It's time for a FAMILY MEETING!

[mermaidcursed]

Who: Everyone!
When: May 11th, 6 PM
Where: Class 1-B (Gaming Club Items have been stored safely) 
What: It's time for a family meeting! Because seriously some things need to be DISCUSSED.
WARNINGS: Death and murder, discussions of cannibalism

After a night of a feral cat losing it's goddamn mind, a day of half the adults and several students looking absolutely exhausted and more, and the end of the auction, clearly something is up. Plus, there'd been plans to investigate certain things after the last meeting that never had been elaborated on. So this time, Nene takes things into her own hands. So once again, transfer students will find a note in their lockers requesting their presence at Class 1-B at 6 PM, after everyone else has gone home. 

Even if last time was... kind of a mess. 

Is she desperate enough to enact a speaking ball? ... Not yet. But in her pockets is a brand new NERF gun and five darts. 

So she unearths the cardboard jail, set up around some desks in the corner, but otherwise clears the board and sets out pieces of chalk... but hoo boy, does she look kind of miffed? And it doesn't even have anything to do with Hanako-kun cracking up at Gay Baby Jail. He'll understand soon enough. 

On the board is several things in chalk- "LAST NIGHT", "NEW THINGS" and "FROM LAST TIME" with lines underneath, like she's perparing to take notes. Thankfully, there is more than one piece of chalk however. 

// OOC RULES 

As with last time, this is a free-for-all! Feel free to start discussions, theories, or share information and jump around between things and include everyone! Inviting others into the discussion is great, everyone should get a chance to be involved.

HOWEVER: LET THE OOC DISCOVERER SHARE THEIR OWN DISCOVERIES ICly. People work hard for their clues and information, and there should be no thunder-stealing!

Should there be any concerns or suggestions for the setup, please just let me know! 

Comments

[sunstead]

[He's making this face at that statement, but... it does kind of make sense, in a fucked up kind of way. The faculty sure do seem calm about murders, all things considered.

... he also pauses to look over at the rest of the room, which is hopefully not embroiled in too much chaos at the moment, but. He's making an effort to speak a little more quietly, now.]

Is this... supposed to be common knowledge, among the students? Have you mentioned this to anyone else yet?

[adsum]

You mean in this school year?

[ Bro, she was in stasis for ??? amount of time and then woke up to Kokichi harassing her and then literally slept until the meeting. ]

It's something we all learn our first year here. You would have, eventually, even if you forgot and have to relearn.

[sunstead]

[Maybe she made some smalltalk about murder on the way over here??? Just checking...

He sighs, taking off his monocle to rub the bridge of his nose. This... sure is continuing to be a day, huh... but she has a point. It doesn't seem wise to tell everyone in this room that the school will reward them for murdering each other, but how long would it take before they found out on their own?]

... Is this your second year, then? As far as I know, none of the rest of us can remember anything before the day of the graduation ceremony. It's all a haze, if it even happened. Was it the same for you in your first year?

[adsum]

Well...

[ considering she was put back in a first year class, with KOKICHI, ]

I guess, technically, I'm a repeat student. I never finished my first year, so I never saw graduation either. Before the entrance ceremony, though...

[ She shakes her head. Eyes weren't open yet. ]

[sunstead]

[So it's the same story... but also, her situations remains unique. No one else got put into stasis partway through the year and auctioned off at the start of the next. Is that why she remembers when no one else does?]

Do you recognize anyone here, from last year?

[adsum]

Here in this room?

[ She takes a brief glance around, like she hadn't been staring at everybody and scrutinizing their every move all evening, but... No. She shakes her head, head bowing and brows drawing together, because it's only now sinking in: she doesn't know anybody here. The friends that she's made, the classmates that she's spent her time with, the people she was eventually able to trust... gone, leaving only her. Only she was put into stasis, sent forward into the next school year but at the same time being left behind. ]

[sunstead]

[To him, it's a relief. If they weren't here last year, then... chances are, this is their first year, and whatever hazy memories they have are fake all along. It's better than the alternative, which is that their memories have been wiped, but they've been here much longer...

