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wake up

You open your eyes. And then immediately squeeze them shut as a cloud of chalk dust gets clapped in your face, the student next to you looking surprised— but the sort of surprised as if they're faking it, barely suppressing a laugh. "What're you dozing off for, transfer student?" they ask, going back to wiping clean the chalkboard you two are standing in front of. "The sooner we get everything cleaned up, the sooner we can go home!" Another classmate tosses a wet rag at the side of your face, laughing as if a joke— if it weren't strangely warm to the touch, with dark red stains smelling strongly of iron.

All characters open their eyes and wake up in one of the classrooms around school. Whatever they remember last, it's lost in a thick, sleepy fog, the drowsiness still wearing off and making it difficult to reconcile the fact that they've never seen this classroom or these people in their lives, but somehow, it feels like they've been here forever. The other students all act familiar towards you, calling you by name and encouraging you to help clean the classrooms as part of observing the Vernal Equinox. Buckets of soapy water are set on the desks around the classrooms, light pink suds spilling over the sides, and both students and faculty can be seen hard of work scrubbing dark, stubborn stains out of the walls and floors. "It must be absolutely spotless," they murmur under their breaths. "All evidence must be erased."

You don't have to stay and clean. You could throw the rag back into a bucket and flip these strangers the bird and exit the classroom. But those who don't help clean even a little will find that they leave sticky red footprints wherever they walk, creating more work for everybody else and becoming very easy to track down and """accidentally""" knock over the backside of the head with a mop handle. Besides, it's not like you can walk out of the school and get back to whatever you were doing before. Your feet may bring you to the front door on autopilot, but the doors do not open for you, and neither do any of the windows no matter how hard you try to pry them open or kick them in.

Careful, though. On some windowsills, particularly on the third and fourth floors, rests a stack of five flat stones one on top of another: a gorinto to those who recognize such a thing, a pile of rocks to those who do not. The stones are all damp with water, topped with a scattering of wisteria flowers, and flanked by cheap packaged snacks. Whether on accident or on purpose, the moment you touch any of it—-

wake up

You open your eyes. The last thing you remember is touching a wet stone or trying to swipe the rice cracker beside it, and in the next moment, you're somewhere else inside the school. Characters who touch the gorinto or its offerings will find themselves pulled into a memory of high school life, one that feels like theirs, although they recognize that that's impossible. There's the feeling of being classmates with the other characters- perhaps two characters are seat partners, or best friends, or rivals, or club members- but despite the familiarity, do not know each other's names or recall ever seeing their faces before. Essentially, live your pre-established cr high school au dreams.

The memories fade in and out of different scenarios, but they all start off the same: You open your eyes.

You open your eyes and the inside of your left wrist is stinging; you stop scratching, pulling your other hand away before the angry red lines on your skin splits and bleeds. Somebody calls your name, just as you see a pan slide off the stovetop out of the corner of your eye, and the stinging on your wrist flares to a searing burn, hot oil splattering you and the person next to you.

You open your eyes. You're flat on your back in a room that smells of paint thinner, your chest is heavy, and it's so hard to breathe. Something is crushing your throat- a fluffy white cat with golden eyes, purring and kneading away, but then somebody calls your name and its fluff puffs twice its size in surprise, claws sinking into your throat, hooking and tearing as the cat scampers away.

You open your eyes. A kendo shinai comes down hard on your head, the one in your hand failing to come up quick enough to guard, your classmates groaning in sympathy all around you. Your head is spinning, you feel sick.

You open your eyes. You and a friend are seated side by side in the clock tower, back to the walls and feeling the resounding toll of the bell fill your entire being as the count reaches ten, eleven, twelve. The world turns to silence. Your friend opens their mouth to speak, but you cannot hear them. You cannot hear anything.

(tw: implied suicide) You open your eyes. Your classmate sits on the other side of your desk, a spread of sandwiches and juice boxes between you and the window to your side providing a clear view of the upper branches of the wisteria tree in full bloom. And the strangled look on an upperclassman's face as they fall headfirst from the sky on the other side of the glass, hurtling towards the pavement of the courtyard below.

