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Autumn Semester

✽ School starts up again on August 30, and club supplies resume being replenished at the start of each week.
✽ All character run clubs survive the vetting process. Maya gives the jar of dragonflies to Hiro, who hot potatoes it to Nao, who opens the jar and sets them free outside. Maya will also tell Add that if his club damages any more of the school, she will shut down the Robotics & Programming Club. The cultists are delighted with their gifts and play rock-paper-scissors to determine who gets to keep what.
✽ The science club is shut down and disbanded due to their club project being interrupted and therefore incomplete, and the door to the lab will not open to any student. The club may be reinstated in the winter semester, and will be open to all students regardless of grade level.
✽ Posted all around the school are colorful posters painted by somebody who has no sense of color theory nor any idea what racoons, manta rays, or zebras look like. They advertise the student store, and its newest attraction:
✽ There is now a gacha machine set up outside the student store, which only takes tokens provided by the shopkeeper. Tokens are 1000 yen or 10 merit points each, and 99.99999% of the prizes are normal boring rocks, but there is a miniscule chance of winning rare gemstones. If you return 100 empty gacha capsules back to the shopkeeper for recycling, they will give you one free token.

Setting Updates

✽ The right fourth floor hallway will be cleaned up during the first few days of school, with the gorinto rocks lined up against the walls on either side, and enough structural support is done so the hallway is in no danger of collapsing.
✽ The rooftop on the right side of the school can be accessed via the stair up from the end of the fourth floor hallway. The rooftop on the left side of the school can be accessed via the windows on the fourth floor, where you have to lean out the window and pull yourself up somehow. The two halves of the roof are separated by the clock tower, and there is no railing. There are concrete dividers sectioning out part of the right side into what may have once been a rooftop garden.
✽ Touching the track for more than 2 seconds results in permadeath. If you're able to jump over the track to the field, the grass is lush and green, although it gives more than expected, like a lawn after rain.
✽ There are six ball courts with height-adjustable poles for tennis and volleyball. Very old, falling apart equipment can be found in storage in the auditorium, while brand new ones can be purchased from the student store. The courts are surrounded by 10-foot fall chain link electric fence both between and around them, with a voltage high enough to cause severe burns to death, depending on the duration of contact. Electricity flows through all parts of the fencing except the door handle on the side of each court to enter.
✽ The indoor swimming pool contains separate girls and boys changing rooms, each consisting of 5 changing stalls, 2 showers, a bathroom, and 20 small lockers that do not come with their own locks but you can purchase one from the student store. Swimsuits, floaties, and towels can also be purchased from the student store. The pool is 25 meters by 25 meters, with a shallow end of 3 ft which then drops precipitously towards the deep end, where a flimsy diving board is set up. The deep end seems to continue down for thousands of meters, with light quickly disappearing and pressure becoming immense, and there is no bottom. The water is held at a constant lukewarm, and is very very slightly tinged pink. It tastes strongly of saltwater. The only windows are located on the ceiling like a skylight rather than on the walls, and lights shut off at 6pm, so it is pitch black after sundown. The pool is always open.
✽ The dormitory is open to be moved into, with rooms assignments being ICly first come first served. There is no Resident Assistant in charge. It's a lawless land. Please use the toplevel below for sign-ups.

Autumnal Equinox

✽ September 23 marks the autumnal equinox. Like during the Vernal Equinox, students spend the week cleaning the school and gorintos are set upon the windowsills. Touching a gorinto causes the character to fall into a trance and experience the moments prior to death of the person being honored, up to and including the death, with all the physical and emotional pain that comes with it.
✽ On the morning of the equinox, red spider lilies bloom all across the courtyard and deep into the forest seemingly overnight. From the clock tower or rooftop, characters are able to see the forest surrounding them on all sides is entirely covered in the red flowers up to the crest, as if the entire land were awash with blood.
✽ The wisteria tree starts to shed petals, only a handful a day and impossible to notice compared to the hundreds upon thousands of petals held aloft by the tree, if it weren't for the fact that wherever a petal drops and touches the ground, the grass and flowers in the immediate vicinity are all dried up and dead.
✽ The void continues to grow, expanding outward and reaching up into the floor above.

OOC

✽ Characters in classes 1-B, 1-D, 1-E, 2-C, and 3-E (classes who rose at least one rank in August) find that in the void school, they can start to see the void students' faces instead of them being completely shadow. They look scared, angry, resigned, anything but happy.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Do you not remember him though you drew a rather vivid picture? The one that was attached to meeting you for the club.

( is he going to say his name? no, what if he pops up or something, you never know... )

Is it your diary? It was left here, all by its lonesome, so I thought I'd take it for myself, that's all.

... It has my name on it.

[and it does, actually. written right on the front.]

Who? [thinks...] Oh, right. Soccer guy. Rika told me his name once, but I don't remember what it is. [actually she's just learned that not calling someone by their name is super disrespectful.] He's not allowed to join the club, so if you're here to argue for him, it's not gonna happen.