On the other hand, he (very literally) knows what it's like to get killed and sent forward into an uncertain future. So he can understand how she must feel, when she makes that face.]

Come to think of it... perhaps you'd know the girl that did end up graduating. I think Shuichi still has a photo with her in it, if you want to ask him about it. [it's impossible to know if she'd be someone Nao would like to have seen graduate or not, but hey, she deserves to know who got out of murderschool.]

[adsum]

Maybe...?

[ Without context, she really doesn't know, especially if the graduating student is, presumably, a third year or if Nao just didn't get to talk with her much before she bit the dust. ]

Which one's Shuichi? He keeps pictures? A friend?

[ Creepy. Who carries around photos of people in this day and age ]

[sunstead]

Shuichi Saihara. He's the blue-haired boy over there— [and he is gonna actually point him out, because uh. anime hair colours, too many blue-haired boys probably... Shuichi has been on the ball today tho so he's probably one of the few people holding an actual serious discussion at the moment. See, not everyone is insane...!]

When you're lost and confused, you grasp at whatever straws you can find, you know? I remember it had a message on the back, too. Maybe you'd be able to make some sense of it? [shrug! There's no rush, but if she wants to know he doubts Shuichi would be against the idea.]

[adsum]

[ This entire room is riddled with straws tbh. Is there anybody here not lost and confused? Only the insane ones, like Kokichi and Komaeda and Hanako, and it's hard to decide whether to feel comforted or concerned about that. ]

...It's worth giving it a look, I suppose.

[ raising her voice to interrupt whatever Shuichi is doing: ] Hey, Saihara! Get over here!

[ No rush, Clamor says, but Nao can't see any reason to wait. ]

[unsurely]

Wh-Wha--!?

[ What Shuichi is doing is just trying to live in a corner after having to keep up with high-energy characters like Hanako and Steph but God isn't kind today so he startles at the sudden call of his name and then yelps ungracefully in surprise. And you know that face people make when they look around for the source of something and wonder if they can act like they didn't hear it, ignore it and slink away? That face, he makes that too. He didn't do anything!!! Why is that his first thought? Well, there's just a lot going on.

Like a whole-ass table that flies around in the background and, idk, hits a window probably bc that shit's indestructible. ]

Me...? Ah, I don't mind but... is something going on?

[ Because why him, but at least Nao's corner looks like a good idea, mathematically speaking on the scale of chances tables will hit you and also Clamor's there, he trusts Clamor. So even though he looks like he's scared for his life, he approaches anyway, not really sure which of them he should point his questioning look at, exactly. ]

[adsum]

[ The next day everybody in class 1-B has to sit on the ground for the rest of the month, they lost desk privileges.

Nao watches Shuichi's obvious reluctance to approach and every step he takes her confidence in him tanks even further. What's with that guilty conscience... ]

You don't have to look like you're in trouble. Clamor says you have a photo and a message from one of the girls who graduated. Give it to me.

[mermaidcursed]

( listen its fine nene's going to put her class back to order when all the nutjobs leave- no hanako-kun she will not be stopped this is her homeroom you remember what she said about messes )

[unsurely]

[ please stop tanking he looks a lot less worried once he hears what it was i promise ]

Ah, well... I'm not sure if I'd call it a message exactly. But it does have something written on it.

[ Imagine if Shuichi kept this in his locker like a normal person though and this would be the shortest thread that needs a sequel, but thankfully he carries it around with him... in his pocket... like a freak tbh. So he pulls the photo out carefully, casting a glance at Clamor that kind of says if he brought it up, he does trust it must've been for a good reason. He can kind of imagine, so he offers it to Nao without too much doubt.

There's a tiny spot of marker above the graduating girl's head, which he placed there because, you know... this school is weird. If he forgets or loses it, at least either he or someone else will still know what to keep an eye out for. ]

[sunstead]

[Somehow he didn't expect Nao to just... yell at Shuichi to come over, but look, it's fine. He'll give the boy his best reassuring smile as he continues to ignore whatever the hell is going on at the other end of the room. Lucifer is handling it, he's staying out of that particular mess.]