You open your eyes—-

You're standing in front of a window, cold fingers wrapped around your wrist and pulling it away from the pile of stones. Perhaps another character has come to your rescue, or else one student in particular who shakes his head, whispers "don't," and walks away.

wake up

You open your eyes and wipe a bit of drool off the corner of your mouth. There's really no shame, when half the students sitting around you in the auditorium are half asleep as well. As if coming out of a dream, the characters don't remember getting here, just that they are now- sitting in uncomfortably hard plastic chairs in the back rows in the auditorium, the school principal's flat, droning voice reverberating oddly off the walls of the large room. No matter how hard you try, you cannot get up out of your seat.

"...and now, let us congratulate the graduating class," the principal says, stepping back from the podium. A single student rises to her feet and meets the principal at the center of the stage, her long dark hair falling across her face as she bows and receives her diploma. "Congratulations, graduate. May your life be full and prosperous. Please, if you would say a few words..."

The girl straightens and pushes her hair out of her face with one hand— she has no other hand, the entire sleeve of her right rolled all the way up to the shoulder and pinned flat. She forgoes the podium and the microphone, but somehow, her voice rings out clearly and reaches all the way to the back of the room: "Keep your eyes open."

With that parting message, she steps off the stage, disappearing into the mass of students who stand and fill the room with applause, drawing the graduation ceremony to a close. Characters find that they can now get up and move, which is a good thing because the other students are all pushing and shoving to get out of the auditorium and out the front doors, phasing right through the closed doors. Like a sieve, the school empties out, leaving behind the dregs.

wake up

Your eyes are open and the school is quiet. None of the students or faculty remain in the school, and all the staff— the principal, faculty, nurse, and counselor's— offices are locked. A skinny black cat flicks its tail from where it sits on top one of the lockers, where characters can find a copy of the school calendar showing the next two weeks to be spring vacation, with the school being closed for the holiday.

At least, with school vacated, it's clear from those left who's in the same boat and allows the chance for exploration away from prying eyes of the other students and staff. Introductions are probably in order, a discussion of what the fuck is going on, maybe also a plan of attack— or a plan for survival, at the very least, because there is no way out of this school. What ingredients are left in the home economics kitchen is going to have to last everybody the next two weeks. The student store is already empty. The water runs pink. The vending machines don't respond to jostling or being kicked over and brought to the ground, only the last dozen "merit points" on your PDA that you can't earn any more of, with class out of session. The snack you've been hiding in your locker should probably be saved as a last resort. The cats are starting to look tasty.

Hang in there. School will be starting again real soon.

OOC

✽ Characters experience the recurring feeling of drifting in (school life) and out (canon life) of sleep up until the graduation ceremony, after which they will have full awareness and come to their senses. Pre-established cr is possible to some extent, as a varying degree of familiarity may remain, but all characters will be strangers to one another unless they know each other in canon. All npcs will know the characters' names, but characters will not know each other's names until introduced.

✽ The second prompt occurs upon a character touching a gorinto or any of the offerings surrounding it. While touching it, characters fall into a trance and experience different scenes of high school life, with examples given in the prompt but players are free to play out any aspect of normal school life taking place at any time during the school year.

✽ stopit is an npc and will be available for threading in his toplevel during the vernal equinox and graduation day, but not during spring break. After the game opens, he will be available as a student for threading on the npc contact page. The graduating student will not be available for threading in this TDM.

✽ During spring break, all npc students and faculty will be absent from the school, with exception of one white cat and one black cat. For this TDM, in addition to the areas greyed out and inaccessible on the locations page, the faculty office and nurse's office are locked and unavailable, as there is no staff. The library and club rooms remain open, but supplies will not replenish themselves.

✽ As a reminder, all doors and windows leading outside are locked and cannot be broken. From midnight until 6AM, all sound disappears from the world. Characters are free to use their PDA as a network, but it is text (and shitty touchpad art) only and all threads are public.

✽ TDM threads may be used for bonus activity after April AC is submitted.

