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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.

(tw: implied suicide)

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

npc contact page

locations page

✽ 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.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Please leave any questions here.

[

stopit is an npc played by

birdseed who can be found setting up some of the gorintos around the school during the vernal equinox, and lingering back in the auditorium for a short while after the graduation ceremony. He may not be the most helpful with questions, but he seems more willing to talk than the other npcs, and you take what you can get.

If you really want to thread with a cat, I am also willing to rp a cat. ]

A few questions -

- Are there any history textbooks in the library? If so: is there any information that can be gleaned from them?
- Also: are the books written in any particular language?
- Given that the school rules note 'magic', are there any textbooks on magic? If so, is there any particular magic that can be found in those textbooks?
- And do any of the books overall have any sort of publication date on them? If so, what is the most recent year? Earliest?
- Is there anything to find in the classrooms in terms of supplies? Also, do the desks in the classrooms have anything in them at the moment?

There are history textbooks! Most of them refer to Earth and its countries and follows rl world history up until the 1990s, but there are also mentions of other inhabited planets and universes. Characters not from Earth will NOT find mention of their home anywhere in these books, however. Strangely (or perhaps on purpose) the history books are somewhat intermixed with the fiction section instead of the other reference books.

The books are all written in a language similar to jindai moji, as is all the other writing seen around the school, but it understandable to all characters with a bit of squinting.

There are no textbooks on magic currently on the shelves, but asking the librarian about it will reveal that the books to exist, but are being kept elsewhere at the moment. The shelves only hold so many books, and you're here to learn physics and economics, not set the library on fire.

The books overall have publication dates ranging from the 1500s to the 1990s, but appear to be curated by the librarian. Fiction novels tend to be dated much earlier, as classics are classics, while textbooks and reference books tend towards the more recent years as they need to be up to date.

Classrooms contain the typical school supplies of papers, writing material, etc. Most of the desks are empty, since it's the end of the school year, but characters doing a thorough search may find things left behind by other students, like snacks getting real close to their expiration date, failed exams that can never ever be shown to their parents, a handheld game console whose game cartridge was unfortunately confiscated and never returned, etc. Normal high school student belongings are all fair game!

→cleaning
[ It's extremely unusual for Miyuki Shirogane to fall asleep in class. Extremely wired most of the time, he typically overcame his insomnia pretty well during his studies, and even after school he didn't keep time to doze. Waking to dust exploding in his face caused him to recoil, coughing away.

It felt... strange. Had he really been assigned clean-up duty today? The others could stand to wait a second--

The others? Wait...

Hey, Shirogane! Hurry it up, already! He swears he hears someone call out to him, a voice distant enough yet one he feels he's heard constantly over the past year. Sighing, Miyuki gets to his feet, coolly stepping over to take the bucket from his desk. ]

Fine, fine. Let's get this over with.

[ So, he'll be found having rolled up his sleeves, scrubbing at a windowsill momentarily before he pauses. Contemplating. ]

Is this... [ Is... this right? ]

→living
[ He hadn't been paying attention when he had accidentally grazed against the stones and suddenly...

As he stands there, he can feel his pulse racing a bit, his palm flush against the window as he tries to catch his breath. Constantly, he's seen different moments of his high school life, different moments where he's sure he's seen friends that he's familiar with.

It feels like a cycle of nightmares, and it'll take him a while before he's dragged away.

It leads to him standing around near the gorinto, pretending to read a book he had found in one of the classrooms. If he sees a character come close to it or decide to reach for one of the snacks, he'll appear. ]

Hold it! Hands off.

[ With all of the authority in his voice he can muster. ]

→washing
[ Reality's finally starting to settle in, as the school emptied out and he, along with certain other students, were left to fend for themselves. It took him a second, and he might have contributed to the original discussion, trying to remain composed and stating that they should definitely search for clues.

Immediately, he's offered to check out one of the restrooms to see if he can find anything.

