give your friends a surprise

[closewithnewintown]

Who: EVERYONE
What: FAMILY MEETING
When: 8/4, right after school closes.
Where: Student council room
Warnings: Eventually, probably.

["If my friends back home were acting like this, I would've already locked them in a room and forced them to figure out their feelings."

the job puts all of her considerable superspy skills to the test. she knows where every normal kid's locker is; it's easy enough to slip the note into each that morning. if it's someone who she knows would be unable to read the note, she tells them its contents, but keeps her own involvement out of it. lies of omission don't count.

the note reads:]

I have very important information about this place. Please come to the student council room after school ends today.

- Nao Sato

[and if the text looks just a bit girlier than you'd think she'd write, hey, you don't know her. she's got layers.

either way, it's a pretty interesting proposition: the student council room door is, for the first time in seemingly ever, wide open. anyone can walk inside - and, hopefully, most everyone should. because it's only when Stephanie thinks that she's got enough of them inside that she actually enters the room, shutting the door behind her.

click.

it locks. she grins, spins the key on her finger, and slips it into her pocket.

"How are you supposed to do that with grownups?"

the exact same way, she's decided.]

We haven't had any meetings since, um. Well. The last one. But, I'm pretty sure nobody has no more murders to report, so it shouldn't be too bad, and we can all just focus on the most important task: Getting along! All of us are on the same team, but most of us barely even know each other; some of us even hate some of the others! [SHE SAYS, LIKE SHE DOESN'T ACTIVELY DESPISE KOKICHI] So, I figured we could spend the evening fixing that problem. Play some games, talk about stuff we've discovered since the last time...

And, maybe, if everybody does a really good job, I'll unlock the door!

[smiles]

Comments

[commences]

And how will it kill us... will you tell me in explicit detail?

( you know what, she wins, but if he's going to die, might as well learn how. )

[closewithnewintown]

The kid touched it, and went all...

[flops hand]

And then they turned into shadows and weren't there anymore.

[commences]

Were their clothes left behind... you know, like in the movies?

( thinking. hm... that death doesn't sound quite as fitting for komaeda, but you know what... beggars can't be choosers. )

[closewithnewintown]

... [has to. think about this. because it's not like she actively noted that.]

Nope, whole thing. Shadows, then gone completely.

[commences]

Then they just went to the reverse world, maybe they're living happily in such a hell...

( sighs... ) There's no way to check though, considering they all look the same.

[closewithnewintown]

They weren't breathing for about ten minutes before that happened.

[commences]

Interesting, that's the first piece of good news I've heard today...

( let him nod, yep, that makes so much sense, and it doesn't shock him that a young girl had to watch such a traumatic experience. she already saw a dead body — )

That means you're getting used to people dying, you don't sound too upset about it anymore.

[closewithnewintown]

None of that is good news in any way, Komaeda.

[she shrugs] When really weird stuff like that happens, it barely even seems real. And I guess it was kinda their own fault; everybody was jumping over the track, and they just happened to be the one that didn't make it all the way... I don't know how to feel about it.

[commences]

They were pretty stupid if you asked me... especially if they all jumped, so he was aware... but you don't seem to care that they died.

( so it's fine to look at it that way, it means she's growing used to it, and that she's a little stronger than before. of course, he's going to clap as he looks at her, a little thrilled at her development. )

You shouldn't have told everyone, you'd have had a pretty neat murder if you tried!

[closewithnewintown]

[flatly] I'm sorry you missed me crying in a bathroom stall for an hour. I'll be sure to call you the next time I see something awful, so you can better keep track of me becoming dead inside.

... Of course I warned everybody. I'm definitely never gonna murder anyone, and if someone got killed because they didn't know... [that's about as bad as murdering them herself.]

[commences]

How admirable! To do such a thing to save us, but... aren't you worried that we may use it for our personal gain?

( to be honest, it sounds actually creative, but a missing body means a missing stepping stone which means... they'd never know if someone went missing in that way. )

And... you can call me the next time you cry, I'll try to console you to the best of my abilities.

[closewithnewintown]

[shakes head] No, not this one. All the people that like killing want to play with the bodies after, and it's not really convenient for spur of the moment things. You'd have to already be out there, and most of us don't go outside often.

[and she keeps the "I won't because you'd just make it worse" to herself.]

[commences]

...

( who played with the bodies, well, in a way, he guesses him and aiko messed around... he just... left her somewhere curious about a few things. )

Doesn't it sound interesting though, that the track can do such a thing... I wonder if the pool would kill us too.

[closewithnewintown]

If it could, it would. [a shrug] Everything in this place wants us dead. That's why everybody needs to stop being dumb and helping it.

[commences]

I think you misunderstand, I'm not helping the school.

( he's helping HOPE, that's different. )

[closewithnewintown]

Sometimes, there's a difference between what you meant to do and what actually ended up happening!

[commences]

( meant??? )

...Hm. Then I should try again, thanks for the advice!

[closewithnewintown]

You're not allowed to, so don't even get the idea.

[you lost your murdering privileges]

[commences]

?

( what does that MEAN!!! )

Is it because you don't want to be mad at me again?

[closewithnewintown]

I wasn't mad. I was disappointed. Wouldn't you rather make me be hopeful that you can be good from now on?

[commences]

Hope is absolute good, so I'll always follow by that to make you hopeful.

( ... is he loopholing? well... well... )

[closewithnewintown]

Being disappointed means you can't be hopeful, so anything that disappoints me isn't good. And murder is very disappointing.

[commences]

if you can overcome your disappointment, hope can be born from that as well. It isn't just a one way street, so I believe in you.

( he does, actually, it's why he does these things. )

[closewithnewintown]

[she frowns hard, thinking... nope. she doesn't even know where to start picking at the tangles of his logic right now.]

Caring about you is really hard work! It's exhausting.