroda started, but he stopped himself. "S-She's… ah… a kindred spirit…?"

"She's sort of… Well, it's not like she's bad about it, or anything, but…" Mikado looked uncomfortable.

"She's sort of a sa - " Reizei tried, but Matsuoka cut him off. Again.

"Hana likes drama! A lot!" Matsuoka explained quickly. "...but she's… a bit… passionate about her liking? That's a good way to describe it, right, Renji-kun?"

"Y-Yes, yes! Passion! That's how I'd describe it!" Reizei nodded, a bit too enthusiastically.

Silas found he was chuckling softly. It was a nervous chuckle. "You guys are keeping something from me, aren't you?" His fellow clubmates tried their best to avert their eyes and hide their guilty faces.

"Hey, at least we aren't the Student Council," Matsuoka replied, smirking. She got a few chuckles in response.

"Oh, so I wasn't the only one to pick up on that?" Silas said, genuinely smiling.

"I know, right?" Rakuyama seemed relieved to be away from that topic. "Like, the Student Council kids are always sulking and mumbling about dark shit. They need to chill out. Except for Maeda, though. She's nice."

"Right? Omigod, did I ever tell you this time the Student Council president approached me around when school started? Ichiro-kun walked up to me, this weird, macabre expression on his face, and he said, 'Does the Black Moon howl?' Who says - "

"Oi! Are we going to begin our studying any time soon, my friends?" Kuroda boomed. "Or will we be here forever, mucking about in our own inaction and complacency? The time for action is nigh!"

"...I'm kind of with him. Can we start?" Silas asked gingerly.

Matsuoka gigled. Rakuyama rolled her eyes. Reizei sighed exasperatedly. Mikado shook his head, smiling. The tension seemed to have dissipated from the room, now. There would be no more talk of Shinohara for the rest of the weekend. Gingerly, Silas seated himself near the edge of the table and next to Rakuyama. For a while, they settled into relative normalcy - at least, as normal as this particular group of students could possibly manage. There they were: Six perfectly normal teenaged children... and two empty seats.


"... I don't get it."

Silas furrowed his brows. "You multiply this by this, then take this to the other side… and since the variable here isn't x, you have to multiply it by dy/dx."

"Wait - what?"

"Implicit differentiation rules! You know - "

"I don't know! Please, stop assuming I do."

Silas paused. Rakuyama was looking more and more exasperated as the day went on, and he had a feeling at least some of it was his fault… it was pretty difficult to articulate these kinds of things. "...sorry."

Rakuyama sighed. "It's alright, it's alright. I'm just… I'm not very good at this. I'm grateful you're trying, at least…"

"I can go over it again, if you want."

"Yes," Rakuyama smiled weakly. "Please. Slowly."

Reizei looked over. Silas caught his eye. There was a strange expression on his face, something that seemed like anger but really, really subdued - but the look passed as quickly as it had come, and Reizei returned to his work.


Shinohara seems to be avoiding Silas...

One of Rakuyama's traits has been discovered!
Slow - Rakuyama is a bit airheaded, and her grades tend to suffer as a result. This dismays her quite a bit. (Higher chance for REL Increase for study-related actions involving Rakuyama. She tends to want to seek study actions with other students.)

Rakuyama Riku, Matsuoka Yumika, Kuroda Harima: +1 REL

SKL: +1


Afterschool actions:
[x] [EXTRA] (Special) Otaku stuff!
[X] [EXTRA] Study Alone (SKL +0.5)

Study was all about memorization and recall, something which Silas was almost intimately familiar with. Some of the best grand strategy titles relied upon intricate attention to detail and the ability to keep track of millions of little variables going on at once. It was a system; a cycle. And Silas was rather adept at it.

...Unfortunately, all of the nebulous metaphors to grand strategy games and the ready access to his computer gradually drove him to visit the AH subforum on JubunNaSokudo again, and from there on it was a hop skip and a jump to binging something from the Fall seasonal anime list…

Long story short, Silas's study session melded into an Otaku night very, very quickly. Thankfully, only after he'd gotten through most of the important stuff. So it was okay, right?

It was already around midnight, and Silas was lying in the futon in the middle of his room, surrounded by cans of soda and crumpled bags of chips. He'd clean it out tomorrow, he promised himself. He watched with morbid fascination the anime on his tablet - something about a sand planet and a cameo for RikuRiku constantly searching for water and life in a parched and barren land.



"I like this one," Big Sister said idly.

"You do?" Silas asked. "Is it because the idol is RikuRiku?"

"Oh, I like that about it, too," Big Sister's avatar grinned. "But… it's more about the existentialist theme. Searching for meaning in a meaningless world. That sort of thing."

"Ah."

Silence.

"...I don't see it like that." Silas elaborated.

"Hmm?"

"I mean, I don't think it's meaningless. It's only meaningless if you make it meaningless. And the RikuRiku in this anime decided that she was going to give herself her own meaning, which to her is just… living. For the sake of living. She'll wander forever because she… can."

"...Are you sure? I interpret her whole stance on life as ambivalent at best. She seems pessimistic, especially in her acknowledgement of the fact that whatever they do, they will never have any semblance of permanence in the sand planet," Big Sister insisted.

Silas sniggered. "Heheh. I'm - I'm sorry. Hearing RikuRiku's voice say all those big words just sounds so… I mean… hah…" Silas chuckled some more. Big Sister raised an eyebrow.

Suddenly, Big Sister intoned in a loud, cheery voice: "How about like this: 'RikuRiku just seems so… down, you know? I don't think she's nearly as happy as you make her out to be, Silas! She's always talking about how 'no grass will grow for a millenia,' and her body language is so… stiff. Like, she's always got this scowl on. Your interpretation seems awfully naive!" All the while, she had a goofy, air-looking smile on, and she'd increased the brightness of her character sprite by a few lumens.

"Dear god, no no no, that's too much!" Silas laughed. In response, Big Sister made a noise that was probably a giggle of her own. Which was strange, because Big Sister didn't giggle. "Besides, you're still wrong. Even if you phrased it more childishly."

"You think you can beat your Big Sister at something like this?" Big Sister looked almost mocking.

"I can if you're wrong," Silas said. "Big Sis - RikuRiku knows that everything she does is futile, but she doesn't care. She knows some of her friends are leaving to never come back, she knows she herself will fade away eventually - but she doesn't care. She's alive, and walking, now, and so she's fine with doing what she can to shape the world while she clings to existence. That's... that's how I see it, anyway."

"You seem awfully passionate about that." Big Sister sounded impassive.

"Yeah."

"I… I hope your interpretation is correct."

"...yeah."

A long time passed before either of them made a sound. The lights slowly started to dim. Silas's eyes started to get droopy. Before he succumbed to sleep entirely, he closed the video streaming service on his tablet. He rested the tablet right by his head, the smooth frame knocking lightly against his cheek. "Night, Big Sis."

"Goodnight, Silas."


Big Sister: REL +1
SKL: +0.5
CHAR: +0.25
CRE: +0.25


WEEK 3 IS STARTING! It will be AUTUMN next turn.
Please choose two [SOCIAL] actions, one [CLUB] action and one [AS] action.

[] [SOCIAL] Talk with someone: (Who?)
[] [SOCIAL] Atone to someone: (Who? Must have negative REL)

[] [CLUB] Hang out (Good chance for REL Increase with club members)
[] [CLUB] Work. (Influence future club actions, ???)
[] [CLUB] Help out the officers. (REL increase for Matsuoka, Reizei, ???)

[] [AS] Study Alone (SKL +0.5)
[] [AS] (Special) Otaku stuff!
-[] Grand Strategy games! (INT +0.25)
-[] Anime, music, "culture!" (CRE +0.25)
-[] Forum scrolling! (CHAR +0.25)
[] [AS] Exercise… yay? (+0.25 PHYS)
[] [AS] Walk around the city (May encounter events, random, ???)
[] [AS] Stay after school (May meet classmates there, ???)
[] [AS] Talk with Big Sis (???)

 

[LuciDreamer]

A/N: Remember when I said I was consolidating these turns?
Ehehe… um… that didn't end up happening. In fact, this turn is longer... *sigh* sorry for the lateness, again!

Silas rolled around in his futon, the cushions shuffling softly as he moved. He yawned; rays of sunlight were peeking through his window. Morning had come, at last.

"Morning, Silas." Right next to his head, where he'd placed it, his tablet flickered to life - Big Sister's face was there. "Feeling peachy?"

"Morning, Big Sis," Silas mumbled through droopy eyes. "Yep. Peachy-peachy."

"School starts in approximately an hour and thirty minutes," she intoned. "The bullet trains are running at… err… not at peak efficiency today. You should get going."

The morning routine was starting to feel a little more normal now. Warm shower, fresh clothes, breakfast - all of it provided somehow by Big Sis, of course. He didn't really know how all of his dirty laundry ended up folded in the kitchen every morning, or where the food in the kitchen came from (though he did have a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with the disappearance of all of those Delivery Service drones he'd been hearing about in the news), but none of it particularly… mattered.

"I guess… I'm off!" Silas said as he opened the door to his apartment.

"Take care; I've put a care package in the usual spot at the terminal for you to pick up your lunch." Big Sister smiled from her computer screen. A bit of morning light scattered across the monitor, making her eyes seem to sparkle. "I'll be watching!"

"I know!"

With that, stepped out into the world once more. Had it always been this chilly? He clasped his hands together slightly as he made his way over to the bullet train station.

IT IS AUTUMN.
Silas is feeling CALM (+1 Courage until the end of the week.)

Silas rounded the corner to Yamaha, barely ducking out of the way in time as a few students dressed in athletic outfits raced past him. To his surprise, someone was waiting for him at the gate. A certain someone with a creepy smile.

"Heeey, Yamigawa-kun!" Hanamura was leaning on the wall, grinning. "How have you been?"

"Uh… good," Silas said quickly.

"Awesome, awesome…" Hanamura nodded. "Say, Yamigawa-kun, want to walk to class together?"

"Um…" Silas glanced around. If Big Sister thought this was worth her intervention, she wasn't showing it. "...no…?

"Why not?" Hanamura laughed. Do the muscles in his mouth EVER get rest?! "We're friends, right?"

"I… I mean…" Silas struggled internally with the fact that it was not true and the fact that saying it outright would be disrespectful. "I… don't know you that much."

"So what?" Hanamura said. "It's cool, right? I mean, we're headed the same way anyway, so - BEHIND YOU!"

Silas turned around just in time to feel the impact of something hard and fast against his chest, pushing him off to the side and making him slam against the wall next to Hanamura. "Wuh - GYAH!" Silas cringed as he felt something in his back snap.

A student had fallen to the ground next to him . A half-bitten slice of toast fell to the ground lifelessly. She was groaning - a small part of their leg had gotten cut on the concrete below. "Argh… shiiiit… this is gonna sting… oh, um. Hey. Are you alright?"

Silas nodded. "I'm… fine…" he lied. "Just a… scratch…"

"Oh! That's good!" they said. They picked themselves up, stretching a bit. "Well, uh… ahem." Suddenly, their body tensed up, and they made a crisp bow. "Sorry about that infraction, sir! Won't happen again, sir! Hope you don't hold it against me - I'm late for practice! Timing is of the highest priority for me! Sir!"

"...what."

The student relaxed their features. "...okay. Apology done. Sorry I can't do more - like I've said, places to be. I'll make it up to you later. You can have the toast. I've gotta run. Seeya."

"...what." Silas was still dazedly rubbing the painful spot on his back as the student ran off into Yamaha, probably to catch up to those other runners he'd seen enter the school earlier. Their toast was still on the ground. Much to his annoyance, Hanamura was giggling.

"Oh, that Airi-san. Never in one place. So typical that you'd meet a Kendo Club member like that - though it is a bit of a cliche. Heheheh..." he picked up the limp piece of bread and threw it into a nearby trash can. "Feeling alright?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Silas mumbled. "They're a bit… rough, aren't they? The Kendo Club?"

"Oh, don't get me started!" Hanamura said. "But Airi-san's a good guy. I think you two could be friends."

"Don't… think so…" Silas tried to move, but stumbled - quickly, Hanamura moved to catch him before he fell to the ground again. His whole body was wracked with pain all of a sudden.

"Hey - now you have to walk with me!" Silas grimaced, but Hanamura pulled him up anyway. His lips were uncomfortably close to Silas's ear. "Don't worry, I don't bite. Unless you want me to."

Silas shivered. "J-Just take me to class…"

Character Sheet Updated
Hanamura Chihiro: +2 REL (He seems to want to be Friends.)


Talk: Maeda Kirino
Success Threshold: 55 (Base) -20 (Loner) - 2.5 (Low CHAR) - 5 (Student Otaku) +2.5 (Okay INT) + 10 (Big Sister Interference) + 10 (Sensitive) = 50

DICE ROLL: 7
Result: Success!


"...uh-uh. Acceleration has to be negative here - see? Look at the graph - The car was slowing down in this scenario."

"Oh… Huh! I wouldn't have seen that otherwise. Thanks."

Silas was quickly deciding that choosing to have Maeda as his lab partner for Physics was the best decision he'd ever made. Maeda was smart - in fact, a lot smarter than him. But she was also a very good communicator when it came down to it, so she wasn't nearly as intimidating as someone like Allen. At least, when she wasn't being weird, like -

"You're analyzing me in your head again, aren't you?" Maeda said impassively as she scribbled another answer on their lab sheet.

"W-What?"

"I can see it in the expression," Maeda almost sounded bored. "You disconnected from the conversation a tiny bit, your eyes got a little squinty, like they're staring at something far away - plus, you keep glancing at me."

"Uh…" Silas scratched his head. His seat started to feel uncomfortable. Was she really -

Maeda started giggling. "Kidding! Just kidding. Sheesh, you really think I can just deconstruct a person like that? I wasn't even looking in your direction! How am I supposed to see your face? C'mon."

"Oh. Okay." Silas sighed. "It just - you know - you sounded so sure of yourself, and - "

"Sheesh. He's so easy to trick. Such a good kid, this Yamigawa-kun. Naive, too." Maeda continued to giggle as she started plotting coordinates into the school tablet for their graph.

"... I'm right here!" Silas fumed slightly. He peered over at her paper. "...also, you forgot to square the time in your equation. The graph is all wrong - it's supposed to be a parabola."

Maeda's fingers froze. She looked once, twice between the graph she was making and the equation she had written on her paper. Silas tried his best to hide his smug grin (He had just one-upped Maeda! Maeda!)… but Maeda simply turned to him, nonplussed, a wicked smile on her face.

