Entry tags:

04/04, 23:56

M.Arisu

hey... anybody who's awake to see this. hope you're not having too much trouble sleeping.
get rest when you can. work together when you can.
all we can do is keep trying, but i'm hopeful for this year.
feels weird to say... but it's all going to be gone soon, so...
anyways.
see you at school tomorrow.

Any replies on the forum go unresponded, and at the stroke of midnight, the past year's worth of messages are completely gone from the PDA forum, including any sent over spring break. Hope you have a good memory if you were in the middle of a conversation! Though you should really be in ...whatever you've managed to make your bed... because tomorrow is a big day.

04/05, 06:00

The silence continues until six in the morning with the toll of the clock tower bells, and anybody near the locker area will hear two women in mid-conversation as they phase through the front doors, heels clicking on the ground: "-—didn't even have the decency to finish the job! And now I have to— oh, stop crying, for goodness' sake! I swear—" It's a one sided conversation, mostly, and one that stops short the moment the women spot the students lingering around. While the younger woman, recognizable as the assistant principal, hurriedly scrubs at her face with her sleeves, the unfamiliar older woman with the oddly dissonant voice scowls intensely. "I don't need this on the first day of school! Students trespassing over break! I can't believe it! I don't have time for this—" she huffs, shaking her head and stomping down the hall towards the faculty office. "Miss Nene, I expected better of you! And you! Miss Ritsuka— the two of you shall report to the faculty office after the entrance ceremony. I expect a full report of everybody involved. Now behave yourselves and go to the auditorium."

Goodbye...

The assistant principal is left behind and looks confused and distraught. She sniffles and ducks her head a little, draws a shaking breath and stands a little taller. "I'm so sorry. I'll hear you all out after- after this is done. Alright?" She too heads towards the faculty office, trying her best to smile at those she passes by. While they may be followed, they seem to phase through the faculty office doors which remain closed and locked, and cannot be interacted with until after the ceremony.

Until then, other students start to filter through the front door, seeking out friends and chatting about their breaks, remembering about homework and asking if anybody actually did it so they can copy off them before classes start, laughing at any mention of being locked inside the school all break because what?? that's silly. A handful of students wear yellow armbands on the left sleeve of their uniform, marking them as members of the student council, and these student council members go around finally removing the gorinto from the window sills, tossing the rocks into a bag without any apparent ill effects, and collecting the snacks in a separate bag— though they'll offer the food to anybody they pass who looks hungry enough. Which is a lot of you. One or two might give a short lecture about the importance of eating breakfast to start the day off right. Other student council members busy themselves in the locker area, posting the new homeroom assignments and updating the school calendar to reflect exam dates and breaks for the coming year, or help setting chairs out in neat rows in the auditorium in preparation for the entrance ceremony.

04/05, 08:00

The opening ceremony starts at 8, with students and staff moving to the auditorium to sit with their homeroom class, calling characters out by name and dragging them over to their seat— physically if need be, and they're much stronger than they look. Unlike the graduation ceremony, characters are not forced to come to the entrance ceremony, but the moment they take a seat, they find that they can neither speak nor get up again until the ceremony is over.

The assistant principal stands behind the podium on stage, looking rather nervous as she glances down at the watch on her wrist for it to be time, and clears her throat before addressing the room. "Yogen High welcomes you, all our new students," she pauses, beaming at the row of first year classes before her gaze sweeps over the rest of the student body, "our transfer students, our returning students, our... repeat students..." Looking at you, Norton, Gawain, Abel... "I, um. You may have noticed that I am standing in for our principal today, who is currently... unavailable... and didn't exactly leave any notes to go off of..." She wilts a little, but trucks on nonetheless and continues the address, promising that the teachers will pass along any important announcements, expressing her belief in the potential of young minds, and wishing everybody a fulfilling school year. The ceremony concludes in a little under an hour, and the spell binding the students to their seats is broken, allowing everybody to rise and leave.

School lets out for the rest of the day with classes starting the next morning, and while many students take the opportunity to leave, some linger around the school. Gossip is flying already with news of the transfer students caught breaking into the school over break and what punishments they might get, rumors of what happened to the principal ranging from a family emergency to hospitalization to death, complaints about the water pipes not getting fixed over break, and general excitement over upcoming events listed on the bulletin board by the lockers, in particular new club advertisements, fortune telling ads, and a Charity Auction to be hosted the Monday after Golden Week next month.

