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

[silentabyss]

...Turing isn't here?

[Noah visibly deflates and sort of just... sinks into his chair at that. Turing was his friend, Turing helped him out, he and Turing would draw together all the time...

A mental breakdown is imminent, but for now Noah's trying to keep it together. His brain repeats on loop, "everyone I get close to dies", and suddenly he feels guilty for even trying. Of course Turing's gone. He should've known better—]

U-um... I mean, I hadn't seen them since the beginning of last month, b-but... I guess I thought they'd be okay...

[mermaidcursed]

( nene's just gonna slip in here and quietly squeeze noah's hand in her own. it isn't his fault. it isn't it's the school. )

[silentabyss]

[Noah just bonks his head into her shoulder at that. At least he's getting good at accepting comfort and also not freezing up when she squishes his hand now.]

[insecution]

[ Losing somebody hurts, but watching the younger students crack, crumble, and fall to pieces hurts even more. Shinobu feels a pang of guilt hit her full in the chest, and it makes her brow soften. ]

… I’m afraid I haven’t seen them, either.

[ Which isn’t to say they’re gone for certain. Everyone here knows better than to hope they’re still here, though. ]

Were you a friend of theirs?

[silentabyss]

Y...yeah. I mean — we... used to sketch together. We snuck into the art room once late at night to get sketchbooks. They left a drawing in my notebook, um—

[Noah reaches into his bag where he always has a simple journal on him, amidst two other notebooks — one quite ornate with a moon emblazoned on the cover and the other quite obviously the sketchbook he must've taken from the art room. The notebook he holds out is lined, full of other various sketches which Noah rapidly flips through until he arrives at a landscape drawn in pen.]

...this. This was a while ago, but I... I kept it.

[insecution]

[ ‘… I like painting when I have the time.’

The smile she offers Noah is one steeped in equal parts anger and sadness. It’s her way of apologizing for the things she couldn’t do: put a stop to the sinister happenings at school, protect Turing, and save Noah from the pain of losing somebody he cares about. ]

Good.

[ Gently, she rests her hand atop Turing’s landscape sketch. The ink has long since dried, but it feels fresh, full of life and love. ]

You should continue to take care of it, too. No matter what happens here, our memories of them should live on.

[silentabyss]

[Noah shares the guilt, to be honest, though the internal backlash he feels is more directed at his beliefs about himself rather than what he can do. He's long since given up on trying to teach people self-defense and thinking he alone can combat everything here that might come to kill them all.

That's not the point entirely, however. Noah slowly nods at Shinobu, looking more than a little forlorn.]

Y...yeah. I was going to... I mean, assuming we all get out of here in one piece, [he won't hold out hope,] I was going to take it home with me, if I can.