If someone does come in, they may have actually come in to what his true goal was: hurriedly attempting to wash his face. ]

This isn't happening, this isn't happening, I'm dreaming, somebody wake me up-- [ As he fiddles with the faucet until finally the water starts flowing and... it's pink.

Through a strained voice, he wonders aloud. ]

I can't even tell if the water is safe... ugh, get a hold of yourself, stay calm, Miyuki...!

[ Help this poor lad. ]

→wildcard
[ feel free to reach out to me on discord @ perpendicular#5335 if you wanna figure something out! i'm also cool participating in a previous high school au memory. ]

Edited 2021-03-21 02:54 (UTC)

Bwahh--

[ Ala takes a hop back from the windowsill, guilty hands up because she was absolutely about to take the package of Meiji biscuits, the ones with chocolate that look like mushrooms. ]

Aw... Not even one? I was kinda hoping someone just forgot it there, but if they're yours, then please share! [ She claps her hands together. ] Pretty pretty please?

[ As if asking nicely is all it takes to convince. ]

↳ option i.

[Cleaning was a pretty common class duty to go through, although doing something like this as a part of what seems to be something celebratory...

... is it something that you'd normally celebrate?

It's kind of strange, really.

But more importantly...

It feels off, somehow. Like there's something wrong. Not just with this place, but... the words that they use in particular.

Of course, it's because of that she tries to find someone else, looking a little desperate, but also strangely uncomfortable.]

[She calls out, pushing politeness as if that could possibly work.]

[There's suspicion there.

A heavy amount of doubt that's simply settled and made its way there. It's probably fine, though.]

↳ option ii.

Fuck.

[After the graduation ceremony ends, she finds herself cursing in frustration, even if the feeling of memories that don't slot correctly into place, or living a completely different life is familiar to her.

In fact, it makes her even more annoyed, and now that the place seems practically emptied out and she's essentially her whole self again...

It's time to investigate a little bit. Which is why people can find her snooping around the various rooms that are unlocked.

Of course, if she finds someone near a locked door, she can't help but smile, her eyes brimming with curiosity:]

[Sometimes, you gotta do a B&E.

Otherwise, you might find her in the library, looking through the massive amount of books for answers as she essentially tries to memorize everything she possibly can.

People might even hear her murmur words like That's strange... and Is this like that, then...? but she doesn't seem to be paying much mind to the others around her. Although she wouldn't mind being bothered... probably.]

↳ option wildcard.

[Want to play something else not written above? Feel free to plot something out with me, either via PM or hitting me up at

tsundereban, I'm willing to write up a custom starter! As a heads up: Himeko herself is coming in from the end of the light novels, so if anybody is trying to avoid spoilers, feel free to also let me know.]

Edited 2021-03-21 03:51 (UTC)

A. Clean Record

[When Ishimaru wakes up in the classroom, he feels no doubts about the current situation. In fact, the idea of cleaning is very appealing to him! A clean classroom is an ideal learning environment, after all. Best to scrub and scrub away until no traces remain of anything to sully one's memory.

And so, this intense young man quickly gets to work on scrubbing down every inch of the floor without question! He will engage in a little bit of chatter with anyone nearby, while trying to focus on his task.

One thing that can easily break his reverie is if he sees someone leaving - with a trail of red footprints. Furious, Ishimaru will try shouting at the offender.]

Hold it right there! This is no time to wander off! Can you not see the mess you are making?!

B. Locked In

[After witnessing the graduation ceremony, things feel a lot clearer. And a lot more confusing at the same time! That's right, he was supposed to go to Hope's Peak Academy! ...But then, things went horribly wrong. He was trapped in the school and the killing game, and so many awful things happened...

And now, here he is. In a different school. One that seems to be messing with his head. Ishimaru has a bad feeling about this, so he quickly heads towards the front door. Once he sees it, he's initially relieved. There's no sealed vault door - it's just a normal door. Or at least it seems.

