June mini-event

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06/19 07:32

[ The following half-cryptic message goes up in the early morning before class, at the exact same time as two people are let into the faculty office to talk to the Vice Principal. ]

S.Saihara

Sorry. I should have told everyone a lot sooner.
I know that.
But... if I did that, there was a chance it might have become about the merit points. And no matter what, I wanted to prevent that at any cost.

The person who did it might have been wrong... but they're still an important friend that we lived with.
That's something that shouldn't be reduced to a number.
The fact that it can be is what's messed up in the first place.
So maybe I wanted it to be a message. Not only for that person, but for the rest of us too.

[ There's no further explanation that follows, and any comments, no matter how important, will obviously not be answered for at least a few hours, depending on how things settle. ]

06/19 17:23

It's a bright and sunny day. The heat is unbearable, with sunlight reflecting off the whites of the outer walls of the school building and seeming to concentrate right in the middle of the courtyard where it comes off the concrete in waves. In desperation for a breeze, you open a window— or perhaps you can't, and simply rattle the window latch futilely— when something large and black falls from the sky and smacks into the pavement, black turned red turned nausea and vertigo and the consequential darkness of the school when a blood sacrifice has been observed.

Black shadows students start to converge upon the body in the courtyard, although their efforts to drag the body into the expanding void in the auditorium can be thwarted by breaking a mirror and returning to reality— just in time to see a second body hit the pavement in the courtyard and send you right back. Escape once more and... a third body hits the ground, bright blue eyes staring lifelessly up at the sky above.

The sky stares back, dark storm clouds gathering in the horizon. Tonight, and through the weekend, it will rain.

06/19 17:47

I.Sena

dying is sooooooooo annoying
so fess up who did it

✽ Please use the toplevels below for investigations. For some semblance of organization, there will be a separate toplevel for body investigation, location investigation, and suspect investigation, as well as one for general questions.
✽ As a reminder, npc students can open/close any window; pc students in classes with at least one rank (3-A, 3-B, 2-C, 2-D, 2-E, and all of the first year classes) can open/close windows in 1-B, 1-D, and 2-C; and pc students in classes that gained at least one rank in the past month (3-A, 2-C, 2-D, 2-E, 1-B, 1-D, and 1-E) can exit through the courtyard-facing window in 1-D.
✽ Unless there's an ic reason to argue otherwise, npc faculty will remove all three bodies by the end of the day.

Comments

[crystallomancy]

That's because it isn't a coinciDENCE.

( Natsume glances back at him, a little tired, a little guilty, but: )

I murdered HER. ( Murdered — acknowledgement it's first degree, premediated and everything. ) You saw how she acted when she saw Sena-senpai's body, didn't YOU? Without a DOUBT, she would have killed me if she found out — and with a group like OURS, if they ever discovered who did IT, at least one of them would have told her or let it SLIP.

( And, more firmly than he did before: ) I don't want to die here; I can't die HERE. ( ... ) I won't die HERE.

( In a way, murdering Chiaki was self-defense — just preemptive. )

[unsurely]

You killed her... deliberately?

[ It's the first time Shuichi flinches, the first piece of revelation that gives him pause, drawing an almost panicked gaze quickly towards Natsume's face. Why...? He might have expected it if she found any evidence, something conclusive to lead her towards the killer -- she might have asked them to meet, and then even... attacked them. It could have been another accident.

But by the sounds of it from Natsume... she'd never even gotten the chance to know. She'd just died -- all along, maybe thinking the person who pushed her from the top of the stairs was a friend who could help. It sounds cruel. It's just too much. Something like that-- ]

...

[ There's a brief flash of anger... or there should have been, if Shuichi's body didn't just freeze midway. The words that Natsume just said... they ring through his mind, repeating themselves like a memory he won't forget: I don't want to die here. I can't die here.

But that's because... they are a memory. They were said before, not that long ago, and a shiver almost crosses him as the two of them lock eyes. Yellow... not that you could tell with Natsume, that's true. ]

Sakasaki-kun... you're acting strange.

[ Has that even... occurred to Natsume? Is it... subconscious? Or is Shuichi just overthinking it, trying to make excuses for someone he knows, as if it could even change the fact that he killed? As if he doesn't know, that no matter what your intent was, it changes nothing for the cold body it left behind. ]

[crystallomancy]

( he's overthinking it because natsume is unfortunately, regrettably, perfectly lucid -- just like when he'd decided to strike chiaki from behind, just like when he'd shoved her against the wall, just like when he abandoned his instinct to soften her fall and drove her into the stairs instead. his leg still smarts from it; his ankle, too.

but he would be a worthless idol if he couldn't disguise any of that for an awaiting audience. standing around for this amount of time is making both of them ache and stiffen up, and he shifts back to rest his weight on the locker behind him. )

I don't think I'm acting that strangeLY. ( he understands that possession's feelings, the drive to live -- it isn't something unfamiliar to him even outside of here. he squeezes the gun once, then holds it up - just like, showing it, not threatening. ) Tell ME. If you were in my posiTION... If you had had killed the object of someone's insane affecTIONS, regardless of how that came about -- would you tell THEM, even knowing it would drive them into a killing frenZY? Would you try to talk to THEM, even if it didn't WORK?

I think, ( he continues softer, lips twisting ) it's much crueler to let someone know you did IT. All you're doing is giving them a reason to HURT, and yourself a reason to lose what you've worked so hard FOR. And if they decide they don't want to TALK, they want to kill you and they manage it -- they won't feel that good once they've gotten their reVENGE. And if you kill them in self-deFENSE, you've still killed THEM.