( takes a look to see her name on it, and he flips it over on the back as if he didn't see the front cover. )

...You should be kind to your seniors, they're meant to help students like you in the long run.

( now komaeda isn't going to fight for him, who does he look like? and rokkun crippled, what can he even do out here aside from sketch everyone else. these thoughts stay in komaeda's mind, a frown appears on his face for a moment before disappearing after. )

He's actually unable to take part, so all you've done is rub salt into the wound.

Good. Mean people don't deserve sports.

[looks at diary. looks back at him. back to the diary. back to him.]

Is he mean or have you forgotten how to understand others...

( big sigh, and no, he won't be giving it back. finder's keepers, loser's weepers! isn't it good enough that he's not reading it anymore, he's not going to bully a child... )

That said, I came here to learn what your club is about... what are the requisites, is there more than what you wrote before?

It's just an excuse to play. Everybody else gets free stuff when they make a club, and I want actual sports equipment, not... [this reminds her to go pick up the shredded pieces from wherever they landed.] I might need this.

... Are you considering joining? I need to get a few people to make it real. [beat] Also, when are you gonna give me my diary back? I need to write about how you're a diary-stealing meanie.

( he watches her pick up the pieces, and he doesn't even remember what that was when he looks at it. his eyes lift from it, to watching stephanie's gaze, following where her eyes go. )

Of course, anything to watch the hope of everyone grow, including you.

( he smiles, not going to give back the book which he emphasizes by not moving his hands off of it, but his index finger taps against it in a small rhythm. )

I'm only one person, so while I will take part... you're still short, so there's nothing wrong with utilizing others.

( even if they're mean. )

If it's a choice between having that mean soccer guy in my club, or not having a club at all, I'll just... build my own equipment! It can't be hard...

[she kneels next to him, grips the book with both hands, and tugs it lightly.]

What's so mean about him, he normally does as told. Then again, it's not like you to take away the happiness of others.

( as she pulls lightly, komaeda presses his mechanical arm down on it, hoping to keep it in place from getting away. he continues prying in her thoughts as he does so. )

If this is truly your diary, there was a part that said, "if I can make people happy here, I will", what happened to that hopeful version of you?

He was mean to me and I don't like him. He can go be unhappy someplace else; I don't want to play with him.

[ahh if she keeps pulling it'll just rip in half... all her memories written down, gone. she doesn't let go, but she does stop pulling, in order to strategize a way to make him let go of it.]

And you better forget whatever you read in there! It's private! I don't go snooping through your private feelings!

You say that he was mean, but what did he do to you? He's harmless. ( to an extent. ) You said in your world... the worst thing that could happen is an argument, to loathe someone like this... has that all changed?

( while he doesn't know what the problem is, maybe whatever rokkun did was able to make something shift in stephanie. there's nothing wrong with that, experiencing new emotions that'll help the female in the long run.

with the diary still in his possession, he looks down at it for a moment. )

Then what do you call our interaction in ethics club by asking such specific question... I only took the liberty of reading something left behind, it just so happened to have information about you.

Well, we're not in my world, are we? [huffs] But, it was an argument. Back when we couldn't go outside at all, he invited me to go play sports, knowing what would happen. And it did happen, and he wanted to act like this place was normal, and it's not, and I started yelling at him, and he got upset back, and he made me say it...

[she actually lets go of the diary... takes a deep breath, because she'd stopped taking those as her words got more manic, busies her hands with smoothing down her skirt.]

You told me to ask you questions, remember? And I don't even know if anything you told me is true. I never lie. So my private thoughts are all true. You shouldn't read them.

It sounds unfair, the way you say that... when you tried to align my vision with yours, but when said to you... it doesn't apply.

( don't think of this as scolding, that's what he hopes, instead there's something not adding up that he's trying to figure out. it started with an argument, the fact that he's aware of more than he lets on, and to be honest, he doesn't understand why anyone would be upset.

and then it stands out: he made me say it. )

No matter what they did, in the end, the words you chose came from out your mouth. You could have said anything else, but from what you said... it sounds specific.

( hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. )

Even with what you said now... that he forced you to say it, I'm unable to believe that myself.

( he breathes in, and then breathes out along with stephanie. with the book no longer being pulled, he thinks about their exchange of letters, the answers that went along with them. )

Or what you told me before was even true? Who is to say everything in this book isn't lies...

Edited 2021-09-05 01:57 (UTC)

He did make me! I never would've said anything like that if he hadn't started everything by being so... Ugh!

[she crosses her arms hard, scowling at the ground.]

Hurting somebody with the person they love most in the world, who they miss more than anything, is... The worst thing a person can do. It hurts more than anything else.

[and she'd never do that. so he had to have made her.]

I told him I'd never play with him, even when playing outside was an option. That's not a lie.