Comments

[moraloutrage]

I see, I see... How fascinating! You must be from some different country. [That's the only possibility he can think of at the moment!

As Meng Yao raises that possibility, Ishimaru slows his pace, and a wave of dread begins to wash over his features. To think that even this could still be part of Monokuma's trap...]

...I... I cannot say for sure at this moment! I have yet to see signs of any other elements from... ah... my previous situation. [No Monokuma, none of his classmates, no sign of a killing game.] Rather, I am sure that this is an entirely different situation! We... may have just been locked in this school accidentally for what could be a short period of time. That may be all that it is!

[Or at least, that's what Ishimaru is hoping beyond hope for.]

[filialdeception]

[ He'll nod. He had also considered the different country aspect, given the man's name was also unusual compared to what he was used to hearing. Though that also extended towards the others in this school as well.

Meng Yao paid close attention, however, to the other's reaction to his question. On one hand, he supposed that it was good there were no signs of a repeat situation, though on another it made it difficult to know what to expect. ]

That could be the case. Though I wonder why they felt the need to reinforce an exit from a school so strongly? You would think they'd consider that someone might be left behind.

[ At the very least, finding another door didn't take too long, since large buildings like this had them in plentiful amounts. So it was no surprise they were already coming onto another one that led to the outside. ]

[moraloutrage]

[Ishimaru soon regains his composure and picks up his pace as he chews on that question. At least this doesn't seem difficult to him!]

A school is a valued hall of learning. It should be kept safe from troublemakers and all sorts of ne'er-do-wells at a time when no one is in the school to keep watch! So, it does not seem strange to me that the school has been secured so effectively... [At least, he doesn't want to think about how strange it is.]

The puzzling thing is how an honorable school administration could overlook so many people being left in here accidentally! They - surely they should have conducted a thorough search of the school before looking up! I should seek out a way to raise an official complaint with the board of education...!

[filialdeception]

...I suppose so.

[ Meng Yao would disagree.

Still, he wouldn't know how it was in different countries or lands. But he will listen closely to the latter half of Ishimaru's observations - or rather, his criticism. ]

The fact they didn't bother is odd. Honestly, more than odd, it's suspicious. Something strange has been going on here for awhile now, but that just makes it worse.

...If you can manage to contact this 'board of education', that'd be good. Though we might have to wait awhile to be able to do that.

[ Finally, they reach that other door and Meng Yao gave it a few tugs, but uh...he's always been painfully lacking in physical strength so he knew it was a lost cause on the first attempt. He'll step back and shake his head. ]

[moraloutrage]

It is true that there is something very odd about this while situation. ...B-but it still may be some big misunderstanding to be resolved in time! ...I... will be sure to contact them should I find any means of outgoing communication!

[The lack of that is also worrying, and another reminder of the Hope's Peak situation. But he tries not to dwell on that! After all, there is now another door to try out. He focuses his attention intently on the door and refuses to be deterred, even as Meng Yao's attempt seems fruitless.]

No luck? No worries! Leave this to me!

[With that, he proceeds to practically throw himself at the door and commences another aggressive struggle to open it!]

[filialdeception]

[ He'll watch Ishimaru's impressive attempt to make that door budge! Honestly, if Sect Leader Nie were here, he didn't doubt any door would stand a chance. Doubly so if someone like this guy and the Sect Leader tackled it at once.

As the other was going at it pretty fiercely, Meng Yao supposed he will raise his concerns. ]

It seems bigger than a simple misunderstanding, don't you think? If there were just a couple of us I can see how a mistake like that would occur, but...it's hard for me to swallow when there's more than a handful of us trapped.

[moraloutrage]

[He makes various grunting and huffing noises while he wages war with the door! A door that shows no sign of coming loose or breaking anytime soon.]

Grf... You do raise a valid point, Meng Yao-kun! I cannot deny that... that the number of us trapped here seems quite ridiculous! It must have been a... an unbelievably colossal blunder! [Or something planned and calculated.]

[filialdeception]

...-kun?