Then he tries to open the door. And he tries again, and again, and again. He struggles, practically trying to rip the door off its hinges. Because he got out! Somehow, he had left Hope's Peak Academy! And now, he's trapped in a different school instead?!]

Come on!! Open up! [His frustration and rage build up, and his hair flashes yellow.] Dammit!

C. No Escape

[Later on, Ishimaru has regained his cool. Or some of his cool, at least. Enough to try to speak to others. He knows that they'll have to work together to make it out, just as in Hope's Peak Academy. So he'll try to address others in the middle of halls or classrooms. His arms folded, he shouts out to anyone who will listen to him.]

Greetings! My name is Kiyotaka Ishimaru! I- I believe that we should discuss the current situation and perhaps organize our findings! Let us... let us all do our best to get out of here safely! [It feels like a lifetime ago when he tried to take charge like that. In a way, maybe it has been. But he won't let that stop him from trying to address anyone!

...Unless he's at the library. There, he tries to address others loudly, only to trail off and look around anxiously. This does not feel right!]

D. Wildcard

[Feel free to make up an alternate prompt, or hit me up for plotting!]

Absolutely not.

[ It would be, if they were his. As it is, he really didn't mean to scare Ala at all... so, time to practice his story. ]

It's... it's an offering to one of the school's legends. If you disturb it, something bad might happen. It's better to just... let it be.

[ He's not quite as good at lying, but it's to protect her from... from whatever the hell that just was. ]

Oh my god! I'm in the boys' room!

[Hana's screech echoes in the bathroom as she exits a stall to find Miyuki at the sink. She stares for a second, before deciding to play it off like she had meant to be here.]

Which is exactly where I wanted to be, because well, if we're stuck here, by ourselves, we should explore all of the school and that includes the bathrooms we're not supposed to be in.

[She brushes past Miyuki to look at the water.]

Oh, it's pink! How cute~!

Edited 2021-03-21 04:07 (UTC)

Hmmmmmmm...

[ Ala taps a finger to her chin, standing in front of the principal's office and feeling the goosebumps crawl up her bare shins with the draft coming out of it. If there's one place in this school to get into, she thinks it must be here: the principal's got to hold answers, and if there's a draft, doesn't that mean there's an open window? ]

Aside from kicking it down? I bet one of the cats can fit under the door! Have you ever seen one of those videos? They just schwoop! through, like jello!

[ OH.

She takes two more steps back, a lot more hastily than before, and her hands go to clasp behind her back so there's no way anybody can even begin to accuse her of touching the snacks. ]

Ehh... So the school's legend likes cute snacks. [ That sounds off. But Ala nods to herself anyways, because who doesn't like cute snacks? She gets it. ]

Do we have to leave the offering there until it rots? Or is it like in some shrines, where it's a free-for-all the day after?

[ ...haha. Ala can only laugh silently, but her shoulders shake with it, seeing Ishimaru's mouth open and close but there being no sound that comes it. It had scared her at first when she entered the library and couldn't even hear the sound of her own footsteps, skipping as she tends to do, but this? This is kind of funny.

She waves to get Ishimaru's attention and cups her hands around her mouth in a mime of shouting, then pumps her fist in the air. Try harder! You can do it! ]

Cleaning Duty;

[Slap. The sound of the washcloth colliding with the side of her face seems to reverberate through her whole head. Rachel feels it slip like a living thing down the side of her face before it glances off her shoulder and down to the ground with the same wet splatting sound.

"Eeeeh, do you not have any reactions or something?" The words set off a chorus of laughter amongst the gathered students. It's both light-hearted and filled with viewed passive aggressiveness at the same time.

Oi, Ray! Wake up, will ya? Things are coming into better focus now and the feeling of disorientation is receding enough for Rachel in her continued muteness to kneel down enough to pluck up the washcloth at her feet.