I took the initiaTIVE. ( he raises his voice again, and this is something he's told himself half a dozen times since that day. ) If it had to be me or HER, it was going to be ME. I don't know what's waiting for you back HOME, but I have a life I intend to see to the end -- I won't lose it HERE, not to Kudo-chan. Not to you or any of the others eiTHER.

( natsume lets that sit, then lets his hands drop back to his side. )

That doesn't mean I'm completely remorseLESS. I apologized to both her and Sena-senpai in the END. ( sena, before he went out the window; chiaki, before she went over the rail. ) I don't like taking LIVES, but if I have no other CHOICE, then I WILL.

1/2 i'm sorry i wrote so muchhh

[unsurely]

[ If earlier there was anger as first response... this time, there's just exhaustion. It's not really Natsume's lucidity that Shuichi's questioning -- it's something else. They had this whole conversation after all, and if the other was truly not in control... he would have long since attacked him, he's certain. It's just-- ]

I... don't know. There's simply... no way I could know that.

[ By Shuichi's side, his fingers dig into the skin of his palm as they curl, forming into a fist. He could hit the locker behind him... maybe the sound of that could express what he's feeling while echoing through the hall, which might make him feel better. Or he could hit Natsume -- and tell himself he deserves it. If he were here, that's probably what Kaito would do. But... he's not. The only one here is Shuichi, whose shoulder trembles lightly and lets up, his arm falling listless again. Alone, only those nails keep digging in, almost to the point where they draw blood.

If only he weren't so very lucid even that ends up stopping, because he knows what would happen if he bleeds. ]

Whether she'd have attacked you or broken down... whether she might have killed ten more people and then herself... that was something for Kudo-san to tell. The only thing I can do is to make deductions or draw conclusions. Just like you drew yours.

[ But in the end... people's actions are choices. There are many things that denote what was likely, but nothing to say conclusively that Chiaki wouldn't have snapped. That she wouldn't have tried to burn down the school in her rage, taking countless other lives and Natsume's own. Yet at the same time... there's no longer the chance that she wouldn't have, either, that maybe she might have stopped herself. That's just another thing that was lost for good.

Because people's lives are that way -- the reality of Chiaki Kudo dies with her. The only truth left in place of her now is the fact that she never got her choice. And... their knowledge she existed. ]

...And you might be right. I've thought the same before. If the only thing it can do is make everyone miserable... then what purpose does finding the truth even serve? Even now, I can't say if I know the answer.

[ ...Just like he doesn't about the things he's telling Natsume right now. That there's always gonna be a chance, no matter how small, that he jumped to hasty conclusions and killed for nothing. That it's something he'll have to live with. ]

But I promised... no matter what, I promised I'd reveal it.

[ He promised Rika. ]

but at least u only have to reply to this i'm cryin

[unsurely]

[ His voice is long past the point of faltering. It's long since been weak... if it could get any quieter, then it would. But still, he turns to face Natsume. ]

Sakasaki-kun. The next time we meet with everyone...

[ He knows, doesn't he? What Shuichi means to say. ]

[crystallomancy]

( he knows.

because shuichi is a good boy who holds to his promises, he'll reveal who the murderer this past week was. natsume will watch people's opinions of him drop in real time, affectionate looks twist into fear and hatred and disappointment, and he'll be left alone - just the weight of his sins on his shoulders, accident or for the sake of living or otherwise. his heart aches for it, and natsume

natsume brings the gun up suddenly, to crack it right across shuichi's temple--




no, he doesn't. he imagines it briefly, but logically speaking, it's impossible. it's worse than just letting the truth come out. natsume tenses, lips pressed tight together, and he exhales slowly. )

...I don't CARE. Whatever happens hapPENS.

( except he does care -- he is not someone who wants to be hated, but he isn't someone who will bow his head and beg to be liked again, not unless he absolutely has to. so much of his life is ruled by absolutes; the way he considers things is the same. natsume steps torwards him - it's just to close his locker, careful not to hit shuichi in the process. he glances at the gun in his hand, then holds it out to the other. )

At least don't let Komaeda-san get THIS. The only reason I kept it was because I had the feeling that if I left it anyWHERE, he'd try to sniff it OUT. Sena-senpai wouldn't want him to have it eiTHER.

[unsurely]

[ For a moment... he also expects it, and his body stiffens.

No matter the reason or how others might argue, a person's will to live isn't something that can be measured. It isn't always something rational either, not even for the most composed person in the world. So the possibility of Natsume attacking him here, even despite the certainty he'd get caught after that, isn't zero. Or maybe it's the famous understanding born between murderer and detective--

Either way, nothing happens. Despite the moment of adrenaline, he pulls himself out of the way without objections, letting Natsume take care of his locker. When the gun is offered, Shuichi hesitates just a moment before accepting it, but his fingers don't shake as they wrap around the cold metal. ]

Ah... that's alright. Even if we present it as evidence, I doubt Komaeda-kun will be in any position to take a weapon at this meeting.

[ Natsume can draw his own conclusion from that, but at least in a way... telling him something like this, a small detail that isn't about accusing him for a change, is just about as much as Shuichi can do for him right now. ]

[crystallomancy]

( Natsume's eyebrows press together, thoughtful — well, he'll find out at the meeting, so he doesn't chase the thought too far, though the implication is... No, he isn't chasing it right now, because

he is suddenly, irrevocably tired — he thought not having to bear the burden of knowledge would be at least in some way a small relief, but it's only made his scattered thoughts worse, and he rubs his temple with a sigh. )

...I don't think he's ever in a position to take ONE, but all right — I'll take your word for IT. ( ...he wishes it weren't so late; he wants to lay in a cot in the nurse's office, and he wants some painkillers, and— ) I'll see you aROUND, Saihara-kun.

( Whether either of them want to or not, considering the closeness of their lockers, their homerooms, their acquaintances. )