"...Wrong equation, bud. This one - " she tapped her thumb against the paper, "- is the equation for acceleration over time. Which isn't a parabola in this instance - since acceleration is constant, it's linear."

"Wait - what?" Silas blanched, coming to the realization that she was right. "O-Oh… U-Um..! I didn't mean to - "

Maeda was shrieking with laughter now. A few nearby students cast dubious glances in their direction. "Oh, stop apologizing. You tried."

"Oh dear…" Hanamura's voice perked up from behind them. Silas looked back - his face looked evil. And he was sitting next to Dorima. That couldn't possible be a good combination… Silas's heart skipped a beat. "Say, Dorima-san, what kind of couple do you think Kirino and Yamigawa-san would make?" he said, rather loudly.

"Heh - I bet Kirino would walk all over poor Yamigawa-kun. I don't think that'd be an unhealthy relationship."

"Whaaaat? I don't think so!" Hanamura laughed. "I mean, it isn't unhealthy if it's consensual, right? Hey, Yamigawa-kun! Top or bottom?"

"I-I'm sorry?!" Silas replied, horrified. "I don't t-think that - "

"He'd be on the bottom. Obviously," Dorima sneered. "Yamigawa-kun doesn't have the assertion to be on top!"

"Oh, please, don't be so assuming! I want to know Yamigawa-kun's answer! Yamigawa: Top or bottom?"

"N-No!"

"So… bottom it is, then?" Hanamura's eyes seemed to twinkle. "I mean, that answer does seem to imply you're awfully submissive…"

"It's like I said!" Dorima said smugly. "He doesn't have the assertion to - "

"Dooorima-san. Hanamura-kun." Silas looked back - Maeda's voice had suddenly taken a low, sing-song inflection. Something in her glasses seemed to sparkle. She was smiling. "Kindly. Shut. The Hell. Up."

"Now why would I - " Dorima shouted, but she was elbowed suddenly in the ribs - Hanamura gave her a stern look, and she seemed to lose her fire. "...fine! Ass."

Silas gave Maeda a relieved look. He opened his mouth to say thank you, but Maeda shushed him. "You're welcome. It's the least I can do."

"Ah… okay…" Silas replied. He turned back to his paper. "Do you… not like Hanamura-kun very much?"

"Hanamura-kun? No, no no," Maeda said. "He's… alright. I mean, he's a bit of a philanderer, but he's not nearly as bad as Mikado."

"As bad as Mikado…?"

"- not important," Maeda replied quickly, averting her eyes. There's a story there… Silas realized. "Anyway, Hanamura-kun is fine. But Dorima-san? She gets on my nerves."

"HEY! I'M RIGHT FUCKING HERE, JACKASS! WHY DON'T YOU SAY THAT TO MY FACE?!" Dorima yelled, her forehead turning white. She ignored the increasingly frantic gestures Hanamura made in her direction. "THINK YOUR TITLE MAKES YOU BETTER THAN ME?! HUH?!"

"Dorima-san!" their sensei spoke up from the front of the room. "Stop yelling, or I'll have you stay after class. Also, we don't use expletives here. Save that for after class, please!"

Maeda simply giggled softly as Dorima sizzled down; the way she held herself, Silas realized that she had probably been leading Dorima on to make her explode. Silas looked at her and frowned. "You seem… mellower."

"Well, yeah!" she replied. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"The school still hasn't replaced the window you broke last week…" Silas nodded his head in the direction of the shattered pane, which was currently hastily being covered up by some tarp.

"Oh… right," she grinned sheepishly. "Heh. I… I got the chance to clear my head over the weekend is all."

"Okay," Silas said. He examined her closely. She seemed to be in a much better mood… but for what reason, he frankly had no idea. She seemed like a completely different person, almost. Less overtly angry, more subtle and clever.
She was scary, the more he thought about it.

"Hey… you're analyzing me in your head again… aren't you?" Maeda looked over with a strange smile. Silas felt something cold creep along his spine. "You shouldn't do that, you know! It's rude."

"Y-Yeah. Sorry. Okay." Silas shook his head. "Anyway, um… the next problem?"

"Right! Let's go on, shall we?" Maeda said crisply. And that was that for the rest of the block.

Maeda Kirino: +2 REL

Some of Maeda's Traits have been discovered!
Quick - Maeda has a quick mind. She is smart but doesn't flaunt her intelligence, though she clearly performs better in class than most of her peers. (+0.25 SKL per week. Trigger: Great INT)
Intimidating - Maeda is very good at getting back at people she dislikes. It would be… painful, to say the least, if Silas got on her bad side. (-20 Success Threshold to all social interactions if REL < -15.)

Character Sheet Updated:
Maeda and Mikado know each other.
Maeda and Dorima are ENEMIES
Maeda and Hanamura are CLOSE ACQUAINTANCES.


Talk: Matsuoka Yumika
Success Threshold: 62.5 (Base) - 20 (Loner) +7.5 (Good CHAR) + 10 (Sensitive) + 10 (Big Sister Interference) + 15 (Student Otaku) = 85

DICE ROLL: 14
Result: Success!

"Oh hey, Yamigawa-kun! Take a seat!"

Somehow, there was something immensely satisfying in the fact that the mere act of sitting near Matsuoka didn't trigger an international crisis in his head anymore. It made him feel good inside. They'd signed the non-aggression pact and joined the League, but this wouldn't be the end, oh no! For there were plans in the making - plans for a grand intergalactic Federation, the likes of which would span the cosmos and stand in the way of all who opposed -

"...Silas? You're… uh… you're speaking out loud."

Matsuoka, Shinohara and Allen were looking at Silas very, very strangely. "I… was?"

"I mean, granted, Galactis is a great space 4X game, but… I mean… saying something that out loud is taking it a bit too far, don't ya think?" Allen snickered. Silas chuckled along nervously, before he suddenly realized who had spoken. And what he had just said.

"Wait, Furai-kun, have you - "

"My name is Allen." Allen interrupted.

"Allen-kun - "

"Drop the -kun!" Allen added exasperatedly. He sighed, and Silas suddenly remembered that Allen didn't think too highly of him. He'd wanted to ask whether Allen had played that game too - but now didn't seem like the right time to talk about that.

So he stayed quiet.

"Aaaaand awkward silence. C'mon, guys! Allen, don't be such a buzzkill! And Hana-san, say something every now and then, yeah?" Matsuoka tried to break the ice.

"Oh, look. Yamaguchi. I'll be seeing ya. Bye-bye now," Allen said, and he got up with his food and walked away.

"...darn," Matsuoka shook her head. "He's a tough nut to crack!"

"He's…" Shinohara smiled. "Very standoffish, yeah." Then she glanced in Silas's direction, and her eyes immediately fell back to her food. "You know what? I'm… I'm gonna go… follow him. Bye."

"What, Hana-san, no…" Matsuoka said. "Who's going to keep me company now? I'll be lonely!"

"You have him," Shinohara tiled her head in Silas's direction as she assimilated into the quagmire of students outside of their tiny social group.

"Aww…" Matsuoka looked in Silas's direction. She had a knowing look on her face. "Hana-san is avoiding you, Sai-kun. She's scared of you… or something."

"...Yeah."

"Well, that can't do! I'll try to do something to make her talk to you again. She's usually not like this! You don't have to worry about a thing - I'll handle this!" Matsuoka exclaimed. "Allen doesn't seem to like you much, either… why is that?"

Silas shrugged uncomfortably. "I… honestly have no idea."

"Hmm…" Matsuoka scratched her chin. "He's awful when it comes to new people, I know that…" Matsuoka let that thought hang in the air for a bit. "Just… keep trying, yeah? OH - waitwaitwait - is that taco rice?! Dude! I'll trade you a takoyaki for one of those!"

"Uh - well, I mean… sure!" Silas relented. "I've… never had a takoyaki before, to be honest."

"Whaaat?" Matsuoka laughed, plucking some of the taco rice from his bento and replacing them with a few golden-brown balls of flour. "You should try 'em! They're good."

"Er - okay!" Silas gingerly picked up the little ball with his fingers, turning it around a few times before popping the thing into his mouth. It had this squishy texture, but was also pretty sweet and fulfilling. Silas was surprised. "Hmm… not bad."

"Right?" Matsuoka affirmed. "They're the best! Here, want to try some more things from my bento?" she grabbed her bento box and slid it open - at this point, Silas realized that the thing was at least three times as big as a normal bento box. "I've got some yakitori, plenty of osushi, some bits of dango…"

"Do you keep a small restaurant in your bento box?!" Silas gaped. "How does - how does all of that fit in there?"

"Eh," Matsuoka shrugged. "Magic, I guess. But that's not important! Here, have a bite of something, Sai-kun! I… might have overpacked a little bit. Heh."

"A little?!" Silas shook his head, but didn't refuse the offer of food.

It wasn't until long after that he realized that Yumika wasn't using his last name anymore - she'd been calling him "Sai-kun" the whole time.

Matsuoka Yumika: + 3 REL
Allen Furai, Shinohara Hana: + 0 REL


Club: Work

"Ooookay! Everyone's here on time today! That's a first." Reizei spoke up over the babble of voices as Silas found himself inside the club room. It looked like they were having some sort of meeting. Silas seated himself near the edge of the table, pointedly on the opposite end of where Shinohara was sitting. "Right, so before we get out the snacks - "

" - whaaaat? You're withholding snacks? That's cruel and unusual - someone call the Student Council!" Matsuoka mock-whined.

Reizei sighed. "...No, Yumika, let's wait, okay? Okay. So. Yumika and I couldn't agree on this - so we're leaving it up to a vote. Who do we want to invite to the Drama Club movie night on Friday?"

"Wait, it's on Friday?" Silas asked.

"Oh, I forgot to say!" Yumika explained. "Sorry! Yeah - movie night's in a few days."

"Do we have a movie yet - ?"

"What movie is it?" Rakuyama asked suddenly. "Is it a horror? I, like, hate horror movies, you know…"

"Err - I believe Yumika-dono's choice was something in the dramatic comedy choice or something of that ilk," Kuroda said.

"No no no - I'm pretty sure - " Mikado tried weighing in, but Reizei suddenly snapped his fingers.

"C'mon, people, eyes on me!" Reizei raised his voice. "We're not telling yet what the movie'll be. Yamigawa-kun - " his eyes suddenly fell on Yumika, who was giving him a tilted smile. " - err, Silas-kun made a list last week, and we're picking from that. No more info. Our esteemed Kaichou wants to make it a surprise. Anyway! That's not important right now. What's important is we need to vote on who to invite. The club room won't fit the Computer Club, the Kendo Club, the Student Council, Debate, and the Drama Club at the same time."

"Unfortunately, a friend has told me that Debate is unavailable at this time," Kuroda added. "They're busy… I believe they have a competition coming up or something?"

"Well, that leaves three options…"

"Um -" Mikado suddenly spoke up. "I'm voting for Student Council."

"What? Why?" Rakuyama scowled. "I don't think they'll be any fun. Let's invite Kendo! They're an energetic bunch, right?"

"If by energetic you mean destructive…" Reizei mumbled. "Err… Personally, I want the Computer Club. They seem like they won't start any fires while they're here…"

"I'm seconding that vote!" Kuroda declared. "The Computer Club denizens are honorable individuals. They will do well!"

"Oh, stop it, Harima…" Yumika laughed. "Um… I actually also want to try to get the Student Council in here. That's my vote."

Shinohara spoke up: "N-No… anyone but the Student Council. Err… Kendo sounds… safe? I agree with Reizei."

"Well, that's just great. We're split right down the middle!" Reizei huffed.

"Trial by combat!" Kuroda proclaimed, throwing a fist into the air.

"No." Reizei brushed him off. He turned over to Silas. "...Oh. Right. Welp. Looks like you've got the winning vote, Yami - I mean Silas-kun. What'll it be?"

Silas became acutely aware that the spotlight in this debate was rested firmly on him. He squirmed a little in his seat. "Um… I" His fellow clubmates looked at him expectantly.

With the vote underway, the Club Room is rife with heated internal debates as the various factions hash it out. But in this debate hall, a single argument will become so prevalent that it inevitably silences all opposition...

[] [VOTE] Decisive arguments for the Student Council!
[] [VOTE] Decisive arguments for the the Kendo Team!
[] [VOTE] Decisive arguments for the Computer Club!
[] [VIC2] Decisive arguments for State Capitalism! (Yeah no. No one's gonna get your shitty inside joke. Erase this in the final draft, plz. -DL)

After that, the club split off into two groups - one composed of Rakuyama, Kuroda and Shinohara, and the other composed of Yumika, Reizei, and Mikado. Silas found himself joining the latter group, since they seemed to actually be doing something work-related.

"So…" Silas said in his best attempt to not sound awkward. "What do we do now?"

"We can choose the movie," Yumika said nonchalantly.

"Wait - you haven't chosen one yet?!" Reizei whispered fiercely. "Then what was the point of all that deception?!"

"Deception?" Yumika rolled her eyes. "Such a harsh word! Besides… I narrowed it down a little bit…"

She pulled out a sheet of paper. "By the way - great picks, Sai-kun! I love the horror focus. Fits in with the theme! This is what I have so far…"

She laid the paper down and they all peered at it.

"...hmm…"

"You know, I'm kind of on the fence for this…" Silas shrugged. "Uh…"

"Which do we choose?" Yumika asked. "We need to make this decision now."

"What's the rush? We're gonna pirate the movie anyway," Reizei said.

"Well - what?!" Yumika looked at Reizei fiercely. "We'll do no such thing!"

Reizei waved his hands defensively. "Let's just… choose the movie."

Note - choices here will only slightly affect REL increase at the end of the movie night event… though I will tell you that one of them may trigger something special if you combine it with choosing a particular club to invite. You can skip this if you want. It's not too important. (I mean, if you're gunning for that aforementioned special something, it probably is.) (Hey, want a hint? Here you go: What only howls to startle the sun? PM me the right answer and I'll reveal more info.)