[ He blinked at that, and then frowned a little as he watched Ishimaru's attempts continue to be rather fruitless despite how hard he's trying. ]

The elders who would be in charge of a place of education usually wouldn't be so careless to cause a big blunder, or so I'd assume. Though it's not impossible, and I still would really hope that's all it is. Maybe...if there was some type of outside influence that distracted them or something like that.

[ Well, with that being said, this was the first floor, and though crawling out of a window wasn't the most elegant thing for them to be doing, Meng Yao figured it couldn't hurt to see if that was an option. So, he headed straight over to a window nearby and tried his best to get it open, though after four or five tries, he'll give up, and shake his head once more. ]

[moraloutrage]

...Ah, yes. [He says as he slows down his struggle for the moment.] That is merely an honorific in my language. If- if it makes you uncomfortable, than I can amend it!

[He then seems more unsure as Meng Yao lays out his logic.]

An outside interference...? Yes, I suppose that is possible. That does seem more likely than proud educators being so negligent! I- I wonder what it could have been, in that case, which had such an effect on them...! Once we get out of here, we will have to ask!!

[With that, he throws himself at the door with renewed vigor!]

[filialdeception]

No, it's fine.

[ His words were said rather quickly. Far more than he had uttered them before. It's rare anyone would try to address him in a nice way. Then, he as he listened to other's words, Meng Yao couldn't help but wonder...

Should he call the other Kiyotaka-xiong? Or maybe he could try using the same honorific. He hoped he wouldn't offend him; he just wanted to extend the same courtesy, that's all. ]

Though, we should be prepared to keep pressing for answers if we're not given it when we ask. Our situation doesn't seem like it'd be straightforward enough to easily obtain them even if we went to the source.

Also...do you mind if I extended the same to you? If I called you something like "Kiyotaka-kun"? I don't really know the meaning behind the honorific either, but I assume you can just tell me.

[moraloutrage]

Do not worried, I am not prepared to give up easily! [As his battle with the door shows!] I will keep on doing everything I can to get word out to anyone with control over this situation and to get us all out of here!

[He does calm down a bit as he talks more about honorifics.]

Well, most honorifics in my culture are a term of respect! Not everyone uses them, but it is the polite thing to do! Calling someone by just their own name could be considered to be too personal. "-kun" is one that can be used for a variety of people, such as young people, friends or one's juniors! It is usually associated with males, though that is not a hard rule! "-san" is another viable option that is used even more generally! And that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to honorifics...

I would not mind if you used them! It would be even more polite to use my last name instead. But, as you are a foreigner, I would not place any strong expectation on you to use it. Do as you wish!

[filialdeception]

...You really do seem like the type of person who wouldn't give up so easily.

[ He could allow himself a small smile at that, finding it entirely believable. Ishimaru really seemed to be someone of good moral character from what he could tell, and actions really did speak louder than words.

But, as the other male went on explaining, Meng Yao absorbed what he said and gave it some careful thought. He had been admittedly overly excitable a few moments ago, and he knew he should temper that. They were still in a situation where they knew little; he couldn't be so caught up in the moment that he forgot their circumstances or that he forgot his place. ]

Then it'd be "Ishimaru-kun", wouldn't it? Regardless, thank you for your generosity to this one who still has many things to learn. After some careful thought, it may be better for me to address you in a way that can be considered an equivalent to your honorific, by using one from my own culture. Which would be Ishimaru-xiong. You would be amenable to this as well?

[moraloutrage]

Thank you! It is all part of being a hard worker!

[He bases everything around the value of hard work. So he's not about to give up on anything easily! Including his current nemesis, the door.

Ishimaru nods along at the 'Ishimaru-kun' to confirm that he would be correct and hears out the rest of his reasoning. As he finishes, Ishimaru pauses his battle to look back at Meng Yao, with a small smile.]

I would be quite agreeable! In fact, I feel honored! [It's fascinating to learn a piece of his new friend's culture as well.] It certainly sounds like the best way to bridge this gap to me, Meng Yao-kun!