She pauses, holding the lump of wet material in her hand. Pink suds drip from it and she wrinkles her nose just a little. It smells like...]

Blood.

Highschool Dreams;

[Rachel had her wrist in a white-knuckled grip as she stands, head reeling from the dizzying display. A name called, the purr of a cat, the tolling of the bell ringing through her body and her friend --

Her friend. A friend? What friend. She had never --

Suddenly the sensation of someone being close shoots through her like a bolt of electricity.
She turns sharply, eyes wide and knuckles as white as ever and face just etched with startling fear.]

Zack?

[She knows the moment that singular word rushes out in a tight breath that it isn't correct. Yet it feels like the only word she wants to say.

No, this was a friend. A classmate. Why doesn't she know them?]

Left to Roam;

[Things are beginning to feel more grounded now. Rachel is beginning to get her bearings at least. The school is easy to navigate at least and she doesn't ask many questions about why that is. Most schools were laid out in similar fashions, yes?

As the realization of their plight settles on the gathered students Rachel listens to much of the discussion with the cold expression of a statue. Others have tried the offices already and declare them locked and so on.

This is when Rachel finally speaks up, the statue of a girl's voice as soft as one might expect from someone who looks so bland expression-wise.]

Have you looked for ventilation systems into the offices?

[Hey, it's worked for her before, don't knock it.]

Home Ec;

[With few other options survival is key. And if Rachel if good at anything it's managing to survive on little to nothing. It helps that she's tiny to begin with but she knows how to ration things out.

That's what folks can find her doing in the cooking portion of the Home Economics' rooms. She's dug out whatever was left in the cabinets and has sat everything out on the counters. Whatever pots and pans there are are laid out as well.

She's likely delving into the fridge whenever someone else walks in, taking count of whatever ingredients may be left in there as well.]

Wildcard;

[Feel free to throw down any other prompts here. PMs are open for your plotting needs!]

Edited (formatting) 2021-03-21 04:19 (UTC)

[She's been caught! Hana abhors cleaning, and though it did seem like she should, like she was meant to and had maybe done it several times before, she couldn't go through with it. Not when the soapy water started to make her nail polish flake. But... mess?]

What mess?

[Hana looks around for a moment; her uniform is pristine. The skirt may be a little short, but surely it's within dress code limits. There's no mustard stains from that turkey sandwich she only vaguely recalls eating. She catches sight of the red footprints and gasps dramatically. They're hers!]

What did I step in!?

[That's more concerning to her than cleaning up her tracks.]

a. [ This was starting to get frustrating.

Never mind that she had woken up and had been made fun of by some of her classmates (which, fine, the room looked like a disaster anyway), but now that she was actually at the front door, it wasn't opening? As much as she had pulled and yanked and kicked and pounded at the door, nothing seemed to get it unlocked as hard as she tried. So, she's decided to take matters into her own hands, which results in her tracking down one of her classmates... this one, right here? ]

You! [ As she walks right up to her target, arms folded and sizing them up. ] Finished cleaning for the day? Good. Help me get the door open.

[ No, you don't get context. No, she doesn't know if you were in her classroom or not... weirdly enough. But she is conscripting you in her battle against the front door. ]

b. [ Shortly after the graduation ceremony and everything's fallen back into place, there's a moment of worry... instantly followed up by a bit of excitement. This whole thing was weird, it was hard to tell where her time at Kouyouen ended and her time at Yogen began, and she should be scared out of her wits. But at the same time, this was absolutely certainly a mystery. Why she had been brought here, why there were others who had the same thing happen to them, and really... what this school even was.

So once introductions have been had, Haruhi immediately starts on her own investigation. She can be found in two places:

First, the faculty office. If no one was around, it was only natural to check out where the teachers typically worked. It looked like the cabinets were locked for the most part, but that's not really stopping her from snooping around a bit, searching under the tables for any sign of... well, anything! No stone left unturned after all.