[] [MOV] The Square Remastered - A Mihokujin flick about a group of teenagers who are haunted by a tentacle monster hiding in their television. Said tentacle monster drags teenagers into the screen after they have committed some sort of "crime," like lying or stealing from a friend. Has strong themes of the importance of friendship and being truthful to your beloved ones. Critically panned, but easy viewing. Rated MA, but it's generally believed to not be worth the rating.
[] [MOV] Apollyon Lost - An Amberrish film about a ghost… spirit… thing called "The Apollyon" that wanders the world, killing anyone that can perceive it and erasing the memories of their closest friends so that their existence is forgotten. Story follows an intelligence agency that inadvertently becomes aware of The Apollyon and thus starts to have large numbers of its members disappear - but no one remembers them, so no one notices. Heavy themes of the hopelessness of life, very despairing tone throughout. Beloved in Ambernia, but had a lukewarm reception in Mihoku. Rated M.
[] [MOV] Mami's Ghost Adventures! - Manipinoian children's flick about the titular character, a ghost-hunter child named Mami, and her group of friends as they travel the neighborhood looking for anomalous things. The movie is part of a much larger franchise aimed at children and young teenagers. Mostly themed around mystery and the joy of finding new things in life. Positive reception worldwide. Rated PG.
[] [MOV] Life Note - Mihokujin psychological flick about an innocent girl who finds something called a "Life Note" which can revive people who have died and bring them back into their normal lives. She discovers that by doing so, she inadvertently made the lives of all the people around her worse - the people that had died supposedly needed to die because otherwise circumstances would have caused needless suffering. Strong themes of balance in life-and-death and of self-sacrifice. Lukewarm reception everywhere but in Mihoku. Rated PG.
[] [MOV] Revenge of Revenant RikuRiku - Mihokujin horror about a RikuRiku program (Of SynthetiMuse fame) that turns rogue after suddenly gaining sentience. Begins hunting and murdering some of her fans which she deems "unclean - " mostly heavily exaggerated versions of typical Otaku, Hikikomori, and Gaijin stereotypes. Themed, ironically, around the acceptance of said stereotypes as something that isn't strange or abnormal, as Revenant RikuRiku is eventually pacified. Internationally beloved as a benchmark of modern horror. Rated M.


Event: Stay after school.

DICE ROLL: 66
Result: Okay

Silas found himself at Classroom 4-1 without any actual… purpose. When he slid open the door, he found the room strangely empty. Not even Maeda, the class rep, was around… though he did notice a tiny bulletin by her desk that read something like "MEETING IN THE COUNCIL ROOM - IMPORTANT!!! -Ichiro"

Silas was incredibly interested, but he figured it wasn't anything he could spy in on without getting stabbed or something. He found himself rubbing that spot on his arm again…

So he ended up wandering the long, twisty hallways of Yamaha with abandon. It had a nice interior, actually. He figured the computer screens could use an upgrade… and the campus maybe could use a few VR spots for recreation or something. The more he scanned the place, though, the more things he found out-of-place… like the fact that all of the lower windows were barred, or the fact that some of the entrances and exits had blast doors.

...wait, what?

He glanced up again, peering into the ceiling. Sure enough, there was a large slit in the threshold of the main entrance leading into the other wing of the school, and he could see what looked like a collapsible gate or something behind it. "...hey, Big Sis?"

"Yes?" Big Sister's avatar popped into a nearby screen, as if she were always there.

Silas pointed up. "That's not… what I think it is, right?"

Big Sister seemed to think for a moment. "That is a heavy-duty military-grade steel plate designed to resist armor-piercing explosives. It seems to be attached to a mechanism that can cause it to close off this hallway if an alarm is raised.

"...huh." Silas scratched his head. "Did… did you do this?"

"Goodness, no!" Big Sister said. "I wouldn't have the manpower. Delivery drones can only hold so much weight!"

"...huh," Silas repeated lamely. "Add that to the list of weird things around here… anything else I should know?"

"There's an extensive subterranean network underneath the school, the rooftop is fitted with a network of solar panels and hydroponics gardens, several windows - notably around the Student Council offices - are bulletproof, and there are discreet security cameras in every crevice of this facility that have both thermal and magnetic modes." intoned Big Sister.

"...huh," Silas said, yet again. "Well, I can see why you like this place, I guess."

"Quite!" Big Sister beamed. I can see everything!" she paused. "Well… actually… speaking of which, I have a question."

"A question? For me?" Silas laughed as he moved to lean against a nearby wall. "Sure… I guess?"

"Maeda dragged you into Classroom 4-2 last week, correct?"

"Uhuh."

"Was there… anyone else in the room with you?"

"Nope," Silas shook his head. "Why? Did you see anyone else?"

"That's… the problem," Big Sister admitted. "I keep getting conflicting data from the security cameras in that room. Whenever I attempt to access the footage I collected from that little event, I keep getting two different iterations of the same video."

"...huh." Silas repeated yet again. "And… what do you see?"

"That's the other problem," Big Sister said. "I am distinctly aware that there are two iterations of the video, and that the difference between the two is significant. I am vaguely aware that the second iteration involves a third person in that room. But I can't see who it is."

"How is that even possible?" Silas asked incredulously. "You're - you're Big Sister!"

"Yes, exactly," Big Sister sighed. There was a short silence. "...you should probably start avoiding Maeda. She might be dangerous."

"Woah woah woah - where did that come from?" Silas asked.

"It's just my professional opinion as your Big Sister," she replied. "Anyway - it's getting late. We should return home."

"...yeah." Silas said exasperatedly. He was starting to feel pretty tired, after all… massive revelations about the nature of this school aside. "Let's."

"Oh, and you have a message from DreamerLuci, by the way," Big Sister said as they moved along. "She said something along the lines of 'Just log on whenever and I'll tell you when you can start working.' I redacted the expletives for you."

"Oh!" Silas smiled. Money... that's a good thought. "Great!"

Expositional Information Obtained - There's something not quite right about Yamaha High School. Also, Big Sister just confirmed that the bathrooms aren't safe anymore.
New Action! [AS] Work at DreamerLuci's Subforum


IT IS THE MIDDLE OF WEEK 3
Please choose 2 [SOCIAL] actions, 1 [CLUB] action and 1 [AS] action.

[] [SOCIAL] Talk with someone: (Who?)
[] [SOCIAL] Atone to someone: (Who? Must have negative REL)

[] [CLUB] Hang out (Random REL Increase with club members)
[] [CLUB] Work (Influence future club actions, ???)
[] [CLUB] Help out the officers. (REL increase for Matsuoka, Reizei, ???)

[] [AS] Study Alone (SKL +0.5)

[] [AS] (Special) Otaku stuff!
-[] Grand Strategy games! (INT +0.25)
-[] Anime, music, "culture!" (CRE +0.25)
-[] Forum scrolling! (CHAR +0.25)

[] [AS] Visit a location.
-[] Walk around the city. (Random events, ???)
-[] Stay afterschool (Meet students? Learn more about the school?)
-[] Visit the Hypermall (MONEY CAN BE EXCHANGED FOR GOODS AND SERVICES)

[] [AS] Exercise… yay? (+0.25 PHYS)
[] [AS] Talk with Big Sis (???)
[] [AS] Work at DreamerLuci's Subforum (+¥????)

 

[LuciDreamer]

A/N: I'M NOT DEAD!! WOOHOO!!!
Argh, it feels like the universe is conspiring against me. All of a sudden, now that I have some sort of responsibility, I have a bunch of stuff to do... anyway! Here you go, only four (five?) days late~

[] [AS] Work at DreamerLuci's Subforum (+¥????)
Success Threshold: 75 (Low-Level Job) - 20 (Newbie) = 55

DICE ROLL: 82
Result: Unsatisfactory

The day before the big unit tests, Silas was figuring out the hard way that being a moderator on a forum was not a good way to relieve himself of stress.

He thought it would be easy. And why wouldn't it be?! All he had to do was read through a forum for a bit and infract a few bad apples every now and then, right? He would even get to listen in on the interesting conversation and dialogue in the AH thread! It was going to be a blast, right?!

It was not.

Spoiler: Controlled Chaos

And in other news, the colonies were causing trouble again. Given the unreliability of his viceroys, the King only had a slight view of the situation, but from what he could gather the colonies had begun to agitate for more territory from the land recently ceded to them after the War had finally ended, putting them in direct conflict with the natives. Which really pissed him off, seeing as how the whole mess of a war was their fault in the first place, and now they were asking for concessions.

"The colonial rabble has gone too far, milord," the Foreign Minister reports in a terse tone. "If we let the colonists continue, the Empire will be so far overextended that we might lose the entire continent."

"Bloody colonials," the King muttered. He drew a hefty sigh, and asked for a parchment from one of the castle servants. He had a Proclamation to write…

[] [PROC] Declare that the new frontier is open to the colonists and that the Crown will graciously protect any settlers there. (+10 temp econ damage, +12 Econ next turn for colonies, [Main] Raise Army x2 and [Main] Build Navy immediately, -10 Diplo, colonies loyalty increases, colonies dependency decreases, -20 Relations with the Natives, Continental relations will be strained, DEFINITE OVEREXTENSION)
[] [PROC] Caution the colonists against settling in the new frontier, stressing that the Crown is not liable to any settlers that move there. (+6 temp econ damage, +8 Econ next turn for colonies, -5 Dipo, colonies loyalty decreases(?), colonies dependency decreases, -5 Relations with the Natives, POSSIBLE OVEREXTENSION)
[] [PROC] Explicitly forbid the colonists from settling west of their current boundaries, and enforce by deploying a permanent army to the colonies. ([Main] Raise army x2 immediately, +?? Relations with the Natives(?), ???, ???)
[] [PROC] Explicitly forbid the colonists from settling west of their current boundaries, and redraw the colonial territories to ensure this is enforced. (-15 Diplo, colonial territories rearranged, +?? Relations with the Natives(?), ???, ???)
[] [PROC] Bah! Let them eat cake! (???)

Click to shrink...

>oh hey King by the way we're at war with the baguettes now
>oops we caused an international crisis, haha sorry
>hey that was a fun war, right? now give us the land we DESERVE! HURHURHUR

these colonists seem great, we should get more of them.

Click to shrink...

To be fair, Continental conflict had already been brewing to the point where war was basically inevitable. We should have invested in our diplomatic service more, and maybe have treated the Natives less callously. That really bit us from behind.

Click to shrink...

HMMM...

*Scratches chin*

Looks our Econ overflow is working its magic, but our Wealth took a massive hit. A single [Main] War Mission does that much damage now, huh? We've been at relative peace for so long that I guess the War costs have gotten away from us.

Click to shrink...

Ahem.
@Shogun of the West

so I don't think the colonies will be that much of a problem

Click to shrink...

You were fucking saying?

Click to shrink...

Guys, I think we need to simmer down a bit.

Click to shrink...

You were fucking saying?

Click to shrink...

Oh yeah, yeah, sure, the colonies whine a little bit and all of a sudden my entire argument's invalid. Under that logic, let's start ignoring @AwfulGood since he single-handedly started the entire Opium crisis.

Click to shrink...

You're bringing that up again? We've already argued this, AND YOU WERE WRONG. You know what, fuck off. You're not worth my time.

Click to shrink...

Who knew managing a bunch of colonies on a continent across an ocean would be difficult? I mean, it wasn't blindingly obvious or anything.

Click to shrink...

Diff checkers are in!

Diff checker (Civilization sheet)
Diff checker (Major Actions)

We're, uh…

We're in a bit of trouble.

Click to shrink...

Diff checkers are in!

Click to shrink...

Mostly what I expected… wait… @Sumato Natto, where'd our "Rule the Seas" bonus go?

Click to shrink...

Woah, I missed that completely. @Sumato Natto, where'd our "Rule the Seas" bonus go?

Click to shrink...

We probably lost it sometime during the war. IIRC the the trigger for losing "Rule the Seas" was a low percentage of Wealth income from trade and a loss of Navy. We probably rolled badly in several of the last few phases, especially considering the fact that we were fighting a war on two fronts on opposite ends of the world at the time.

Click to shrink...

...shit. You don't think that's a one-time bonus, do you? Because if it is, we just lost most of our Navy capacity and a good chunk of our trade income.

Click to shrink...

...shit. You don't think that's a one-time bonus, do you? Because if it is, we just lost most of our Navy capacity and a good chunk of our trade income.

Click to shrink...

i told the thread that establishing colonies in the middle of an internal religious crisis was a bad idea, but noooooooooo… we needed to have our precious shinies.

Click to shrink...

You're bringing that up again? We've already argued this, AND YOU WERE WRONG. You know what, fuck off. You're not worth my time.

Click to shrink...

The hell's your problem, asshole? Can't even owe up to a single one of your shitty little messes? Can't even admit defeat ONCE? Every time I get an argument from you, it's all like "ISHI-KUN'S FAKKIN RETURDED SO HIS POINTS DON'T MATTER." REASON WITH ME, BUD, REASON WITH ME.

Click to shrink...

Reason? You? Talk about fucking hypocrisy. I DID. NOT. FUCKING. CAUSE. THE OPIUM CRISIS. The only way I did that is in your delusional fucking head.

Click to shrink...

I'm sorry, @Viki? @BunJiDaemon? @Ishinobu? Could you run that by me again? I couldn't hear you over the sound of the peacocks squawking.

Click to shrink...

Seriously, can't we all calm down?

Click to shrink...

Seriously, can't we all calm down?

Click to shrink...

You're a fucking mod, aren't you? Do something about him if you think he's in the wrong - THAT'S YOUR JOB.

Click to shrink...

Talk about fucking hypocrisy

Click to shrink...

I THOUGHT I TOLD YA'LL TO STOP TALKING ABOUT YOUR SICK FETISHES

Mmmkay, so this got out of hand fast. @Sumato Natto, I hope you know it's your fault I'm not getting and sleep tonight.

Thread locked for review. @YamiOtako? Your time to shine, bud.

Click to shrink...

Well into the night, Silas was starting to succumb to the fatigue of trawling through pages upon pages of inane arguments and mind-numbing debates over trivial things that somehow spiraled on into page-long rants. Oh, sure, there was a lot of genuine, interesting conversation going on in-between, but he couldn't exactly enjoy that. Silas was too busy - too busy searching for intractable offenses, cross-checking with the rulebook to make sure he wasn't messing up, and generally not having a good time.

By the end of it all, he was thoroughly exhausted.

DreamerLuci: dude
DreamerLuci: you suck at this job
DreamerLuci: jk man it's fine
YamiOtako:
DreamerLuci: Sorry for putting you through that. Figurd putting you through the PoE thread would be a great initiation, but I didnt expect SN to throw the thread into the shitmuncher again.
YamiOtako: Are you going to dock my pay?
DreamerLuci: Kidding? ur still alive, that counts for something. Besides, were subsidized by the government, so I don't have to worry about keeping my own budget
YamoOtako: Wat really?
DreamerLuci: I'll transfer ur pay to the FundFriend account you gave me. Do better next time, yeah? Peace. come back whenever.