April

School is school... The first thing teachers ask at homeroom Tuesday morning is for students to hand in their spring break homework. Didn't do it? You're on their shit list now. Characters are not forced to attend class, but patrolling faculty and student council members will heckle any truant students into going and can be a pain to deal with. Classes aren't taught terribly, though. The second year math teacher has a knack for easily digestible explanations, even if she writes and erases the board a bit too quickly to copy. The third year literature teacher combines weekly analytical essays with film studies, and is showing Child's Play, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Silence of the Lambs, and Where the Red Fern Grows this month. The first year biology teacher brings eyeballs and frogs and rats for dissection during anatomy lessons, and if you have a special request for a specific eye color, give him a day or two and he can deliver. 2-A's homeroom teacher can be seen stealing chalk from each of the second year classroom she rotates through and is offering extra credit to any students who sneak her chalk without asking questions.

New students will quickly learn that merit points are awarded for a full day's attendance, turning in homework, participating in class and clubs, scoring 80% or higher on quizzes and exams, etc. Less predictably, the PDA may sometimes ping for a single merit point when hanging out with a friend or arguing with a classmate, with stronger emotions (positive or negative) when interacting with somebody else more likely to trigger a point, and if students are abusing this system, it's kept out of the faculty's eyes. As the month goes on, sometimes a student comes to class with a cut eyelid, or a busted lip, or bandages wrapped thick around a wrist, but they always deny anything more than clumsiness or an accident or having pets who very aggressively show their love. Sometimes it's harder to hide, when a bloody nose drips onto the ground or bleeding knuckles brush against the wall, and those near enough to see blood touch the building will find that everything sort of... shifts... Just for a second. The feeling of vertigo that stops almost as soon as it begins, the world tilting without slotting back into alignment. You feel a bit nauseous. Just a little.

You go to the bathroom to splash water on your face and the pink looks a little darker, a little more solid. On the fourth floor, the water has stopped running in the bathroom sinks altogether, and students are told to go downstairs to do their business so that they may wash up after. With more students milling around the bathrooms, it's much easier to notice that people's reflections in the mirrors are just a bit off, lagging that split second long enough to be impossible to ignore once aware.

Every day you have homework. A new essay for something or other is assigned each week. Nobody wants to do group projects with a slacker who can't promise to meet up after school to get it done. Like clockwork, the school empties out at 6 PM each school day, leaving those behind to their own devices. There is no school on Sundays. Golden Week marks the end of the month, and guess who's going to be stuck at school for an entire week with only vending machine junk food to live off of if they aren't able to make progress concerning their living situation? Yeah.

Charity Auction

At least students have the charity auction to look forward to and work towards. Information about the auction set on May 10 can be found on the bulletin board, and appears to be put together by the student council as an annual event and an incentive for students to start the year off strong in earning merit points. Both students and staff are encouraged to donate to the auction, with the items collected and put on display in the auditorium behind locked glass cases. On May 10, students will be able to bid on items using their merit points, those who donate will receive 10% of the winning bid towards their item, and the school will match donations 100 to 1 point with proceeds going towards the "Save A Brain Foundation."

Throughout the month, glass cases lining the walls of the auditorium start to fill up with donations. The most popular donations seem to be physical items: possessions such as jewelry or gaming consoles, or artistic creations such as hand sewn clothing or paintings. There are placeholders for things that can't be put on display all month, such as placards with a picture or description of homemade food that won't be prepared until the auction date, or the promise of fishing lessons with the guidance counselor or a dinner date with the school principal (pending availability). At the back of the room stands the largest case, with the skinny black cat often found lying on top of it as if guarding it, although it will run away when approached.

Inside the case is a body.

OOC

npc contact page

✽ The plot will only move forward as things are discussed and acted upon, and clues distributed during app acceptances are meant to be shared and connected, so don't be afraid to ask questions and dig into things! I am here to enable.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

a. all the lengthening hours in the refinery, belching fire into the sky
[You'd think that someone like Gudako would spend most of her off hours aimlessly roaming the school, maybe halfheartedly studying or putting some work into investigating the horrorshow that she's trapped it.