Second, the home ec wing. It was only natural to look for supplies if they were going to survive here, right? Finding the kitchen was important, as was making a note of what was there. At this point, it finally dawns on her... ]

This has to last us for a while, huh? [ That might be a problem, depending on how long they'll be there and how many students are around. ]

c. [ Well, at the end of the first day, Haruhi tinkers with the PDA and sends a message to the student forum. ]

►H.SUZUMIYA

Hey! Make sure to read this!

If we're all going to stay here overnight, we'll need to find a good place to stay. I've checked around and I can't find a dormitory, so it's best we try to make our own arrangements! If you come across anything that can act as a blanket or a pillow, let me know about it!

Also, try to keep in touch! We're in here together, and we've gotta get out together too! Over and out!

[ She... didn't think that through too much in terms of security, but what's the worst that can happen? ]

d. ((this is the wild card option! feel free to reach out/pm if you wanna plot something!))

[ Oh... hm. Rachel seems to be hard at work, so Ala decides she'd better not bother her, tiptoeing into the room as if her presence hasn't already been announced with the way she'd been skipping down the halls and had to swing the door open to get inside in the first place.

Don't mind her! She's just here for food, naturally, because why else would somebody be interested in the home ec room? Nonperishables have been moved out of the cabinets and onto the counters, which is all a disappointing lack of heavily processed foods. Ingredients aren't always the most fun to eat... But Ala spots a bar of semi-sweet baking chocolate, and that's good enough for a snack. Just going to... go ahead and take this. ]

a. i know that sweet warm taste, and the bitter trace (cleaning)
Hey! [Ritsuka barely flinches as the chalk dust creeps into her air ducts, her cough quickly turning into a snort-giggle. She lightly tosses a chalk-laden eraser at the back of her assailant's head, says,] Alright, alright. I'm on it, jeez, [catches the washcloth lobbed her way, and-

The sharp iron odor hits her nose, bombarding her with grisly and very, very real memories in the process. Ritsuka freezes for a moment, considering the wet rag, before shaking her head and attacking the board with the washcloth. She crawls back through her dream-addled memories as she works, trying and failing to pin down when, exactly, she arrived at whatever this place was from... the Border? Novum Chaldea? She wasn't exactly new to waking up in unfamiliar places with only a hazy recollection of how she got there, but usually- okay, there have been a few times when Ritsuka's memory was scrambled in the process, but at least there was almost always someone else there who could explain what was going on.

Still, though. It wasn't exactly an extraordinary occurrence. Although she can't help but let out a rueful sigh, Ritsuka continues her task with vigor.] Just another Tuesday, I guess.

...or Wednesday. Saturday?

Yeah, Saturday.

Oh, here you go. [She passes her bucket over to the next student over who needs it.]

b. it never hurts to give thanks to the local gods (shrines)
[Traveling the world left Ritsuka with odd habits. She picked up a taste for just about anything that's edible, for one, although that isn't to say Ritsuka didn't have an appreciation for fine cuisine. Learning how to sleep standing up was an important talent, too (although several people back home would argue that peculiar habit had a different cause entirely).

Picking up the customs of places that she stayed in for more than a few days was bound to happen, too. This is especially true with Uruk—the fact that she can speak Ancient Sumerian semi-intelligibly was a testament to that. She also gained an appreciation for small acts of devotion, thanks to Siduri. An offering to the local gods, whatever she could spare. A short prayer, if she could at least fumble her way through pronouncing it. Having a few friends who were literal divinities made it easier to swallow... and seeing Ishtar's face light up when Ritsuka had left some bread for her at a shrine definitely made it worth it, if nothing else.

So when she sees a gorinto shrine near a windowsill, already surrounded by small offerings, it's only natural for Ritsuka to hit up the nearby vending machine to leave a protein bar by the-

-her eyes go completely glassy as the false(?) memories(?) flood her mind, battering down its doors with a rapid-fire barrage of images and friendships she never got the chance to have over the past two and a half years. Someone is going to need to rescue her, and it's probably not going to be one of the native students.