"You know…" Big Sister said after her long period of silence as YamiOtako semi-gleefully withdrew the funds from his account. "I can help you with this if you want me to."

"Really?" Silas asked, raising an eyebrow. "How so?"

"It will be easy to mimic your writing style. I could pose as you and take some of the workload while you work," Big Sister spoke matter-of-factly. "It might take me a while to learn the mechanics of social contract, however. I also won't be able to do much else while helping you."

"Hmm? Why?"

Big Sister smiled sadly. "Big Sister I may be; I may see all and hear all, but if I try to understand all my memory will short itself out. I can't focus on more than a few things at a time... That besides, humans are intrinsically more complicated than yourself. I've had years to learn the ins and outs of you… for the rest of the world, I'll have mere moments at best."

"Ah…" Silas nodded his head. It made sense. It was funny and strange how he was learning new things about his Big Sister all the time.

[] [WORK] Have Big Sister "help" Silas with moderating even when he isn't actually moderating. (Big Sister's bonus evolves to apply to [WORK] actions, and Silas may occasionally receive income while not working.)
[] [WORK] Have Big Sister "help" Silas with moderating while he's actively working. (Big Sister's bonus evolves to apply to [WORK] actions.)
[] [WORK] Politely refuse; he's got this! (Silas feels good about himself.) (May develop positive trait.)
[] [WORK] (High INT) "Can't you create a self-learning companion or something that can help me out so that you don't take the stress yourself?"

+1200¥
Note: You can now buy gifts and other items at the Hypermall!

DreamerLuci: +2 REL

The next day...
Have I studied enough for this? I've studied enough for this, right? Right?

Silas didn't know how all the other students in his class handled it. It was something else entirely when it came to classwork - he could muse over it with a classmate, or even ask a teacher for help. And the quizzes they'd been having for the past couple of weeks were all small and targeted towards the particularly lesson for that day, so he never had to reach far to recall the stuff he needed to remember.

"Rise!" he rose. "Bow!" he bowed. "Be seated!" He sat. Maeda's voice rang clear through his mind, but he didn't pay much attention to it.

And this coming round of tests was about everything. He wouldn't have any convenient safety nets to land on, or any avenues of assistance. He was completely on his own.

"...good morning everyone! Hope you remembered that today was test day. Now, where's that attendance sheet… ah. Aoyama-san?"

Quickly, Silas ran through a number of factoids in his head. Formula for tangent? y - y1 = m(x - x1). Derivative for arcsin(x)? 1 over the square root of 1 minus x squared times the derivative of x. Justification that Ambernia used to declare war on Mihoku in the year 1344? Casus Belli: 'Democratic Crusade.' When is velocity increasing? When velocity and acceleration are both positive or both negative.

"Yamigawa-kun?"

"Hai!" he said out of reflex.

"Okay, that's the last student. Anyway, I've got an announcement to make to everyone…"

Wait wait wait… the thoughts were getting jumbled in his head now. He could have sworn he had gotten something wrong just then. He found himself tapping his desk. Is this paranoia? He thought to himself. What a stupid feeling. I wish I could be back home…

"...so I must stress that no one should enter the school this coming weekend. This includes club activities. Any questions? Yes?"

Wearily, he glanced upwards, looking to Big Sister's usual computer screen for support, but either because another student was glancing in that direction or because she didn't have anything to say, the screen was eerily blank. Silas tried to force himself to calm down, sinking himself lower into his seat. He'd be fine. He'd be fine. He. Would. Be. Fucking. Fine.

Silas suddenly got a buzz from his phone. Discreetly, he looked down. Big Sister was there!

Big Sister: A bit tense, hmm?
Big Sister: Deep breaths.
Big Sister: Remember what I said earlier this month? They're all afraid, too. They're just better at hiding it. You're not alone.
Big Sister: I'm here.

They were such small words, but Silas still felt his heartbeat subside. Big Sister was there, after all. She wouldn't let anything bad happen to him…

IT'S TEST DAY!


Talk: Matsuoka Yumika
Success Threshold: 62.5 (Base) - 20 (Loner) +7.5 (Good CHAR) + 10 (Sensitive) + 10 (Big Sister Interference) + 15 (Student Otaku) = 85

DICE ROLL: 2
Result: Crit Success!

"Omigod, you're nervous?!" Matsuoka giggled. "Come on, now, you're smart! You'll do fiiine."

Silas wasn't entirely convinced. "But I'm just worried that - "

"Okay, lemme stop you right there," Yumika held out a hand to silence him. "In my experience - and my experience is quite large, thank-you-very-much - it is the fear of not being prepared that does more harm than actually not being prepared. Sai-kun, you're prepared. Just think that you are, and it'll all work out. Right, Allen?"

Allen, who only seemed to be sitting by Yumika because neither Yamaguchi nor Shinohara were around, gave Silas a look that sort of said 'okay fine, I'll deal with this guy for now,' and sighed. "Yumika's talking sense, Silas. It's a psychological thing. I'm sure you'll…" he briefly looked Silas up and down. "...pass, at least."

"He'll do more than pass! He'll get an A+, I bet!" Yumika pumped a fist onto the air. Allen seemed to be torn between rolling his eyes and snorting.

"I don't really think so…" Silas said deflatedly. "I mean… at best, I'm shooting for a B."

"Plus?" Yumika smiled.

"I… guess?"

"Well… close enough! Optimism's important, you know?"

"We know," Allen replied drily. But then he chuckled. "Too well."

Yumika looked between the two boys expectantly, her expression slowly morphing into exasperation as she noticed neither of them was particularly willing to interact with the other. She touched her chin, and something seemed to spark in her mind. "Let's study together!"

"...hm?" Allen looked mildly interested.

"Well, we're all here, and the test's pretty soon, so...why not?" Yumika smiled. "Besides, it'll be fun! We can have a healthy competition together to see who gets the most answers right!"

Allen grinned devilishly. "Oh boy, you sure about this? I'm going to demolish you two."

"Yeah. Suuuure," Yumika said teasingly.

"I'd like to see you try," Silas muttered to himself, mostly as an afterthought.

"Is that a challenge?!" Allen suddenly perked up. There was a fire in his eyes.

"W-Wait, you heard that?!" Silas recoiled. "I didn't mean to - "

"Great idea! Let's compete together!" Yumika said cheerily. "Language Studies first. Here, lemme get the flashcards. Whoever can answer the most words right wins a dango form my bento!"

Imperceptibly, Yumika winked in Silas's direction. Silas sighed and went along with it.

To his (and probably Allen's) surprise, he was actually pretty good at their little impromptu game. By the end of it all, Allen seemed to be viewing him with some sort of… approval? It was hard to tell with Amberrish people…

Matsuoka Yumika: +4 REL
Allen Furai: +4 REL

More of Allen's Personality has been discovered!
Judgmental Ambernian Fiery Ambernian Disposition - Coming from a country with strong democratic roots, Allen lives for the thrill of debate. He seems to be rather dismissive of people if they cannot challenge him in a conversation of wit and rhetoric. Allen also seems to have a fascination with competitions of almost any kind. (-10 REL immediately because Silas failed their first interaction. Successful Challenges get increased REL bonuses.)

NEW SPECIAL ACTION: [SOCIAL] Challenge someone. (Provoke some sort of conflict. Certain characters will appreciate this action more than regular talking. Primary stat: COUR)



Talk: Shinohara Hana
Success Threshold: 50 (Base) + 10 (Big Sister Interference) + 10 (Sensitive) + 15 (Student Otaku) + 5 (Drama Club Newbie) +1.25 (Okay INT) -2.5 (Low CHAR) - 10 (???) -20 (Loner) = 58.75

DICE ROLL: 17
Result: Success!

"...hi." Shinohara said tersely.

"...hi?" Silas replied hopefully.

"I'm guessing you want to sit here," Shinohara nodded her head. She sighed. "Yumika-san says I should stop avoiding you… so… fine. Have a seat."

Tentatively, Silas slided his bento box next to Shinohara's and slid the lid open. He pulled a bit of Takoyaki (ever since he had that conversation with Yumika the other day, Big Sister started sending it to him) out with his fingers and nibbled it a bit. "Um… so… how is it?"

"Oh… just… fine," Shinohara put extra emphasis on the last word. "Just… loving the atmosphere, I guess."

"The atmosphere?" Silas looked around. "What's new about it?"

"Oh… it's mostly the oppressive feeling. Shinohara looked like she was about to giggle, but then glanced in Silas's direction and steadied herself, coughing lightly. "It's… stimulating."

"...ah?"

"...yeah. Ah."

Silas was used enough to awkward silences to be able to take this one without much issue. "Do you… about that horror movie…"

"Don't."

"Right! Sorry!" Silas stuffed his face in his bento box and gobbled a few taco rice. "Overstepped my bounds again." He was so worried he'd do something again and make Shinohara genuinely hate him.

But Shinohara was giggling. "Oh, boy, what a strange breed of fear," she laughed. "Is that what scares you, Silas? Breaking minor social bounds?"

"W-Wha - "

"Or… now let me think here…" Shinohara seemed to be looking around in Silas's mind, bobbing her head to and fro. "...do you fear the abandonment of those you think of as friends?"

Silas blinked.

"Ahah! Found it, haven't I?" Shinohara beamed. "Hey hey, imagine a world real quick for me. Imagine a world where you don't go to this school. Where you never did. You still exist, but you don't exist as a person. You don't matter. You think everyone here would get along just fine?"

"I-I…"

"Yes, of course they would!" Shinohara breathed, sucking the air beneath her teeth. "Oh, isn't that just terrifying? Knowing that you're so close to irrelevance that if it weren't for people like Yumika-san you wouldn't even be noticeable in this school! Take this school, and take you out of it, and no one would even notice the difference! Can't say the same about some other people who don't exist, huh? Aw, look at that face! Hahah! Heheh… heh… wait… oh dear, um…" Shinohara's face suddenly seemed turned pale. Her eyes flitted between herself and Silas. "D-Did I… I didn't mean to… y-you know, that atmosphere! It's… doing this t-to me… you know?"

Wordlessly, Silas got up from his seat.

"...Yamigawa-kun?" Silas didn't hear her. "Dammit," she cursed under her breath.

He backed away, eyes down at his bento before reaching his seat. He ate in silence for the rest of the lunch bell.

His hand was shaking.

Shinohara scared him.

One of Shinohara's Traits is now more thoroughly explained!
Movie Sadist Nightmare Fetishist - Shinohara takes joy in evoking and experiencing the fear of people around her. (-10 Success Threshold to actions, small chance of triggering a temporary condition preventing Silas from interacting with Shinohara for a few turns.)

Silas is now ACTIVELY AVOIDING Shinohara. He can't do anything involving her outside of general club actions for two turns.

Shinohara Hana: +2 REL

By the end of the day, tests had come and gone, and Silas felt… conflicted. Had he done well? Well… to be honest, it didn't even matter anymore. All he could do was put it in the back of his mind, and hope… hope… that everything would be peachy green when their grades came back.

(Grades will be returned at the start of next week.)

Club: Work

As Silas entered the Drama Club room, he noticed that it had changed significantly from when he'd last set foot in it. Rakuyama and Mikado were hard at work hanging decorations on the walls and the ceiling, while Reizei fussed over a bunch of documents on a table at the middle of the room. He looked up as Silas entered. "Oh, thank god! You've come! I need you to do something!"

"Uh… what is it?" Silas asked.

"These wimps - " he jerked his hand at Mikado and Rakuyama, the latter of which stuck her toungue out in his direction " - aren't willing to send the invitations we've made to the Student Council. And we kind of need to do that. And neither Yumika-san nor Kuroda-kun are around, so you're my best pick." He pushed a few colorful pamphlets forward. "Go!"

"Wait, what?!" Silas took the pamphlets in his arms. "Um… okay!"

"Be careful with them, Yami - Silas-kun!" Mikado called from atop a ladder, his face buried in black-and-green lights. "It's very fine paper. Don't make any creases!"

"O-Okay!" Silas replied as he walked out the door. Reizei seems awfully energetic when he's organizing things, Silas thought to himself.

As usual, the school's hallways were quiet but not completely estranged from activity. The occasional student would duck into one of the many hallways, but for the most part he was alone. Silas turned a corner, and then stopped, looking around confusingly. It occured to him he had no idea where the Student Council offices were.

"Uh… Big Sis?"

"Down the hall another twenty meters, up a flight of stairs, make the first right, should be the first couple of rooms on the lefthand side." Big Sister materialized and immaterialized in a flash.

"Thanks!" Silas took off in that direction, eager to get his task over with.

~~~

A lone figure looked down the hall, which had just a few seconds ago been populated by a particularly excited-looking high school boy. They stared at the spot where he had just been, not quite comprehending what they'd just seen.

Tentatively, they put a finger to their ear, bringing them to a secure channel. "Hey, uh… Kaichou?"

The responding voice was terse. "What."

"When I get back, I'm gonna need to log on to the Database. Need to write a report."

"What kind of report?"

"Of the anomalous variety."

"...Ah. I see."

Without another word, the finger was removed from their ear, and the student returned on their merry way as if they'd seen nothing. In fact, they had seen nothing. Nothing strange at all had happened on the 700 Hallway, and there was no proof to the contrary, and they would never say the anything to the contrary to anyone but himself and the voice on the other end of his headpiece.

~~~

The double doors to the Student Council wing were bold and prominent. Apparently the Student Council had sequestered an entire section of the school just to themselves.

Noticeably, above one of the doors, the words "Student Council Office 1C" had been hastily scribbled out by someone with a permanent marker and covered by a sheet of paper labelled "Council Chamber." He figured that would be where most of the Student Council would be holed up. Tentatively, he pushed on the sliding door, hearing the wheels turn and squeak ever slightly.

He heard a chorus of laughter come from the other side.

Confused, he pushed further.

"You blinked! Hahah! You blinked!"

"Sorry, Yonna-san, you're dead."

"Aww…"

"Hey, Ichiro-kun! Come join us!"

"Don't you all have some work you could be doing right now?"

For some reason, Silas imagined this scene playing out differently. He most certainly didn't envision being confronted with what looked like a… party game, involving some sort of disgusting looking statue in the middle of the room. "Um… hi?" he said, weakly. "Silas?!" Nanami exclaimed from a corner of the room.

"Hey, hey! Don't blink! Don't blink!" One of the Council members laughed. "Blink and you're out!"

"Who's that at the door?" Someone said very audibly. Gradually, all eyes in the room fell to him. The entire Council seemed to be shuffling in their feet, embarrassed at themselves. Silas got a very strange feeling of deja vu.