But instead, she's basically set up camp in the shop, doing... something. Maybe you've come here because you're getting tired of the constant whirring and grinding of the machines disrupting your sleep. Maybe you have your own shop project you want to work on after the "normal" students have departed.

Whatever the case, once you enter the workshop, you're confronted with a baffling sight: a massive pile of screws, wood fasteners, and other pieces of scrap metal arranged in a loose tower on one of the tables, next to a spiral-bound notebook full of furious scribbles in near-illegible handwriting. On the table across from it are a pile of... stones? Are those the stones the shrines were made out of?

Ritsuka herself is crouched down, rummaging through a few drawers in evident search of... something.]

Oh, hey! [she says without turning around.] If you have the time, do you think you could do me a favor? There should be at least a few more packs of nuts and bolts somewhere around here but I can't find them; could you help me look?

[What in the blazes is going on here.]

b. we do our best vampire routines as we suck the dying hours dry
[Is there anything as shifty as getting tapped on the shoulder in the middle of the crowd?

Well, it's significantly less shifty if it's someone with such an overbearingly optimistic face as Ritsuka, but still. Once the school's been cleared, she taps one of her fellow transfer students on the shoulder, and while her wide grin is somewhat reassuring there's an undercurrent of genuine seriousness in her voice when she says,] Can you follow me to the clock tower? I found something... important. And it might make our lives a lot easier.

Or, er, not easier, but it'll at least give us one less thing to be paranoid about.

c. the fire engines cry
[Really, it's Ritsuka's fault for buying it. "The Seven Mysteries" are already a tired tradition and stuff like "the piano plays itself" is an even more tired variation on one of them. But Ritsuka doesn't exactly have a lot of leads and it's the most overtly supernatural thing here and what else is she supposed to do sit on her hands and draw more magic circles? With her teeth, presumably, because she can't use her hands?

But still, it's kinda frustrating to just... sit in the piano room for hours on end, glaring at the thing and daring it to play itself, only to get nothing. With no other path forward, Ritsuka crawls under it, opening it up, and-

Begins coughing like a terminal patient as a torrent of dust is released on her lungs, hacking up her entire esophagus as she flails around on the floor.

This would be an embarrassing thing to walk in on for sure.]

Edited 2021-04-05 04:00 (UTC)

[ ...No, it's still incredibly shifty. Mostly due to how Shirogane instantly recognizes her from before and his immediate thoughts swirling towards whatever 'magic' she's planning on attempting.

But still. ]

Er... sure, I can do that. If it helps us out.

C'mon. [Ritsuka gently guides him to the clock tower, refusing to explain what she's doing until she actually gets there.

She doesn't seem to be the type that does blood magic sacrifices, but who knows-

Oh she's just kneeling down and lifting a floorboard cool]

I found this a while back while exploring the school. [Inside is... nothing. Except a small pumpkin.] There was this note [unfolding it from her pocket, Ritsuka shows it to Shirogane,] inside.

I think our senpais used this as a place to communicate safely. Since anybody can see us talking on the networks, it seems like this might be a good place to put memos that we don't want most of the students or the teachers to see.

[ That's...

Actually pretty good. Yet again it's something extremely vague, but the implications aren't lost on him. "Don't let him get to you?" "I'll do what I can?" It's interesting, especially since. ]

It may be. It matches up with the message that was posted on the forum before it disappeared.

[ When they were told to work together, and that something would all be gone soon. ]

When they say 'he', is it possible they're referring to the principal?

[Ritsuka cups her chin, pondering the problem. This is a pretty meaty mystery she's got on her hands. Damn it, if only Holmes were here. What would he say?]

I'm not sure we should make assumptions like that.

We just... don't have enough information. It's human nature to recognize patterns and assign meaning to them, right? Just because the principal is the only important MIA "he" that we know of, doesn't mean that he's the suspect here, even though that makes sense as part of the pattern as we interpret it.

[Something like that, probably.]

That's true. For all we know, the 'he' it refers to could be any one of the students or faculty members in the school.

[ Looks like he bought that line of thinking, at least. ]

I don't suppose you've seen anyone suspicious yet, have you?

Not really. If I'm being honest, I'm probably the most suspicious person in the school right now, considering how it's common knowledge that I "broke into the school over break" and to anyone who's been looking it's obvious I've been sneaking in and out of the clocktower a lot lately.