( he could ask who started it, but what does he expect from a child, so he has to take this slow, and deliberate. )

He can't make anyone do anything. ( as if he knows, but what does komaeda know about him aside from he's messy, desperate, and and reckless. he's someone to do everything on his own, he doesn't need anyone else to do it for him, and that's why komaeda believes that he couldn't do anything. though, he sees from stephanie's side, but he's curious. )

...Did you feel like you were backed against a wall, because you didn't understand him, or even this place?

( komaeda doesn't understand having someone they love most in the world outside his ultimates, and then those are people he doesn't even consider people. though, others do find themselves pained by having someone special used against them, especially in a place like this where... there's only so many of them, and knowing rokkun lacks information in a few departments. )

If so, the obvious lie is that he made you... when it was your own choice. ( he sighs, not disappointed, but as if he wants to try and reason with her. perhaps dealing with the li'l ultimates prepared him for this, to be able to speak with children. ) If you can say wholeheartedly that you don't want to play with him anymore, you can accept that you said what you did on your own accord. Isn't it better to live without having such a negative weight on your shoulders?

... I understand him. He's a coward that chose whatever his own stupid goals are over the people that are supposed to matter most, and he's jealous 'cause he knows it.

[she glances at the diary for a moment, as if the fact that komaeda's holding it means that Diary Thoughts can, for a moment, become Out Loud Thoughts.]

It wasn't like it wasn't true. What I said. How can you say you love somebody if you gave up remembering them? I would never do that.

A coward.

( he repeats it once, then twice, as if he's trying to get used to it on his lips. komaeda has called him an idiot, but for someone who is trying to build their hope, to have some sort of goal...

... )

So if you don't remember a person... you can't love them, isn't there something poetic in not even knowing their existence but having such an attachment? ( to say something like that, especially when he's suffering from an illness where he'll forget everyone one day. stephanie doesn't know, but he does, and it makes a person wonder is it wrong to love? )

Ah... what do I know.

( komaeda doesn't know how to love, and he doesn't have family to project that onto. he hums in thought, leaning back a little as he looks up at the sky. )

At that time, did you know how different this school is, and what it does to those who are here in terms of their memories? Even I have odd ones that aren't the truth, but it's true... that's not a lie, he does love his family.

He probably thinks he does, but how could he? He's not the same person who loved them; he gave up that person when he gave up them. He's just some stranger, now. He wouldn't know them if they were walking down the hallway. He doesn't love his family; he loves shadows on a wall.

The memories I have in my head aren't mine. [she taps her temple.] They're from a Stephanie that existed here. You can't be somebody you don't remember being, so I'm not her, and she wasn't me. [so I never died.] And Rokkun isn't the Rokkun that loved his two siblings. [so I wasn't cruel.]

...

( that memory he witnessed, the way everything fell together, that boy was still the same idiot that he knows today — there's key descriptors of being rokkun, and they were under the umbrella of every one. komaeda knows that, and to him... he knows stephanie is wrong, and how wouldn't she know? it's not like she knows the truth about that. )

He'll always be the person who loves his siblings, that's something that you can't choose for him. You can for your own existence, but to force a narration on another person in a such a manner... it's selfish, and shows lack of comprehension of what they're facing.

( komaeda won't apply that knowledge on himself, because the other version of him in his head can die for all he cares. it just doesn't fit his character, he doesn't know anything about that komaeda, he only knows about him as of now. )

I've seen him with his siblings, in that instance, I guess it's called... an act of love.

... Whatever. [a phrase to end uncomfortable conversations. it always seemed to work for him. she crosses her arms again, glowering.]

If you like him so much, go marry him. I'm only forcing it 'cause you're asking about it. Nobody else would care about this.

I just want to see the bonds of everyone merge together, and having such negativity will break that... I'm only worried for your hope.

( sighs!! now stephanie seems upset with him, but it's okay. )

Everyone's hope is important.

( yeah, he's ignoring that comment. )

Nuh-uh. You've never gone around bothering me about people I obviously didn't like before. And one of those was one of your Ultimates!

[and, because the best way to redirect a conversation about something you don't wanna talk about is to force it towards something someone else doesn't wanna talk about...]

You like him. You like him like him. Admit it.

...You didn't like an Ultimate?

( listen, ouma was on his own, and komaeda believed in his hope. he was doing just fine. )

I like everyone, the friendships that we all share... the hope we make together. I like that a lot.

( he smiles... :] )

Why hate each other when we can count on one another? And if we want to stab each other in the back, its easier said and done!

[mildly] If Kokichi fell into the pool and started drowning, I would go get him a life preserver, but I'd have to think about it a little first.

... Well, you're not getting that. Can't you make some kind of hope from me hating his guts? You're good at that sort of thing.

...You'd give it some thought, and his hope would have to hold out until you retrieved it! I like this concept.

( ultimates aren't say from his insanity, they just get praised more. ) Because he's an Ultimate, he's be able to overcome no matter how long you think.

( turning hatred into hope is so much easier than being told you like a person because you stripped away their chance of ever playing sports again. )

I can. But, you have to interact with him.

Autumn Semester

Setting Updates

Autumnal Equinox

OOC

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