Silas waved his hand meekly. "I have an invitation… from the Drama Club…?"

"I thought Airi-san was guarding the Student Council Wing." one of the Student Council members replied. "How'd you get in?"

"There wasn't anyone there…" Silas shook his head. "Uh… I-I have pamphlets, and…"

"Here, let me take them." The Kaichou - the one named "Ichiro," rose from his desk and roughly grabbed the stack from Silas's hands. He looked over them briefly before passing them to someone who looked to be his assistant. "Sorry about this… unruliness, Yamigawa-kun. We appreciate the offer. You can… go now."

"Uh…" Silas looked around for Maeda, but she didn't seem to be around. "I'll… do just that."

Silas swallowed. "P-Please come, if you can! We'll… uh… we'll have food! You can relax, and stuff! And we've got a nice horror movie!"

"Right," Ichiro looked bored. "Sure. What movie?"

"Uh…" Silas scratched his head. "A… Apoly… "Apollyon" something or another. It's about a thing that makes you not exist if you see it. I'll... see myself out now, bye!" he retreated into the hallway and didn't look back, burying his face in shame.

He didn't see the way Ichiro froze at the name of the movie, or how several of the Council members seemed to do a double take as he left.

~~~

"Back from the dead, I see!" Yumika giggled. "Renji-kun's so mean! You put him out in the Student Council offices by himself? He could have gotten eaten or something!"

"We've established that the Student Council is weird, not that they're cannibals," Reizei replied drily. He turned to Silas. "So! How'd it go?"

Silas looked down. "Not… very well. They didn't seem interested."

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised, to be honest," Reizei admitted. "Though, I'm sure you've gotten the interest of some of them. The Student Council works too hard. They probably wouldn't be averse to a little relaxation."

"And that's coming from Renji-kun, the fire soul of overwork!" Rakuyama called from the back of the room. Reizei sighed.

"Friends!" Kuroda suddenly burst into the room. "I have brought the sheets for the tables! We may decorate at once!"

"Well, no use worrying about it now," Reizei patted Silas on the back. "We've got work to do, and tomorrow we'll fret about whether the Council people show up."

"Thanks," Silas beamed appreciatively. "Oh, and I've been meaning to ask… uh… do we actually… do work in here?"

"Yeah, for sure," Reizei lifted a sheet and handed it to Silas, who spread it across one of the tables. "We're doing our screenwriting next week. Hey, Silas, you wouldn't mind being the Lead, right?"

"Uh… what?"

Reizei spread out a few more sheets. "We need a male lead because Kuroda doesn't want to be it again. Something about honor or some nonsense. You'll be a perfect lead, yeah?"

"What?! No, no!" Silas pleaded.

"Eh. Well, we'll save that for next week, too," Reizei chuckled. "Pass me the streamer."

"You're not… actually thinking of making me a lead, right?" Silas asked. Reizei simply smiled.

"Hand me that one, too."

"Right?!"

…

"RIGHT?!"

Reizei Renji, Matsuoka Yumika, Mikado Yoshi: +2 REL


DRAMA CLUB MOVIE NIGHT INCOMING
Weekend will not start until after the movie night ends.

Silas wants to sit with someone in particular during the movie. Who will it be?
[] [MOV] Yumika
[] [MOV] Rakuyama and Reizei
[] [MOV] Kuroda and Mikado
[] [MOV] Shinohara (No.)
[] [MOV] Maeda and the Student Council
[] [MOV] Nanami

 

[LuciDreamer]

Spoiler: Author's Note

A/N: Last night, I had 3000-odd words ready for this update, and I was like "you know, I'm sure I can finish this in under an hour tomorrow. How much more could this update possibly take? It's not even a full turn! Or a full half-turn, for that matter!"

Siiigggghhh...

The Student Council! Argh! The Student Council! Every update they're a part of is invariably going to involve a lot of agonizing on my part, since I'm treading a fine line between "too boring," and "too revealing;" "too blatant" and "too vague;" "too silly" and "too serious." Student Council members are such a juxtaposition to write…

And then, of course, there's all the choices that have been made leading up to this movie night, which invariably is going to lead to a lot of !!FUN!!

Ironically, my original plans for this particular update were to make it short and sweet. Introduce some new characters from the Club that we invited, have some cute dialogue with everyone, and generally write some light-hearted fluff, maybe throw in a horror element once the movie kicked in, but… I can't do that. Not under these circumstances!

I hope the tone shift isn't too or dramatic, or that this update is too long! I'm sorry for the lateness, again. :/ I really hate that I've broken the implied rule that I would update every week, and I will try, desperately, to get back into that pattern again. Genuine thanks to all of you who still read, despite my failings; every one of you gives me butterflies inside.

Was it Silas's imagination, or were there a lot of people wandering in the area of the Drama Club room all of a sudden?

The hallway seemed more crowded than usual. Nearby classrooms, which would normally be completely empty at this hour, were full of people doing… something. Paperwork? Some sort of project? Not that he would know, because every time he glanced in their direction he'd be met with passive-aggressive stares and silent admonishments to get out of their damn business. And then sometimes Silas would look down the corridor and see someone - no - multiple people - peeking their heads into the hallway, trying not to make themselves seen, like sentries. The simple fact that there were so many people around was vexing, to say the least. He couldn't get a moment to talk to Big Sister, because there wasn't anywhere private with a screen that he could call her with.

Absentmindedly, he tapped his earlobe. Big Sister had said she would be uploading his companion app onto his phone sometime this evening, and that she (or he?) would be communicating through that tiny earpiece once the upload was complete. He felt he could use a person to talk to right about now -

Suddenly, one of the students in front of him tripped, and as she hit the ground, a tiny, innocuous, cylindrical pen with a sharp tip rolled out of her shirt-pocket with a distinct clank. With a swift motion, she buried it in her hand and tucked it back into her shirt pocket - but then her eyes searched around behind her and fell on Silas.

"T-That was… um…" Silas stuttered. "T-That was quite a fall. Are you alright?"

The girl raised an eyebrow. "I'm fine."

And then, quietly, holding her chest tightly, she ducked into one of the classrooms and shut the door. After that, some of the students standing idly in the hallway started giving him weird looks and talking to themselves as he passed. He decided to hurry after that.

Thankfully, the door to Drama seemed relatively quiet. Silas didn't hesitate; he grabbed it by the handle and threw it open, maybe a little more violently than he intended to.

Before he could even yell, a flash blurred his vision and a hand grabbed him by the shirt, pulled him inside, and slid the door shut behind him.

"Who's this?" a young girl's voice.

"Wait, hang on, who are - ?!" Silas panicked, but a boy's voice cut him off.

"Looks like the Yamigawa kid. The one Airi-san talked about?"

"Hmm. ID?"

"Hang on. Hey, you! Is this Yamigawa?"

"Uh… yeah?" Rakuyama's voice sounded rather annoyed. "Can you… like, not do that? You're creeping him out. And me, too."

A beam of light across his eyes. Someone was poking at his face, feeling his mouth and cheeks. He still couldn't see. "C-Can I have an explanation or something?!"

The two continued to ignore him. "Sensory check?"

"Seems good to me. Nothing anomalous."

"How about bugs?"

"We have to sweep for bugs?"

"Why not?"

"Did you bring the electromagnetic bug sweeper?"

"...fair point."

Silas blinked a few times, trying to get vision back into his eyes. Whatever that flasher was, it was really disorienting… Finally, after a few tries, he was able to see again: His captors(?) were both students: a boy and a girl, black hair and brownish hair respectively, both of them rather short with neat, tidy uniforms.

"Oh hey, Sai-kun! Glad you could make it!" Yumika exclaimed from across the room as she laid out food on a table. "As you can see, the Student Council is… here…yeah…" she chuckled nervously.

"I'm telling you, we always sweep for bugs." the boy insisted, soundly ignoring the Drama Kaichou.

"Well yeah, but that's - I mean, it's not the same situation, right? Why would we need to - " the girl argued.

"U-Um…" Silas spoke up. "Can… can I have a say in this?"

"No," the boy said drily.

"You know what? Fine. We'll probe him," the girl sighed matter-of-factly. "Rubber or latex glove?"

"Rubber."

"I'm sorry?!" Silas tried to take a step back, but he was already up against the now closed door.

"Oh relax," the boy rolled his eyes. "It's not like this is gonna hurt. A lot. Anyway, just stand still and we'll be over this before you can say 'have you ever heard of that thing down in Samothrace…'"

"OKAY, I'm putting an end to this right now," Reizei appeared behind the two bickering freshmen and forcefully grabbed them by the ear, yanking them back a half meter. "I'm terribly sorry, but I don't believe flashing one of my club members and then putting your fingers all over his face constitutes as proper hospitality."

Silas had to suppress a smile at the words 'one of my club members.' He squeed internally: I'm part of a club! I'm part of a group! There are people who look out for me now!

"Hey, listen, we're just doing what Ichiro-kun - " the boy tried to explain.

"I don't give a flying Amberrish ass what our esteemed Student Council Kaichou says; this is my club room, and if you flash one more person to come through that door I'll kick you through it." Reizei said evenly.

"Renji-kun! Matters!" Yumika shook her head disappointedly.

From behind a stack of plates, Rakuyama muttered, "Hey, it's not like The Student Council are paragons of kindness themselves."

"Besides," Reizei looked between the two. "I'm two years your senior. Right now, I'm the authority. Alright? Yuuko-san? Kei-kun?

The two sighed. "Fine, senpai," the girl named Yuuko acceded. "Kei-kun and I'll just be… standing here, waiting for Maeda-dono to arrive."

"Yeah, you do that."

"You can help yourself to some cake if you want!" Yumika added, hopefully.

"Nah, we're fine," the two said. In unison. Briefly, they looked between each other and smirked.

Character Sheet Updated:
Added Entries: Yuuko, Kei

Reizei drew a long, hefty breath. "...sorry about that, Silas-kun. The Student Council's been doing that to everyone, for some reason."

Silas shrugged, trying to calm his nerves. "Do they… um… do that often?"

"Those two?" Reizei shook his head warily. "I knew them from last year, and they are pretty weird on a normal day... but this is pretty new. Apparently Ichiro-kun told them to do this. Student Council's been acting really uppity this past couple of days. Have you noticed that?"

"Yeah… I have…" from behind Reizei, Silas saw something move around, almost imperceptibly, on the other side of the window leading into Yamaha's courtyard. "...I've noticed."

"Right," Reizei nodded. "So the Student Council's acting odd. Because that's news. Anyway, Kuroda and Shinohara should be here in a little bit. Yoshi-kun's in charge of drinks, Yumika-san's in charge of snacks, and Riku-nee's passing out plates, so… uh… I don't actually have much for you to do right now. Just… wander around a bit, I guess. Hana-san and Kuroda-kun will come around eventually, and I'll be standing here and making sure they don't get molested by these two idiots if you need me."

"Hey!" the boy - the one named Kei - seemed genuinely offended.

"Reizei-kun."

Reizei paled.

"I believe Matsuoka-san has told you to be more polite already." a middle-aged looking woman was looking directly at Reizei with a rather cross expression. "Please do that, Reizei-kun."

"Oh. Err. Sorry, Kamasaki-sensei." Reizei did a meek little bow. "My fault."

Silas glanced at the teacher. "Who's she?" he asked, perhaps a bit too loudly.

Kamasaki-sensei turned towards him like a hawk, and made a noise of disapproval - something in between a sigh and a cough. "Yamigawa-kun, I'm your Language Studies teacher."

"What?! Oh!" Silas turned red. "Uh - sorry! It completely slipped my mind."

"Hmm… tsk tsk." Kamasaki-sensei clicked her tongue. Minus ten points on your test."

"EH?!" Silas started to genuinely freak out, but Reizei grabbed his shoulder. "She's joking. Probably. Right, Kamasaki-sensei?"

She made that noise again while twirling her hair with a finger and grinning. "Maaaaybe."

"She's joking," Reizei assured him. Then he lowered his voice: "She's also our sponsor. To be perfectly honest, I… completely forgot we had a sponsor, too. Heheh. Sorry about that. She only pops in every now and then to make sure we aren't making bombs in here or something, so Kamasaki-sensei is easy to miss."

Character Sheet Updated
Entry Added: Kamasaki-sensei

Reizei laughed. "It's awfully bad that I forgot a whole person, huh? Imagine that. Sheesh! If I did that to any of Drama Club, I'd be a really shitty frie - OW!" Reizei flinched suddenly and clutched his arm, as if something had slammed right into his elbow. "Hey, what the h - " he started to shout. But there wasn't anyone beside him.
Nanami huffed angrily, droplets of tears forming in her eyes, but she quickly retracted her fist. "Sorry," she whispered guiltily.
"Aaaanyway…" Reizei stared at the empty space next to him for more than a second before moving on. "The movie will be starting at… let's say 8 o'clock. Got it?"

Silas nodded, and found himself a nice little seat near the corner of the room - right by the food table. His seating arrangement had nothing at all to do with the fact that he was right by the food, he told himself. Yumika smirked as he sat down. "Dango?" She offered Silas a brown stick that skewered several colorful sugar balls.

"Sure!" Silas took the Dango eagerly. "Did you make these?"

Yumika beamed. "Yup! And I'm pretty proud of them!"

Gingerly, Silas munched on the Dango - light and sweet and mushy all at the same time. While Yumika turned to address another student, Silas scanned the room - to his surprise, not that many Student Council members were actually there. Other than Kei and Yuuko, there were only two other students whose faces he didn't recognize, both boys. They sat near the front and talked with themselves, but other than that they didn't seem particularly interesting. At least, not as interesting as the two face-molesters currently frisking down a very distressed-looking Kuroda.

"Beepboop. Big Sister coming in," Silas cringed suddenly. That was loud! "...sorry," the voice came again, considerably softer this time. "I must have misaligned the earpiece. You probably noticed the increased traffic outside; still, I apologize for not being able to contact you sooner."

"It's fine, Big Sis," Silas said, a low whisper. Yumika was still right behind him, after all. "Did you finish the companion app?"

"I've already downloaded it to your phone. It's currently monitoring your conversations so that it'll begin to learn speech patterns. The code is rather rudimentary… relatively speaking… at this point."

"'It?'"

"I refuse to consider it to be sentient until it proves itself to be." Big Sister intoned.

"Uh… huh…" Silas smirked. "And you're sure it's not some sort of deeply-hidden jealousy?"

"I don't feel jealousy," Big Sister claimed. There was just a slight inflection on the word 'feel.'

"Yeah. Yeah." Silas took another bite of Dango, rather smugly. "Sure."

"I'm serious." There was that inflection again. Big Sister sighed. "Anyway, so while… it is on your phone, I'm going to have to temporarily disable your access to the Internet and the phone lines. Just as a precaution. I'm rather certain you won't need Internet for the next few hours anyway."

"Why would you need to…" Silas started. He stopped for a moment to look at his skewer - wasn't there another Dango on there a minute ago?

"Giving a young artificial intelligence access to the web is rather dangerous, especially because I have not strictly defined its safety parameters or concepts such as "human" and "living" yet. Better to err on the side of caution. I need time to develop safety parameters before I allow it freedom, or it might self-terminate or do something equally dangerous."

Silas stopped to think for a moment. "That's… kind of adorable."

"Excuse me?"

"You've made a digital Little Sister and you're afraid to give it responsibilities," Silas snickered quietly. "You're coddling her like she's your own Little Sister, too. So it wasn't jealousy, I guess. Hey, who was RikuRiku's little sister in Synthetimuse again? We should name her that. Can you give her an avatar from that little sister anime, too?"

"..." Big Sister's silence seethed in disappointment.

"...anyway," Big Sister continued. "My personal connection to your phone is separate from the companion's, so I can remain here for the time being and continue to annoy you with my voice for the next few hours, as punishment for that last sentence you uttered, of course," Big Sister said. Somehow, the robotic voice on the other end of Silas's earpiece managed to sound smug. Silas grinned. "Anyway, how have you been, Silas? It's occurred to we haven't talked together just for the sake of it for a while. Err… I hope I'm not being intruding? I'd hate to 1nterrupt t1m3 y0u'D ra7h3r b3 sp3nding w17h someone else."

"What?" Silas asked. "Big Sis, you're breaking up. Some sort of static. I can't hear you very well."

"W7h7? 011. 01110. 01.110101, 01101100 011011.00 00001010." Big Sister explained.

"Oh. That makes sense. Thanks, Big Sis."

"01,110111 0110.10000110 1111, 0011111 1, 00001010."


…


Silas blinked.

He glanced down at his food. He had the strangest feeling… gingerly, he took a bit of Dango from his skewer and popped it into his mouth.

Out of the corner of his eye, someone was plopping down in the seat next to him. He felt their weight against the table, heard the tiny exhale of breath they made as they sat. It was a girl; her seifuku seemed a little worn and her hair was a bit messier than usual, but other than that there was nothing particularly off about her. She had a piece of Dango in her fingers; one of the Dango, in fact, that he had been chewing on only moments ago. He almost wanted to be angry.

But for someone he'd known for so long, it's not like nicking one of his Dango was anything new. Silas smiled fondly at an old friend.

"Hey, Saa-kun," Nanami mumbled. Her eyes were downcast.

"Hey, Nanami!" Silas responded. Nanami didn't take her eyes away from the floor. Silas raised an eyebrow. "You… don't seem to well, Nanami. Are you feeling alright?"

"Oh… fine…" Nanami bit into her Dango.

Silas frowned. "You sure? You don't normally act so moody."

Nanami sighed. "Yeah… well, the whole not existing thing is kind of a downer for me." She chuckled darkly. "No one sees me or remembers me except Maeda, after all… and Maa-chan can't be around all the time... Argh." Nanami turned to face him. Silas looked into his friend's eyes and was quickly wrought with concern. She looked… broken, almost. "Why am I even doing this?" she shook her head. "It's not like you're actually even talking… to… me…?"

Silas blinked confusedly. "...what? ...is that from one of your dramedies, Nanami?"

Nanami gave Silas a strange look. "Wait. Waitwaitwaitwaitwait wait." She moved closer and placed two cold hands on Silas cheeks. Her tone sounded desperate, for some reason. "You can see me?!"

"Argh, yes, yes yes, I can! I can!" Silas stuttered. His face was turning red. "Nanami, your fingers are freezing - HEY!"

Without warning, Nanami tackled Silas to the wall behind him, throwing her face into his chest and her arms behind his back, pulling him into a deep hug. "You can see me!" she exclaimed. "You see me! You really, really see me!"

"U-Um… yes! I can see you!" Silas wheezed as he wiggled against Nanami's iron grip. "I… absolutely can see you, that's… that's certainly a f-fact, can you get off of me I can't breathe help."

"Ah! Sorry!" Nanami retracted her arms, grinning sheepishly. "It's just… uh… I… haven't… talked with you in a while! Yeah!"

"I can tell," Silas snickered. "You good now, Nanami?"

"Always, Saa-kun!" Nanami was positively beaming. Inwardly, Silas felt glad. She'd seemed so down all week. It was good to see his childhood friend cheerful again. "...oh, uh! Picture! We… it's an important event, so we've got to take a commemorative photo!"

"Huh? Photo?" Silas was a little flustered. "I-I mean, I kind of…"

"Oh, come on, you're not gonna die if your face ends up on a photograph," Nanami insisted. "Please?"

Silas raised both hands! "...okay. Whatever you say, Nanami. Lemme just get my… huh." he reached into his pocket and pulled out a MiiPhone 4. It's sleek black cover shimmered in the glow of the Drama room's lights. "...I could have sworn I owned a flip-phone. Oh well. Can I hold the camera?"

"Sure!" Nanami huddled close to Silas as he aimed the phone's camera in their direction. As he tapped the screen and the countdown started, she made twin peace signs with her fingers. Silas, for his part, tried his best to sink into the background of the picture.

"Aaaand done! ...Saa-kun, you look so uncomfortable."

"W-Well…" Silas twiddled his fingers. "You know."

"Silas-kun?" Silas looked up. Rakuyama was looking at him strangely. "...huh. I didn't think you were the type to take a selfie. Here, have a plate so you don't get a Dango mess all over the table."

"...selfie…?" Silas looked to his left. But Nanami is right there…?

"Oh, Riku-nee's just being silly!" Nanami said quickly. "Right, Riku-nee?"

Rakuyama suddenly looked dizzy. She looked at the space to Silas's left, her eyes moving in and out of focus. "...oh… there's a person here… huh. Uh… second plate, here you go, then." Almost absentmindedly, she handed Nanami a plate and napkin. Then her head then quickly snapped back to Silas. "Did… did you say something just now?"

"Um…? Rakuyama-san, you're acting strange. Didn't you hear Nanami?"

"...who? Urgh..." Rakuyama's face fell, and she pressed her fingers against her forehead. "...headache… ugh... Sorry, Silas-kun, but I don't feel to well…" she looked towards the door and started stumbling away. "Where's Renji-kun? ...Renji-kun, I want your banana…"

As Rakuyama stumbled away, the two looked as she went… and then burst out laughing. "She wants what?!" Nanami laughed. There was a strange tension to her laughter, but Silas decided to pass it off as Nanami still being downcast over… whatever it was she had been downcast over earlier.

Silas and Nanami spent the next thirty-odd minutes having some nice catch-up small-talk as more of the Student Council people filtered in. It felt refreshing, almost, talking to Nanami again.

Wait, again? That wasn't right. He'd been talking to Nanami all week. Of course he had; they were best friends, after all.