Once Ritsuka is freed, she considers a different vending machine thoughtfully. On the one hand, her stomach's growling, and she's already regretting leaving that offering at the shrine. On the other hand... who knows where else she'll find food here. She'll probably regret it if she blows all of her "merit points" before the first day ends.

Ritsuka slumps.] Mannnn. Now I'm really regretting not studying harder for that- [before she can catch herself falling into another dream, something else catches her eye: a different student going for the shrine. Leaping off the carriage of her train of thought, she dashes over, grabbing them by the shoulder with a surprisingly tight grip.] Trust me, you do not want to touch that thing.

[Her voice is deathly serious.]

c. it never hurts to give thanks to the navigator (cooking)
[Three things became readily apparent to Ritsuka after the graduation ceremony.

One, wherever she was, she couldn't contact Chaldea or the Shadow Border.

Two, she was stuck here for the foreseeable future.

Three, until "spring break" ended, Ritsuka and everybody else stuck at Yogen had very, very limited resources to work with.

There weren't any Servants summoned by the Counter Force nearby, nor any indication of what caused this distortion and how to resolve it. So Ritsuka only had one course of action to take: survive until she could figure out what the Hell was going on here.

To that end, after meeting up with the rest of the students, her first destination was the kitchen. She was no Emiya, or Boudica, or Cat, or Raikou, but she could at least warm up some cup ramen and knew approximately how to make a variety of practical dishes for the road, so she should be able to make do. Hopefully.

Wrenching open the fridge, Ritsuka peers inside, narrowing her eyes at the meat.] We need to preserve all this before it goes bad... Jerky should work, I think?

I'll start cutting the meat. Could you do me a favor and look for some spices and some kind of sauce? Just because we have to eat trail rations doesn't mean we have to eat disgusting trail rations.

d. wildcard
[Hit me up at

TheDoomkitten for plotting, or The Doomkitten#8383 on Discord. I'm also good with AU memories.]

[ Miyuki whips around stunned, staring at Hana as she moves towards the sink. Honestly, after "oh my god" he had worried for a split second that he was in the wrong bathroom. He steps back a bit to give her some room, trying to regain his composure. ]

R-Right, of course. We can't afford to ignore any room.

[ As he makes a mental note: no, do not check the girls' room. ]

I don't know if I'd say it's cute. It doesn't feel natural to wash your hands with pink water.

hey, don't "over and out" yet!!
have you found anything? there's some clothes in my locker, so at the very least, I have an extra pillow somebody can use!

[ Phew. So far so good... ]

Well, no. I would imagine that come the next day, the snacks will have disappeared. I don't know who's in charge of upkeep and we don't want to disturb anything, so we should just leave it to them. Right?

[ Miyuki's finding it harder himself to keep this going, glancing away a bit. Just in case anyone comes by and hears this nonsense. ]

It isn't the bloody rag that's strange. Nor does it feel unusual to be laughed at and called transfer student in the same breath. Even the fact that she doesn't recognize this place fails to register as all that alarming. No - it's the chalk. The chalkboard. This, more than anything, makes Homura stop and stare and suddenly realize that something is not right. For some reason, she overwhelmingly feels like she's staring down a real-life anachronism, like her teachers should be using digital whiteboards that could be cleared with the press of a button. That's what they'd used at some point, hadn't they? Or... hadn't they always used them? But here she is, standing in a classroom which itself feels so familiar.

What is going on?

Homura stays to help clean anyway. She has no idea who these other students are, but she is a transfer student, and everything about that feels correct, at least. Using a sponge, she scrubs at a rust-colored stain around the classroom door. It looks like an old bloodstain; the pinkish water is clearly tainted with blood, too. This also does not strike her as particularly unusual or upsetting, although she vaguely senses that perhaps it should. For some reason, she finds herself staring at her right hand instead. Her palm and knuckles and fingers are completely bare, and that feels weird.