I guess I really should've clarified, I meant "suspicious to us". I'm sure having a bunch of transfer students waltz in with marks on their skin's suspicious enough to the rest of the student body.

Also... can I ask you to be careful then? The faculty might block off the clock tower if you get caught.

Yeah, I've been trying to take people here only after hours and when there's a bunch of people in the hallways anyways to avoid suspicion. I'm not a complete dummy.

Hm? The clock tower?

( komaeda's been to the clock tower enough to step in cat poo and whatever else happens to be up there, and he doubts there's anything else to check. he's not a detective so he's not as good as others, but as the ultimate lucky student — perhaps she is the luck he's been looking for. while he appears to be contemplating whether he wants to accompany her or not, his eyes raise from the ground to look into her own. is he about to change his mind? or does he seem to be waiting for her expression to break, but luckily between their silence, that komaeda's pursed lips change into a trusting smile. whether she believes it is up to her, but he seems harmless. )

Sure! If you have something so amazing that can put the entire school at ease.. I wonder.

( what could it be? he's already taking the first step towards the clock tower, and he looks back towards ritsuka to make sure she's tagging along. ) This way.

DANTES?

( a beat. )

Inferno?

...you little jerk! I-

You know what, no. I'm not even going to go through the whole "oooooooh I'm a mysterious stranger come here to help you no don't mind me I'm certainly not the exact same person who's bailed you out all of the other times something like this has happened" AGAIN. Just. Come on, Count, I have something to show you.

[Huffing, Ritsuka grabs Komaeda by the wrist and begins hauling him to the clock tower.]

Huh? Did you hit your head or something?

( jerk? what has he done to look like a jerk when he was coming along with her anyway? he doesn't know much about this one, and that's another reason why he decide to accompany but... maybe this has something to do with those weird memories they have of the school that don't seem right..

as his wrist is taken and he's dragged, he follows after her slightly confused, but he doesn't pull away. )

Must be pretty important! ( matching her steps which isn't too fast because komaeda will walk at a leisurely pace if you make him run. ) What's the problem.. I come here almost every day.

Here. [Ritsuka wrenches open one of the floorboards, gesturing towards a pumpkin inside. Her expression is halfway between incensed and genuinely relieved, leaning more toward relieved as the moments go by.] You like secrets and espionage and stuff, right?

This dead drop point will be helpful. You probably know what to do with it more than me, but at any rate it seems secure from the staff, although maybe not all of the students.

[Ritsuka brushes some of her bangs aside.] I'm glad you're here, Count. [She turns, giving Komaeda a small, tired smile.] That means there's a way out. There always is if you've come to find me.

( here's komaeda scratching the back of his head like the boy, aside from that, he's too busy dropping down to his knees to look down at the pumpkin inside. pale green eyes stare at the vegetable, contemplating the meaning behind it. he doesn't touch it, but instead looks towards ritsuka to read her expressions before speaking. )

Mysteries are my forte, but is this what you found first?

( he doesn't understand why she's giving him so much credit when they just met, and maybe she knows him from those weird school memories he can't make anything of. he's not sure as to what can be done with the trust she's giving him about how she's glad he's here, but he's pretty sure that count and trash like him are different. )

Don't think there's a way out yet, this is only the beginning, but if you can overcome despair...

( he sighs, glancing back down at the pumpkin. what could that even mean? drop dead gourgeous? but that can't be it. )

No, I found this note. [Ritsuka hands it over to him, eager to see his opinion.] I sent a letter back asking if it was okay for us to use it to communicate, and that pumpkin is what I got in return.

[Just before Komaeda says the line about despair, Ritsuka reads the expression on his face and mutters under her breath,] Say the line, Dantes. [She looks unimaginably smug when he does, in fact, say the line.]

maybe thats the clue? you never know..

commences - 2021-04-11 21:10 (UTC) - Expand

04/04, 23:56

04/05, 06:00

04/05, 08:00

April

Charity Auction

OOC

Ritsuka "Gudako" Fujimaru | Fate/Grand Order (Cosmos in the Lostbelt)

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b

not a gagtag

a srs tag, the innerworkings of our minds are going crazy

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losing my mind at drop dead gourgeous

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Are you good with the boy detective threadjacking here?

hell yeah bring in the boytectives

yay clue party time

Re: yay clue party time

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