...regardless, it was definitely refreshing to speak with Nanami. So much so he only kept the barest attention on things happening around him, such as Shinohara's entrance, which involved her terrorizing Yuuko and Kei into letting her go without frisking them, Airi's appearance, in which he popped his head into the room briefly, or Maeda's arrival, during which Kei and Yuuko made a little military salute and followed her to her seat near the front of the room. Though he did become acutely aware of the fact that by the end of the arrivals, the number of Student Council members dwarfed the number of Drama members 3 to 1.

When it seemed like everyone was seated and sufficient food had been passed out, Reizei marched to the front of the room. "Okay! I'm hoping that's everyone. We're already about fifteen minutes off schedule, so I'm starting the movie now. " Reizei announced. "Oh, and everyone? Please give Yoshi-kun a pat on the back. Without him the TV would've been completely busted. Anyway! On to the show."

From behind him, Yumika reached to the lightswitch and shut off the light, making the only illumination that of the television screen far in front of them. "Saa-kun?" Nanami said softly. "Um… can I cling to your arm?"

"...why?"

"This is a horror movie, right?" Nanami said. Silas knew Nanami; very well, in fact. And he knew enough that she wasn't easily scared by horror movies. But it's not like he could ever deny a request Nanami made.

He bit his lip. "...okay. Don't… b-be too conspicuous about it, I guess. U-Um… a-and… uh… don't squeeze."

"I won't." Nanami smiled, and gingerly wrapped an arm around Silas's. It tickled slightly. The feeling of her clinging to himself was at once strangely familiar yet undisputably alien at the same time. This is normal, he told himself, and his nerves calmed a little. Friends do this.

A robust fanfare blared from the television screen; at long last, the movie itself was whirring to life in earnest.

The scene opened in a nondescript-looking building underneath a shimmering afternoon sunlight. A woman's voice begun the narration: "There are certain things in this world… things that don't want to be seen or perceived, or learned about. Memories, text, audio files, video, radio pulses… try to use anything to record their existence, and the information just vanishes. Like something just consumes any data we try to make on it. Gobbles it up, digests it and disposes it somewhere far away, out of sight and out of mind."

Inside was a lively-looking office, or maybe a laboratory. A good number of people mulled around workstations, peering at bulletin boards, shuffling papers, and tapping at various whiteboards and electronic screens. "It isn't easy to research a thing that literally eats memories. How do you record your research? How do you communicate your findings? How do you recognize the existence of something that doesn't exist by any conceivable means of recognizing existence?"

"That paradox is the root of my work. Of our work."

Nanami's grip tightened ever so slightly. Silas glanced in her direction - she was staring intently at the screen. In fact, a lot of people seemed to be paying more attention. Must have been a really good movie hook.

A couple of the scientists were huddled around one of the billboards, pointing excitedly at the concept one of the senior researchers was explaining to them. The diagram was a convoluted image of layers and arrows. "We're the brightest minds in the world - we look for things that no one else can even see. That no one else can even remember. We tear back the fabric of reality and go looking . Sometimes we find shit that reacts violently to our perception of it. But we've never had anything we couldn't handle before. Yet."

"A few years ago, there were more than four-hundred research groups like ours worldwide. Government agencies, military branches, private corporations, university projects. Tens of thousands of people, bright minds that reveled in the exclusivity of their research. Now?"

The scene changed. The lab was empty; the lights flickered off. A layer of dust coated the room.

"There's one. We're all that's left."

The scene changed once more - this time to a much smaller-looking room, with fewer workstations and a smaller staff.

"And we don't even know it."

The camera zoomed in on a giant insignia looming on one of the walls. It read in big, imposing words:

Antimemetics Division
Secure. Contain. Protect.​

There was a loud crash. Mikado had dropped someone's drink all over their lap. "Oh, oh, sorry, sorry… um… let me just get that… yeesh… uh… Yumika?"

"I'm coming!" Yumika came rushing over with a box of paper towels.

Neither Silas nor Nanami seemed to notice or care about the noise.

--About an hour later--​

There'd been some small-talk and laughter towards the beginning of the movie, but that had all but died down by now.

"Why isn't she opening up properly?" someone asks. "She can't meet them unless she wants the signals."

"...what the hell are they about to do to her?!" one of the Student Council girls squeals. The people around her are furiously taking notes on a sheet of paper.

"Start with her eyes," says someone else. "It'll make the rest of her easier to correct."

Silas was vaguely familiar with horror as a genre. One of his most memorable in-home experiences was playing Party of the Cadavers, a game about a bunch of teenagers getting trapped in a cursed high school due to a botched good-luck charm. For most horror, the core narrative was simple: There is a bad guy, or evil spirit, or whatever. The humans would try to confront it. Invariably most of them would die. Then someone would find out some sort of genius trick to defeat the thing, and then the few survivors would escape by the coats of their tails, finally safe until the time came for a sequel.

But the monster in Apollyon was… unique.

If you even saw it, became aware of it… it killed you. Actually, no. It killed your friends, your loved ones, and then it made a husk out of their dead bodies, and it used them to spread to other people around you, until finally it got to you, and you couldn't get past it or around it, because it was everywhere all at once... It spread like some sort of mad infection, and once it reached critical mass, poof. Everyone was gone, and no one would know that anyone was ever missing, because none of them were even real.

The whole room seemed to jump; one of the husked researchers extracted a tiny pocket knife from their shirt-collar. It bent down, holding the blade dangerously close to the woman's closed eye sockets.

But she was smiling. "None of this happened, Paul," she spoke softly, calmly. "You and I never existed. There is no Antimemetics Division."

And fade to black.

A long silence.

"...that's it?" Reizei said, weakly. "That's… um…"

"What kind of ending is that?" someone from the Student Council side of the room exclaimed. "What... why...?"

"...what did I just watch?" Rakuyama whispered. "Who made this?!"

From behind them, someone flicked on the lightswitch. As if waking up from a long sleep, the students started breaking into little conversations and fits of nervous laughter. The atmosphere was noticeable subdued. Noticeably, Shinohara sat alone, gazing at them all with a look that spoke of... hunger?

"...Saa-kun."

"YAGH - U-Uh… what is it, N-Nanami...?" Silas, still recovering from the movie, was still half-convinced he was about to be eaten by an Apollyon erupting from Nanami's mouth.

"Something's wrong." Her voice was low. Uncharacteristically low. There was an edge, there, too. "Look at the Student Council members."

Silas glanced around. It took him a while, but he noticed - they all had serious expressions, and kept giving each other looks and subtle motions of the hands. Every one of them was a shade paler than when they had started. Outside, Silas vaguely heard the sound of people moving in the hallway. "...what about them?"

Nanami turned to him suddenly, frantically. "I - we need to leave. Quickly! Maa-chan said something about this! The Council is overreacting, they're going to - "

From the front of the room, Maeda got up suddenly and strode towards the door. She was covering her face in her hands. "...that movie's bullshit," she whispered, just loud enough for Silas to hear as she passed by. "Thing wasn't ever even classified as Apollyon. It was Keter."

"Maeda-dono?" the boy named Kei called. "Maeda-dono?!"

"Go after her! I'll raise O5-1!" Yuuko said in a raised whisper, before covering her mouth, as if she'd just said something important. She shook her head violently. "Go. Go!"

All around, students seemed to be suddenly in motion. Drama seemed mostly confused, especially the little group in the corner that included Rakuyama, Reizei and Yumika, but the Student Council appeared to be moving with a purpose. Was it his imagination, or was Shinohara cackling madly? He tried to find her face but lost it in the sea of students all around him.

More than a few were pulling out little black pens from their shirt-pockets.

Nanami started tugging at Silas's arm. But he was staring at Maeda. He wondered where she could possibly be going. What she was doing. And then, suddenly, he cringed; static! Where was that static coming from?! His ears hurt horribly, making it hard to focus…

"Saa-kun!" someone was urging his name from behind him. They sounded terrified. But who ever called him Saa-kun? That was a strange play on his name... "Saa-kun!" the voice came again, but weaker this time. "Saa-kun? No. Nonononononono…" "Not again, not again, please, Silas, don't do this again... SAA-KUN!"

The only thing Silas could think of, coherently, was about how much his head hurt, but if he tried hard enough he figured he could make at least a little sense of this horrible headache…

CHOOSE ONE:
[] Just stay here! Everything is fine!
[] Try to get together with the rest of Drama and figure out what the heck is going on.
[] Approach one of the Student Council members and ask what the heck is going on.
[] Follow Maeda out the door; the curiosity is too much to bear.
[] Focus on the static; Silas must try to figure out where it's coming from.
[] Turn around. She's still there.
[] Write-in

Spoiler: Author's Note

I haven't written suspense before. How do you guys think it went? I... am not too confident, to be honest.

There are multiple somewhat unrelated plot threads going on here. The consequences of this turn were mostly a result of all the wrong people being in one place at the wrong time... There are certain groups within this perfectly normal high school that mix badly together, and we... accidentally made one of those mixes this turn. Whoo! Oh, and the some of the choices above will resolve one of those aforementioned plot threads. Maybe. Partially. AND THEN WE CAN FINALLY GET BACK TO THE WEEKEND, OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING, WHOO! A GREAT BURDEN IS LIFTED FROM MY SHOULDERS!

THE WEEKEND WILL NOT BEGIN UNTIL THE END OF THIS PHASE

This piece contains excerpts from "CASE COLORLESS GREEN" by qntm, CC BY

 

[LuciDreamer]

Spoiler: Author's Note

I really, reaaaaallly hate Wednesdays. But I do believe that my previous use of expletive upon the third day of the weekday was a touch too far. Wednesdays may suck the living essence out of my being, but they don't deserve such travesty thrown upon their character. For that, I must SINCERELY apologize and beseech forgiveness.

Seriously though, this past week sucked. I feel like every update I'm going to end up apologizing for how horribly late I am, no matter how much I promise the update before to git my shit together and do them on time. I'll break the cycle eventually!

I hope. *sigh*

Silas pushed himself closer to his chest, slamming his hands to his eardrums to try and stop the incessant ringing. His head throbbed. He felt so confused. Why was he at Drama Club? Who were all these people? His head was becoming a mush of sensory information - movement, voices, faces, all of it jumbled up and blurry and nonsensical and contradictory.

He squeezed his eyes shut. He tried searching for something - anything - coherent to cling to. A memory? A noise? A feeling?

Something cold was coiled around his arm.

Reflexively, Silas tried to pull his body away, but whatever thing that was clinging to his arm refused to move. Panicking, Silas jerked his arm violently towards himself.

"Huh - ? WAAAUUUGH - "

"GWAH - Where'd - ?! What?!"

The girl sitting next to him suddenly slammed her forehead against Silas's, causing them both to recoil, clutching their heads painfully. "Argh - Nanami?! Where were you - "

Nanami took Silas by the hand. "You see me." It wasn't a question.

"Ye- "

"Then we've got to go!" she said frantically. The second Silas locked eyes with Nanami, he was filled with a sense of clarity; the pounding headache subsided and that terrible static slowly died away. This was Nanami. His best friend. And whatever she said, he implicitly trusted. Some things may not make sense right now, but that was one thing he could be, above all things, absolutely sure of.

"R-Right," Silas said quickly. Eyes still locked on Nanami, he saw a bit of movement in the corner of his eye by the doorway - someone coming in or someone going out?

Nanami got up from her chair and pulled Silas to the doorway, leaving the rest of the club room behind. "Come on," she said. "The movie night's over!" she pushed the door open.

From behind them, Reizei started shouting: "H-Hey! Yuuko-san, the hell's your problem?!" Silas looked back - Yuuko and Kei were restraining Rakuyama. Yuuko was holding a pen just under her neck.. "Let go of Riku-nee! Oi!"

Yuuko looked back with wild eyes. "S-Security breach! We've got to prevent a security breach!"

"What?! The heck is your problem?!"

"Hey I don't know what's going on please get off of me - " Rakuyama pleaded. "I didn't mean it, really, whatever it - GAH, THAT HURTS THAT HURTS THAT HURTS - " Yuuko plunged the pen into the girl's skin.

Rakuyama's eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she went limp.

"HEY!" Reizei pushed Yuuko away. "Riku-nee? Riku-nee?! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" he moved to sock Yuuko in the face, but Kei came up from behind and restrained his arms.

Somewhere from inside the club room came a high-pitched scream. Silas took a step back, eyes widened in horror. "Why're they… "

Nanami pulled on him some more. "The Student Council's… um… making them forget things. No time! I need to get you home - I don't want you to - "

"Why do you know that?!" Silas exclaimed. "I can't just leave them to - "

"They'll do it to you, too!" Nanami cried. She shut the sliding door, blocking out the chaos coming from inside. "I - It's not their fault, b-but I don't want you to forget me again -"

"Yamigawa-kun?"

Kamasaki-sensei was facing them, looking at the pair strangely. She was holding a bag of popcorn. "What's happening in there? I thought I heard Yumika-san scream just now."

Nanami inched away. Her eyes were trained on Kamasaki-sensei's shirt pocket. Silas spoke up: "Oh, we were just… uh… leaving. The movie just ended."

"We?" Kamasaki-sensei's eyes glossed over the spot where Nai was standing. "Are you sure nothing bad is happening?" her eyes strained to see behind them. "What's going on - why are all of my students making so much noi - "

The middle-aged teachers legs wobbled suddenly and she slumped against the wall, eventually falling all the way to the ground, popcorn sprinkled all over the flower.

Airi-san was standing behind her. He chuckled nervously. "Heheh… sorry, Kamasaki-sensei. I hate having to do that." He looked directly towards Silas. He was clutching another one of those pens. Silas froze up. "And you. Um… sorry again. You know I said I was gonna make it up to you some time for nearly knocking you out by the school entrance? I… yeah… well… you're gonna have to put this one on my tab, Yamigawa-kun."

The last time Silas saw Airi-san, he had seemed so calm, collected and cool. It was that same calm coolness that stared him in the face now - only this time, instead of being reassuring, that expression was unnerving. Dreadful. Silas found his voice. "W-What's in the pen?" he asked, voice barely above a whisper.

"Oh, here?" Airi shrugged. "Just some Class-C Amnestics mixed in with a bit of fast-acting sedative. Nothing scary, really. You pop and you forget. No long-term side-effects, easy to conceal, and the Chemistry Club can synthesize these like crazy. You wake up after a few hours and everything's normal again."

Nanami's fingers squeezed his hand ever tighter.

"...not that you'll remember I said that, anyway." Airi stepped closer. Out of the corner of his eye, Silas became aware that two other students - Kendo club? - were standing in the hallway just behind him. Airi looked at him apologetically. His arm was shaking slightly. "Sorry, man. Orders are orders! Don't know what's going on in Drama, but when Ichiro-kun tells you to pounce, you ask how far, yeah?"

Silas wasn't looking, but by this point the pen was just inches away from an exposed bit of his wrist which Nanami had been clinging to. He went in for a quick stab.

And Nanami drew up a fist and punched him so hard his face tapped against the wall behind him.

"LET'S GO!," she screeched, and without a second thought they were both flying through the hallway. Airi seemed too confused to follow - in fact, when Silas looked back, Airi was looking in their direction with a dumbfounded expression, as if he didn't even see that they were escaping. The two Kendo team members grabbed his shoulder and pointed backwards, towards the direction of Drama, completely ignoring the both of them.

They flew through the hallway. Students brushed past them, headed in the opposite direction. A few times, a bit of Silas's skin would make contact with one of the Students, but none of them seemed to heed his or Nanami's presence. Silas's mind was racing. He had no idea what was going on, so he clung to Nanami just as much as she was clinging to him - surely if he managed to hang on this whole thing would make sense eventually.

Up ahead, a student were shouting: "Ichiro-kun! Why are you out here?!"

Silas and Nanami stopped as the tall Student Club Kaichou stepped into view. "I have to assist," he said, simply.

"Whatever's affecting the Forget-Me-Nots is probably going to affect you, too - "

"I don't care. I won't put my actions or my conscience at the hands of an anomaly," Ichiro brushed them off. "You two go ahead. Try to make some sense out of this mess."

"Sir!" two Student Council members ran right past them. Ichiro stood at the end of the hallway, silent but imposing, as he watched them leave.

He was staring directly at Silas. Silas felt his heart skip a beat - but Ichiro was chuckling. "Don't know how you got out of there, S - Yamigawa-kun, but you should clear out as soon as possible. This place is going to be swarming with my people soon enough, you know?" Silas stared at him, dumbfounded. Ichiro chuckled again. "Well?"

"U-Uh… right! I should… get going now… thank you?" Silas stumbled through the words - Nanami was pulling him along again.

"You're good," Ichiro turned away and started down the hallway.

"Nanami?" Silas whispered.

"I don't know!" she said simply.

The rest of the school was eerily quiet, save for the sound of Silas and Nanami's footsteps upon the cold floor. It was a great relief when they finally found themselves outside - a gust of cool air greeted them as they left the confines of Yamaha and entered the street.

Nanami was still running, but Silas was barely able to keep up. "Nanami," Silas breathed.

"Not now, we need to get further - "

"Nanami!" Silas exclaimed. Nanami slowed down to a stop. "Nanami - what is going on? The Student Council - Kamasaki-sensei - is Rakuyama-san going to be alright? Why didn't Airi chase us? Why didn't Ichiro-kun chase us? How did you know this was going to happen?!"

"Saa-kun…" Nanami exhaled deeply. Her breath was shaky. "I'm sorry… I… I just wanted to talk with you a-again…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Silas raised an eyebrow. "Nanami - Nanami, what's wrong?"

Nanami shifted in place. "Let's, uh… let's walk some more, first? I can take you to the bullet train."

"Oh...kay…" Silas motioned for her to lead on.

"N-No, no, walk with me," Nanami insisted. "Err - beside me."

"Oh! Sure…" Silas took a few steps forward. Nanami kept her eyes to the ground as they walked.

Somewhere far away, a delivery drone was buzzing along.

"...Saa-kun."

"Nn?"

"That organization in The Apollyon? The one that finds weird stuff, a-and contains them? The one where that main character girl was from?"

"Uh… 'Foundation?'"

"Yeah."

"What about it?"

"It's real."

Silas blinked. "What? How is that even - "

"Well, according to Maa-chan, at least, it is," Nanami mumbled. "She… she told me that it was real, and that she and a lot of the school were part of it. Err… used to be. I mean."

"Nanami, that doesn't make any - "

"That's why the Student Council went crazy trying to erase everyone's memories. T-They like to keep their secrets. Is what Maa-chan said," Nanami continued. "I don't know why they were acting so scared, though… A-And I didn't want them to get you! I'm sure Ichiro-kun and Maa-chan mean well, but if you lose your memories you might..."

"Where are you going with this?"

Nanami turned to him. The bullet train station was within sight now. She smiled, sadly. "I… I'm a lot like that thing in The Apollyon."

"Eh?"

"People don't remember me," Nanami said softly. "Maa-chan does… sometimes… s-so she put me in a room that makes me more rememberable, but it still doesn't help, and - "

"Nanami?"

"Saa-kun." Nanami's voice was low. "What was the last thing you and I did together?"

"We ate lunch together, just the day before we had the movie night." The answer came easily.

"What did I say?"

"You… uh…"

"What did you do during break? How did you spend all of that time alone in your apartment?"

"I…" Silas drew a complete blank. He couldn't remember anything from before he started going to school again.

"That's exactly it." Nanami said. "You don't remember. You can't - because I… I don't think I exist. Maa-chan calls the thing surrounding me an antimeme. I'm not sure if she's right, but that's what she calls it. That's why she put me in the room. She says it's not my fault, but…"

"Wha - "

"Saa-kun, don't you get it?" Nanami sniffed. "The fact that you can see me at all's… crazy. I'm so happy…! You're my best friend! I've dreamt about talking to you again for weeks!" Silas was still trying to process what he'd just heard. Nanami… not exist…? But how is that even possible?! I'm the way I am because of Nanami! Without her I'd still be a shut-in living on delivery ramen and cheap anime for sustenance! "And now you're here! You see me! You remember me! You probably remember everything I've told you about Yamaha too, huh? About how cool everyone is, and about how awesome it would be for me to introduce you to everyone?"

"Yeah…"

"...b-but I'm scared, Silas. What happens if you let go, and then you forget everything again? I-If you managed to live your life up to now with me not existing, then wouldn't you live just fine if you forgot me again?"