[adsum]

[ If he didn't have the photo with him I was 1000% going to have Nao sock him in the arm for wasting her time, it wouldn't even be his fault, it would be Clamor's fault. The 0.01% that is his fault is him carrying around the photo in his pocket like a creep, though, especially when she suspects he knows nothing about this graduating girl or why else would they be asking Nao?

She takes the photo, though, scrutinizing each face in turn without comment, flipping it around to read the message and then flipping it back to stare longer at the students. Glances over at Figaro, and then back at the photo. ]

199...9? No, 1998 is last year. Hikaru Tomori.

[ She hands the photo back to Shuichi. ]

Student council president.

[unsurely]

[ Listen... it's not that weird to be interested in the only graduating student they know of from last year, right? No matter how you think about it, that's just a ridiculously low number. Even if this was the world's most prestigious and difficult school or something, it's just... one person? Really?

He's standing by his choice to keep it, thank you. Though he doesn't stick the photo back in his pocket just yet, glancing down at it as if consigning the name into memory will be easier if he does. ]

Then... you knew her?

[ He kind of wants to know at least a little of what relationship they had, before they can know what to ask. ]

[adsum]

I knew of her. She's the president; you're supposed to know her name, even if it's only her name that you know.

[ And maybe it's because she's the president that her name is all most people know, the title being a physical barrier that keeps others from getting close and making friends. Aiko had been like that too, for all the questioning that was done last month and most students saying the girl largely kept to herself and had little to no friends, and Maya follows in those exact footsteps. ]

[unsurely]

[ You're supposed to know it...? Ah, actually, he can kind of imagine that. Even with his memories of his own previous school, if Shuichi thinks about it carefully, that's all he remembers about the student who held that function too. A name and a face, and that's all; it's not like he knew them as a person. When put into perspective like this though... it almost makes him feel a little guilty.

He ends up spacing out as he continues to look at the photo, to the point where the silence becomes definitely awkward. ]

...Sorry. I was just thinking... it sounds a little lonely.

[ And yeah, this might be putting Maya a little into perspective too, but shhh. It's fine. ]

[adsum]

It's what they signed up for.

[ Harsh words, but her voice is soft with sympathy. It's an elected position, sure, but voluntary at the same time, a position that paints a target on your back and draws eyes that will scrutinize every little thing that you do. In this environment, she had thrived, she had graduated. Maybe she didn't do it alone, but... in the end, she was alone, and that makes the thought all the sadder. ]

You've been in high school long enough to know... the easiest way to survive is to keep your head down. Student council... club presidents... they draw attention, and that makes them dangerous to be around.

[unsurely]

...Yeah. You're right, it makes sense that people will avoid them... because they don't want targets on their own backs, either.

[ It's just for a moment... but the corners of his lips draw outwards -- and it's not to show a smile, but it isn't exactly not one either. A wry, bitter thing, with some trace of nostalgia in the mix. He understands all of that, enough to not be self-righteous about it -- because one of those people who did that, after all... was him.

That's what happened with Maki. Shuichi might not have been among those who distanced her outright... but he still made no effort to understand her either. If Kaito hadn't been there to do it first, and to show him too, he might never have come to know her at all. ]

What about you, though? Maybe you felt that same way at some point... but do you still think so now?

[adsum]

Huh? Well...

[ It's not like she goes around making friends with high profile students— I like to imagine she sticks to herself a lot and in class she gravitates towards Kokichi while telling herself it's because he's the only person she really knows, and barely, at that. Really... it's best to stay in the background. Stay out of the way and don't let anybody stab you and stuff you in a glass case. ]

You guys draw a lot of attention. You look different or— or you ask too many questions, or stick your nose where you shouldn't or just... care... when other people don't. That stands out too. [ It makes Shuichi stand out, as unassuming as his appearance is. ]

I still think it's better to stay away. But how can I? I can't just close my eyes and wish for the best.