August Event

[adsum]

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Please let August be better than July I'm begging

✽ Due to 10+ classes raising their ranks last month, ALL characters have access to the courtyard via the door in the locker area and the windows facing the courtyard.
✽ Characters with 1-10 tallies are not able to get any further past the end of the courtyard before they fall unconscious; characters with 10-20 can get halfway to the pool building before the same happens to them; characters with 20+ tallies can reach the pool building but unfortunately, the door is on the other side. There are no windows on the walls, but from the clocktower, characters can see that it has a glass ceiling, though they are unable to see inside.
✽ Outside, there is no breeze, and it occasionally rains ash.
✽ Characters going up to the 4th floor will feel that the door is warm to the touch, and will occasionally open (see: missions)
✽ The student store opens, with the door propped open with a doorstopper. The npc running the store is currently not interested in conversation, but may be available for threading in the future and is available for threading in the toplevel below. Please see the updated bonus activity page for more information.
✽ Posted on the bulletin board and also handed to each club president before break is the notice that proof of club activity is due at the end of break. Please submit these proofs in the toplevel below.
✽ There is another ad on the bulletin board advertising an exchange student program for the month of October. Applications will be taken until the end of August, and there is a 300 merit point fee. Sister cities include Death City, Devildom, Ishigami Village, Lanling, LazyTown, and Maiami City.

Comments

[adsum]

The corneal reflex is involuntary and automatic...

[ Nothing is right, though. They didn't really see anything, other than the image of Komaeda's face leaning in so close towards them that's burned into their mind.

... ]

I saw you. But you said that's not the answer.

[commences]

I thought it was a pretty interesting answer, even though I knew it was wrong.

( because that's not where the item is, but it is kind of him to play with them like this. picking at their brain with their replies, and each and every response from them is unique. )

What catches both the sun and the moon? It has to be something specific, because I'm unable to do that... that's why it's not me.

[adsum]

You're specific. Every singular soul is unique.

[ It's a moot point, though, when it isn't the answer. npc-kun looks down at their hands, thinking.

...

...

looks back up at Komaeda ]

A camera with a solar filter.

[commences]

There's no hope inside of me, so it has to be hopeful in some way.

( like the... he looks at the suncatchers... )

Do you like taking pictures, I have a camera... maybe one wouldn't hurt...

( he mumbles, he'd have to fun and get it, but that sounds fun... unless npc-kun has one on hand. )

[adsum]

[ No, he can't trick them into guessing suncatchers, they're not going to fall for that, they're too smart ]

I've never really taken pictures much. But it'll hurt if you don't have a solar filter. The sun will burn your eyes.

[commences]

( komaeda is going to start thinking they're a little slow to the chase... when the obvious answer is... )

It's a different type of camera... digital so it won't harm your eyes... It'll even show us what we look like in a screen at the bottom.

( so once again, they're wrong, but komaeda's just humoring them at this point. )

You can save it for memories, like your essay on the manifolds.

[adsum]

[ LOOK it's 1999, digital cameras are still new and fancy and do they look rich enough to be able to afford and play around with one of those? ]

And you have one? A camera like that?

[ ... ]

I want to see. Take a picture of us, so you can remember me.

[commences]

( after all the money they got from every recently? they could! but buying a polaroid would be cuter, then they have to dip the film in water... isn't that how that works. )

Kawaii-san normally has it, but she lends it to me often... it's filled with many pics of Lily May.

I'll be back.

( npc-kun probably doesn't know who that is, but komaeda's going to get up from where he's sitting to run off somewhere—

...

five minutes.

...

ten minutes.

...

fifteen minutes.

...

twenty five minutes... )

[adsum]

[ ...

...

...

...

...

THEY'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS BULLSHIT PEOPLE TELLING THEM THEY'LL BE BACK AND THEN THEY DISAPPEAR AAAAAAAAAAAA

Half an hour and npc-kun slips out the door, closing it behind them and first goes up the stairwell all the way up to the fourth floor on the right side of the building, and then the stairwell down to the ground floor on the left, because what if something happened, what if he fell, nobody will find his corpse for days now that there's an elevator installed—- ]

[commences]

( is that how much faith they have in him, i'm literally crying. they'll find him on the ground floor with a camera in hand, along with a few snacks that he's got from... don't ask him, he just has them.

also there's maybe a bottle of pills from the nurse's office, but he's been walking around, nothing too bad! it's the pitter patter of shoes against the floor that makes komaeda turn around, and he blinks slow: )

Are you looking for something?

( as if he hasn't been gone for about thirty minutes and some change, but he's walking over to npc-kun to place a few of the canned food items into their hands. ) I wasn't sure what you liked, so I brought options...

( did he steal from the food drive? don't ask! there has to be a reason he's going the long way around. )

[adsum]

[ huff puff high school has too many stairs, and why was Komaeda out ??shopping when he could've gone to the student store, which doesn't sell food but it still feels like a mark of betrayal. ... They can forgive betrayal, though, when there's food and they're hungry. Canned peaches... Tuna. Corn.

... ]

I was looking for you. I thought you might have died.