♢ vacant.

This is wrong. How, exactly, she still doesn't know, but after half an hour of wandering the school, she finds herself hopelessly torn between feelings of familiarity and being totally lost. That alone is enough to conclude something is wrong, but the more her memories clash with her surroundings, the more obvious it is that disorientation is the least of her problems.

Homura ignores anyone attempting to engage with her in the halls. If asked to help clean, she complies for a cursory moment before continuing to wander. The gorinto on the upper floors finally make her stop and pause. Reminiscent of graves, they stand out ominously. And a few of them have people standing beside them, staring vacantly into space, hand reaching out to touch one of the stones or offerings.

"What are you doing?" she asks flatly upon approaching one. No answer. After another moment, she pinches the sleeve of their outstretched arm and yanks on it roughly, breaking the contact with the gorinto. "Can you not hear me?"

♢ congratulations.

Even after the invisible force keeping them all in their seats disappears, one thin, raven-haired girl stays in her chair and watches the people around her begin to filter out. The expression on her face is completely blank, but she studies the crowd so closely that there must be many thoughts racing through her head. Once enough people have left to give her a chance to scan the room for whoever chose to remain, she stands, smooths out her uniform, and flips her hair over her shoulders to set it back in place.

With several people lingering nearby, perhaps with the same mindset she has, she might as well try to confer with them about what the hell is going on.

"A graduating class of one person," she says to whomever she might make eye contact with or be approached by. "Do you find that normal?"

♢ trapped.

Homura is managing to keep it together - you could say she's had a lot of practice - but this situation is stressful, even for her. The disorientation from earlier in the day is long gone, replaced now with the horrible feeling of being trapped and powerless. None of this makes sense - where is her Soul Gem? how is it even possible for it to be gone? - and yet she needs to get home anyway, somehow, some way.

She stakes out a small area to claim for herself in front of her locker. Using chairs from nearby classrooms, she forms a shoddy desk and collects a small supply of paper, pens, and other supplies. Homura is going to do what she's always done: start again. This will be her new work space, her new collection of intel.

It begins with a few sticky notes and papers taped to her locker, detailing the scraps of possibly useful knowledge she's collected so far, but she needs more. So even after she uses her spare clothes to set up a makeshift bed, she sits up when she hears someone walking around her campsite in the middle of the hallway and commandingly asks them, without a greeting first, "You - Do you know anything about where we are, or how we got here?"

((ooc: canon point is not yet decided, feel free to switch to action brackets if you prefer!))

Hmm...

[Hana leans down to get a better look at the water, tilting her head this way and that, and trying to keep her hair out of the sink at the same time. It's awkward, but she really wants to know why it's pink.]

Oh! Maybe they've got soap built in! Some people only wash their hands with water.

[The last part she says in a loud whisper, like she personally knows some of those people.]

There was a lot of classroom cleaning. Maybe the principal is a real stickler for cleanliness!

[Her expression falls at that realisation.]

Ew, but I don't want to clean the bathroom...

[ Ala puffs her cheeks. ]

If the snacks are gone tomorrow, it's 'cause somebody's taken them! We'll miss our chance!

[ Somewhere along the way, it's become us and our, as if Ala isn't the only one who's hungry and wants food now. Even if there is some great legend to contend with, she doesn't like missed opportunities... ]

Hey, what if we replace it with something else? Like carrots or bell peppers? [ Stuff she wouldn't mind letting rot on a windowsill, honestly. ]

[ Miyuki had gotten something similar to the same treatment, but he had already taken to cleaning. It felt like it was what he was supposed to do as he tried his hardest to get rid of these stains--

Then he pauses and turns his attention to Rachel, his own washcloth pressed against a wall. ]

Sorry? Did you say something?

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