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

[decrypter]

Please do not have him do that either.

[so bloodthirsty...this is why she told Stephanie that locking people in would only heighten tensions.]

I don't know what he did to you to warrant your hate, but surely there's some kind of punishment that can still allow him to live.

[bloodmetries]

He's done enough, clearly.

[decrypter]

It's not clear at all.

[this stranger...she already doesn't trust him as far as she can throw him.]

[bloodmetries]

Listen, I've don't know shit of what he's done but he has just slapped my hand away like I was infected with something. He's rude at best but I'd say he'd deserve an ass beating.

[ Which is exactly what Akira did. ]

If you're going to say that you'd better be ready to defend against any claims.

[ Like a fucking whiteknight of all things. ]

[decrypter]

[there's a feeling she gets in moments like this, like a set of familiar hands on her shoulders. control, restraint. anything that isn't politeness tucked back away. it means she can respond measured, her own hands folded on her lap.]

You've said he's "done enough", but then also admitted you don't know what he's done. Neither of us are in a place to attack or defend. All I've asked is that he not be killed.

[that's hardly defending him, she thinks. no one should be killed at this meeting.]

[bloodmetries]

Well apparently if other people are coming for his neck he’s done enough to piss them off. [ Akira shrugs. ]

If he dies, he dies. But if anyone wants me to do it specifically then I want to get paid.

[ Seiji taught him better. ]

[decrypter]

Out of curiosity, is there anything you would not do for proper payment?

[bloodmetries]

Why's it matter to you? [ He scowls. ]

Don't even start some bullshit of how I should and shouldn't go about things.

[decrypter]

I only meant it as a genuine question.

[in any case, she hasn't stirred from her seat, or raised her hand. if this man wants a target to argue or fight with, Helena knows she's a poor choice.]

[bloodmetries]

And I'm asking why it matters.

[decrypter]

It's only curiosity. So I might understand you a little better.

[bloodmetries]

Well, [ He's brief, unhesitating. ] if you don't got the money then it doesn't concern you, right? Mind your business.

[insecution]

Oh, you poor thing… You haven’t been told, have you?

[ That’s all right. Shinobu’s happy to rip off the band-aid, because it’s better that Nagito sympathizers know who they’re really simping for. ]

A little over a month ago, we discovered that he was responsible for the murder of the previous student council president. He also confessed to dismembering the body of another student. That’s why we can’t have him walking the same hallways we do.

[closewithnewintown]

And that's exactly the kind of thing we need to work on! Because, at the end of the day, he's gonna have to walk the same halls; there's no debate on that one. You don't need to be his friend, but trying to convince everyone we have to kill him is exactly what this place wants.

[decrypter]

You would be answering murder with murder.

[her voice remains quiet, controlled. there is no surprise in her - Sou had said Komaeda was a murderer, but she had not understood who he murdered. that it was recent is more the shock, with the air about him. most killers she knew had something distinct about them, as if the shed blood hovered somewhere behind them.

perhaps, this place has already made her complacent.]

It's not the only option in the world.