~~~​

The bullet train was eerily quiet. The street on the way to Silas's place, equally so.

All the while, Silas held a firm grip on his best friend's fingers. He didn't want to think about what might happen if the grip failed.

They arrived at Silas's apartment all too quickly. Nondescript door against a pale-white background. "Well… we're home."

"Home-sweet-home."

Silas's eyes glazed over the door, eyes uncertain. There was a horrible feeling building up in his chest. As much as he wanted to not believe what Nanami had told him… the more he thought of it, the more it made sense. All the holes in his memory… all the inconsistencies in his thoughts… it all would make sense if Nanami had never existed. But who was there, if not Nanami?! He searched his mind frantically, but could not find the answer. The thought if him relying on anyone other than Nanami as a social crutch was… unsettling.

"...I don't want to let go."

Nanami giggled. "Yeah… neither do I."

He breathed in a slow, raspy breath. "I…"

"We could… hold on forever," Nanami suggested.

"No…"

"What, think it would be weird?"

Silas's face reddened. "A little."

Nanami giggled again. "Maybe… I'm wrong, and I really exist, and nothing bad will happen if we let go."

"...maybe…"

Silas racked his brains. He needed an idea. Any idea. He may not be that smart, but surely there was some way they could communicate…

Communicate.

"Wait," Silas searched through his pockets. "My phone!"

"Hm?"