[commences]

( he wasn't shopping!!! he got his little food stash from the food drive, he's willing to share because he doesn't like to eat anyway... but he's checking the expiration date on on a few of them... )

I lost track of time... ( he's shuffling through the five cans that he has, checking for dents, and that there's no leaks. ) I found the camera, and then I saw a can of food roll out a classroom... and the—- did you say you believed I died?

( he's responding late, is that why npc-kun is out the shop?! )

What about your sales...?

[adsum]

[ npc-kun, after five minutes of waiting: oh my god he's dead he's abandoned me he's never coming back ]

Yeah. Why else would you not immediately return to my side if you weren't dead?

[ Their sales, though... Yeah, why did they leave the shop? What about their goal, this goes against everything they believe in ... ]

Well, come on. Let's go back.

[ pitter patter back to the shop just in case there's any potential customers lingering outside the shop in their brief absence ]

[commences]

( lily may... is a culprit in the canned food scheme, but npc-kun doesn't have to know that. instead, komaeda will hold his cans, while also clicking a few buttons on the camera as npc-kun walks forward —

now that he thinks about it, all he ever had on this camera was pictures of lily may, his previous photos from back home, and the ones at the slumber party. he stares at the back of the shopkeeper's head and...

click!

no warning, yes flash. )

Isn't this food inedible if it's not warmed up, do you have a microwave?

( because komaeda's hard-headed, and he thinks going to the home economics area is better than returning to the shop. )

[adsum]

[ !!

npc-kun jumps and nearly drops all their cans turning around at the flash, blinking confusedly at ...whatever Komaeda is holding... Is that the digital camera? Fancy. ]

It's okay to eat this stuff cold. If people had the luxury of a microwave, they wouldn't be eating canned food.

[ they would love themselves and go grocery shopping and get fresh meat and veggies ]

[commences]

( he'll make his way up, pointing at the digital part of the screen where it'll show the picture he just took.

it's normal, right?

better be because he's showing npc-kun the device in all its glory. )

You can have the peaches.

( maybe they'll be... room temperature, but this is all they got to hold them over, and it's officially been decided in komaeda's mind that he can offer his own food to them. )

[adsum]

[ Technology is amazing, look at that... As much as they'd like to play with the camera all day, their arms are going to get tired holding the cans all day so first things first is to open their shop and nudge the doorstopper under the door and set everything down on the counter.

It's the sort of can without a pull tab and they never thought they'd need a can opener here so they reach into their pocket and pull out a pocket knife and stabs the blade through the lid and starts carving around the edge of the metal. ]

We can share.

[commences]

( he wants to say his piece in the matter, something about how peaches are too sweet for him. he could admit his ungodly diet, but instead he's setting down what cans he has and is... focused on the pocket knife that npc-kun has. )

...

( his eyes watch the blade pierce into the top of the can, and how the juice raises up past the slit to covering a bit of the can. if that was... a human body, and if that was blood.

...

he swallows. )

...Be careful.

[adsum]

[ Here they are seconds away from licking the juice so it doesn't spill all over their hands but then Komaeda warns them to be careful and they remember maybe they shouldn't be sticking their tongue at razor sharp metal and raise their head again.

...

The juice spills all over their hands.

... ]

What else do you want to eat? I'll open that too.

[ Might as well get their hands dirty and wash them after everything's said and done, they suppose. ]

[commences]

I can open them.

( he's the adult here, very mindful of his actions, and very attentive to a weapon in his possession. he sets the camera down on the table, and he holds his hand out trying to contain his excitement. )

Then you can have a head start on eating.

( isn't that... kind of him. )

[adsum]

But then both our hands will be sticky...

[ but they want to play with the camera...

...

... ]

Okay. I'm going to go wash my hands and grab some salt for the corn. I'll wet some paper towels for us too.

[ Against all better judgement, npc-kun leaves Komaeda alone in a room with a knife. ]

[commences]

Okay! Be back soon.

( knife!!! knife!!! it's his now, his comfort item... take that counselor, thought komaeda would be without an item!!

actually komaeda's thinking about not opening any other cans, because he has the pocket knife and doesn't want to dull the blade any further.

...

so they take the corn can and walks over to the door, setting it on the floor against the corner where he believes that if he shuts the door really, really, hard... it'll pop the can top right up.

...roll a d20 and see if he's lucky enough to do so. )

[adsum]

[ npc-kun's going to break his hand if he doesn't give the knife back, he knows they don't do anything for free

anyways what does 13 mean, I imagine shutting the door really hard will pop the lid off but also corn is going to go absolutely everywhere? was there any rational thought behind this plan? ]

[commences]

( no, it's komaeda's now... he's been wanting one for so long, and it's in his pocket now.

apparently the lower the number, the worst it is, and the higher the number... the better it is. so i did half and half 1-10 and 11-20... so that means he can shut the door, and the can's top will fly open... it can have a bit of food spilled, but not a lot...

if you had rolled worst... sighs. looks at hand, anyway he's lucky!! it's fine.

come back npc-kun, komaeda got it open!! )

[adsum]

[ They return with salt and damp paper towels and a very long stare at the little kernels on the ground. Food is not allowed in their store every again.

... ]

You managed it without getting your hands dirty.