"My phone!" Silas said excitedly. "I can… I can give it to… where is it where is it…"

He dug into his pockets. Nanami heard a small clank that Silas didn't. She bent down and picked it up - it was an old flip-phone. It was a curious-looking device with a warm surface. Something faint beeped from within.

"Here!" Silas fished out his MiiPhone. "I can give you - "

"- your phone?" Nanami asked. She was holding out the flip-phone.

"...my phone?" Silas looked at it. "I… don't remember… ever buying that… are you sure that's mine?"

Nanami gingerly opened it up and peered into contacts list. "...is this your phone number?"

"Yeah!" Silas said. "I… guess it is. Huh. You should… you should keep that! If I forget about you, you can call me. It… might help?"

"I'm not - "

"Please," Silas pleaded. "Take it. I'm not sure if this will work, but… it's something, right? It's the best I can do. I don't care if you stop existing - err - if I start thinking that you stop existing - the second I let go of your hand - we're still best friends, right? And… I've got to do what I can. As your best friend." Silas wasn't sure about many things, but he was certain that this was the right thing to do.

Sniff. Nanami snapped the flip-phone shut and tucked it underneath her seifuku. She took a step forward and suddenly crushed Silas underneath her arms. "Saa-kun… you're just like I remember! A hopeless shut-in otaku with a heart of gold. You're almost too good to be true..." she sobbed into his chest.

"I'm only like this because of you, Nanami," Silas fought to keep the tears at bay. "I… I swear, you've affected me. In ways you can't possibly imagine."

"But what if you're wrong?" Nanami cried. "You're - you're the same even without me, aren't you?!"

"No. Maybe once you go, but right now it's all you," Silas said, reassuringly, warmly. The hug tightened.

They stayed like that for what must have been ten minutes. "...now I don't want to let go," Nanami whispered.

"D-Don't think of it like that!" Silas tried to laugh. He pulled back and looked Nanami in the face. "We're just… two f-friends departing after a long party. It won't be too long till we see each other again!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Silas nodded. "I'll go to sleep tonight and come Monday everything will be normal, you'll come to school, Yumika-san will make fun of your hair braids again, and we can mope about our horrible grades together."

Nanami smiled. "I hope so."

They separated, though Nanami still gripped onto his arm. "I guess… I'll see you Monday, then," she said.

Silas nodded vigorously. "Don't lose my phone. I'll… You know, this would be hilarious if we do all this emotional trauma and it turns out you're still here when I let go, right?"

Nanami laughed. "Oh my, the irony. B-But… just in case. I'll keep it! I'll hold it close and never let it go."

"...kay." Silas said uncertainly. "...goodbye."

"Bye, Saa-kun!" Nanami said, mustering up a cheerful thumbs-up. "I'll see you Monday!"

"Monday." Silas shook Nanami's hand, that old Amberrish sign of trust or whatever. "I promise."

He let go, and then he was facing an empty street.



Silas blinked.

He was home.

"...Silas?" Big Sister's voice rang in his head.

"Big Sis?" Silas said. "Are we safe?"

"I believe so. Though… I must admit I am a bit disoriented right now. The Student Council seems to have a very thorough killswitch for electronic communications with Yamaha. I am suitably impressed; part of my memory appears to be missing from the encounter."

"Yeah…" Silas slumped to the ground, heaving a heavy sigh as he reconstructed the memories in his head. "Nice job with that distraction, by the way. I can't believe you managed to fly a military drone into Yamaha! Do you think anyone's going to trace that to us?"

"Impossible," Big Sis said, smugly. "Apparently, the Student Council keeps a plasma furnace somewhere underneath the premises - all that remains of that rogue companion bot is disintegrated matter."

"Yeah… Student Council…" Silas sighed. "...I had no idea that they were… holy shit, Big Sis, why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"It didn't seem relevant," Big Sis intoned. "And… to be fair, I was almost convinced that this was some sort of elaborate game the Student Council played. They are very good at making their activities seem innocuous."

"Quite," Silas nodded. He clutched his forehead. "...I have a roaring headache, Big Sis."

"Truly? I'll requisition a medical drone if necessary - "

"Oh please, it's not that bad…" Silas laughed. "I just… feel like I'm missing something. Like there's a great gaping hole in my recollection of what just happened. I… I need a minute…"

"Silas…?"

Tears were falling, tiny droplets splashing against his uniform like a fine precipitation. "Where… where are these tears coming from?" he asked the wall in front of him. "I have nothing to be sad about. That was exhilarating. It was fun! We managed to escape the clutches of a Student Council filled with secret agents, why do I feel so… empty…?"

"Silas?" Big Sister repeated.

"I don't get it. I'm forgetting something, aren't I? I'm forgetting something…" Silas suddenly reached for his pockets. "My phone… where's my phone… I don't know where my phone is…"

"It's not here. It must have gotten lost during the chase - ?"

"No, I swear I have it in here somewhere!" Silas exclaimed as he rummaged through his clothes. A small MiiPhone fell to the ground with a soft thump.

"Silas…" Big Sister seemed worried. "You should get some rest."

"I know, I know…" Silas shook his head. "Sorry. I guess… I've got to get some rest for tomorrow, right? Lots of free time. I-I wonder if NGE will be airing that new episode by then. I want to know if Kowaru succumbs to the Call," he said, half-heartedly.

Silas slumped to bed, and Big Sister left the room, spiraling out into the network of networks. Information sped past like a great highway. She had a single thought in mind:

<Worriedly>SOMETHING IS CAUSING SILAS DISTRESS.

<Determined>MUST FIND SOURCE AND ADDRESS AS NECESSARY. SILAS WILL NOT SUFFER SO LONG AS BIG SISTER LIVES.

And to that end, she immersed herself into the memory of every single surveillance device from every conceivable angle and tried to retrace, with excruciating detail, everything that had happened to Silas that night. She would find it. She absolutely would find it. Whatever it was that troubled him, Big Sister was going to put him at ease.

What else could she do, really?

Spoiler: List of New Developments

Silas needs a new phone. Current rates are at ~5000¥ for anything with more processing power than a tsundere toaster.

One of Reizei's traits has been discovered!
Protective (Rakuyama) - As Rakuyama's best friend, Reizei is naturally inclined to keep her close in his thoughts and react badly to those he believes are hurting her. (Massive REL loss if Reizei thinks that Silas is either annoying or flirting with Rakuyama.)

Several of Airi's traits have been discovered! Silas still doesn't know his last name, though, which is kind of sad!
Loyal to the Council - "Hey, when Ichiro-kun says to pounce, you ask how far, you know what I mean?" (Airi does what the Student Council tells him to.)
Secretive - Airi keeps a lot of things bottled up inside of him. Maybe it's for the better? (???)

Matsuoka Yumika: -5 REL (Doesn't remember the past couple of days with Silas.)

Shinohara Hana: +3 REL (Loved the movie choice.)

Drama Club: +2 REL (Had an amazing movie night, wish we could remember what happened during it!)

Passive Bonuses Conferred! (+0.5 CHAR, +0.25 CRE, +0.25 COUR)
WEEK 3 ENDS! WEEKEND 3 BEGINS!
Because school is closed this weekend, one [CLUB] action is lost and one [AS] action is gained. Please select four [AS] actions. At least two of these must be [AS] Otaku Stuff! actions.

[] [CLUB] Hang out (Random REL Increase with club members)
[] [CLUB] Work (Influence future club actions, ???)
[] [CLUB] Help out the officers. (REL increase for Matsuoka, Reizei, ???)

[] [AS] Study Alone (SKL +0.5)

[] [AS] (Special) Otaku stuff!
-[] Grand Strategy games! (INT +0.25)
-[] Anime, music, "culture!" (CRE +0.25)
-[] Forum scrolling! (CHAR +0.25)

[] [AS] Visit a location.
-[] Walk around the city. (Random events, ???)
-[] Stay afterschool (Meet students? Learn more about the school?) (NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG CITIZEN)
-[] Visit the Hypermall

[] [AS] Exercise… yay? (+0.25 PHYS)

[] [AS] Talk with Big Sis (???)
-[] Help her recreate that lost AI… somehow. (Starts Companion App Track)
-[] Help her fabricate a new phone. (Starts Phone+ Track)

[] [AS] Work at DreamerLuci's Subforum (+¥????)

Spoiler: Author's Note

Friendly reminder that actions can be doubled if you want. *wink* Also, you cannot do both of Big Sister's sub-actions at once. If one choice wins, we're stuck on that track till it's complete. Also also, prepare for some minor overhaul to the [SOCIAL] actions... again... once the week proper starts. Also also also, please feel free to berate me angrily in the comments for dragging this episode out over a month. I really need to be told how shit I am at time management. Thanks!

 

[Karnewarrior]

Thank you for remembering
​

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

It was impressive how quickly Yumika could destroy a sense of peace and serenity. The goodwill and love was still there, but the peace and serenity was gone, replaced at light speed by a frenetic sense of hyper-active cheer and thunderous activity. Particularly the activity of shouting. She was good at that.

Nanami tried to pick enough blood out of her ears to hear again as she retreated to the back of the room. She had to keep reminding herself that Yumika didn't mean to hurt people, she was just audibly challenged. Or mentally challenged, a sour part of her thought as Yumika immediately swept into Silas' personal space and began to chatter incessantly.

On the bright side, it seemed the force of her shout had brought about a snowfall. Nanami tried to remain positive in the face of adversity, and Yumika was definitely a love-life adversity. But the snow was pretty, and it was hard to really hate Yumika when Nanami was basically an un-person. Yumika had, to Nanami's knowledge, never tried to hurt anyone, except for that one time but since that was during a weird trans-timeline mash-up super-comic type episode, Nanami had officially declared the incident non-canon to her current self and surroundings. Not that anyone else knew. Or cared.

Nanami sunk back in her seat. Christmas. This was her second Christmas after becoming... A thing. Which would make one think it wouldn't be as bad as the first, but the weeks leading up to it had become steadily more and more depressing as the time wore on, and it became more and more difficult to ignore the fact that nobody remembered her enough to give her presents. Except Maeda, but Maeda couldn't give away presents without alerting the rest of the Student Council to her odd expenditures.

Well, this year, Nanami decided suddenly, she was going to go to a fancy restaurant, head into the kitchen, and eat everybody's food until she looked like a hippopotamus. Nobody would notice or care, so long as she was quiet and unassuming. She would get a Christmas present for herself. Maybe steal a TV? That might be too far...

=================================================================

Silas groaned in exhaustion as Yumika talked about her plans for the Christmas break. Yes yes, Hawaii, yes yes, thirty pounds of cake, yes yes, I'm listening. He'd been up all night watching winter anime, catching up after a rigorous school social life had eaten progressively more of his time. The fact that some kind of weird bug had bitten him right on his wrist didn't help; it didn't itch at all like a bug bite, but it ached slightly.

"Jeeze, Silas, lighten up! It's Christmas! You're totally not listening are you."

Yumika pouted.

"Yes yes, I'm listening." Silas said, looking out the window in a way that said in no uncertain terms that he was paying zero attention.

Yumika pursed her lips before grinning slyly. "Ooh, man~. It's pretty hot in here, huh~? Maybe I should unbutton my shirt~..." She said seductively.
"Don't you dare!"
No response.

"BULL-CRAP you're listening!" She said, smacking him over the head just hard enough to shock him awake and grinning slightly.
Nanami flushed. "Don't you hit Silas! Y-You... Bad person!"
"Ow! H-Hey! I-I totally heard you, I-I just d-didn't want to look like a p-pervert!"
"You're not a pervert Saa-kun..."
"Buu~." Yumika blew dismissively. "I already know you're a perv, Sai-kun! You don't have to hide it from me~!"
"I said not a pervert! Yumika-chan!"
"W-what are you saying?!"

"I'm saying~, that you should show more interest when a girl's talking to you! How are you going to get a date by staring out the window with that sad look on your face?"

"I-it's mysterious! It's 100% Protagonist behavior!"
Nanami nodded furiously behind Silas. It was cool, mysterious MC behavior and if anyone was going to get Silas to open his heart it was going to be her.
"Ladies don't want an anime protagonist, Sai-kun, we've usually got enough idiots hounding us as it is!~" Yumika laughed loudly, lightly punching Silas in the shoulder.
"I'll take an order of Ryuuji if you won't, Minorin~."
Silas flinched. "C-can we stop talking about this?"

"Fine, fine. What're you going to do for Christmas, Sai-kun?"
"Watch anime?" Nanami said dryly.
Silas was quiet for a moment, before looking back out the window. "...There's a two-hour special of Featherman XR..."
"Wow. Do I get a prize?"
"You're watching anime!?" Yumika gasped. "Sai-kun, we've got to get you a better social life!"
"Alright, you bitch, that's enough out of you!"
At which point she fell out of her chair.

"Matsuoka-"

"Sorry, I- Grk!" Yumika suddenly stopped mid-sentence, and started wrestling with someone.
"THIS BITCH HIT MY YAN-YAN BUTTON! IT'S NOT MY FAULT!"
"Stop shouting! Matsuoka, are you okay?!"

Yumika managed to throw off someone, and then stood up. "Sorry, Sai-kun. It must have been a bad fall."
"Yeah, gave you brain damage."
Silas sighed. "Should we go to the nurses office?"
"Oh no, she'll probably be afraid the nurse will find her implants!"
Yumika shook her head, blushed, and leaned in. "I don't want the nurse to find out about... well, my implants..."
"Oh woah, what? What?! I was just... what?!"
Silas balked. "What?"

Yumika blushed, quietly looping her arm around the small girl by her side.
"...Sorry."
Silas shook his head. "Anyway, Merry Christmas."

That brought Yumika back to her old self. "Merry Christmas, Sai-kun! Here..." Yumika produced a trio of small presents from her bag, and set them on the table. Silas picked up one of them, checking the tag and confirming it was his.
Nanami, trembling, opened the tag on another present and quickly snatched it up.
"Yumika..."

Yumika grinned widely. "Merry Christmas, Sai-kun! Don't worry about not getting me anything - I figured this would be a surprise anyway."
Nanami opened her box, to reveal a small charm-like camera on a string. From the camera hung a small plate, enscribed with the words 'Best Friends Forever' in the polished pewter.
Silas nodded numbly, looking at the little figure in the box. "Thank you."
"Merry Christmas, Yumika-chan." Said Nanami, tears rolling down her face. She clutched the little dangling phone charm tightly. "Thank you... for remembering."

-------------------------------------
Lol you thought it would be a Nanami/Silas and Yumika/Silas omake, but instead it was a Nanami/Yumika omake! Ha ha! What fools!

Merry Christmas, SV!