yogen | ( semi-open ) —quand notre coeur a fait une fois sa vendange

( oh not his max luck pulling through for him. he's getting major points in that stat from spending so much time with komaeda, clearly. it's a pleasant surprise though — his eyes light up a little more than they were a moment ago, and hey, maybe winning will wake him up. )

Not a clue. Care to enlighten me?

( he actually mostly says this because it's polite, but maybe it'll be interesting too. please be interesting. )

This is the Osireion, a temPLE. It's part of the pharoah Seti I's funeral comPLEX, built to resemble a certain dynasty's Valley of the Kings TOMB... While rather unassuming on the surFACE, below the desert sand is a vaulted hall containing a central platform with ten monolithic pilLARS, surrounded by a channel of waTER. Every wall has something inscribed on IT, as most walls of tombs DO, and it's thought to have been Seti I's cenoTAPH.

( ...

moving on.

WHAT INSECT IS THIS?

1. Xenocerus deletus
2. Xenocerus interruptus
3. Xenocerus alorensis
4. Xenocerus monstrator )

( oooh, interesting... shinguji would eat this up, or... well, he might pull a subaru, and start describing the more precise details of it all, but he also struck amami as the type who was a bit more aware of the time and place to be like that, so...

speaking of amami's classmates— bug! hey, maybe this trivia isn't so bad.

here, again, he's pretty sure they didn't double up on the ultimate entomologist title, so he's gonna have to look at the vibe of the latin and give it his best. )

Um, monstrator?

( its big big antennae... monstatorus antennae... yes. )

( BZZT BZZT BZZT.

natsume's disappointed... why doesn't anyone else just randomly pick up books in the library and read them, wtf )

Unfortunately, that's WRONG. This is the Xenocerus deletus, more commonly known as the "fungus weeVIL". As their name imPLIES, they feed upon mushROOMS, as well as decaying plant matTER.

( cool lil fun facts. wish i could tell you about monstrator but the internet has no information on it. why. )

A relatively harmless weeVIL, compared to most oTHERS. I'll give you a point if you can name three other types in this one's PLACE.

( he reads plenty of books! they're just... not normally about bugs. besides, is it the xenocerus or the deletus part that's supposed to imply eating mushrooms?

amami's tired ass brain thinks about that, and how xenocerus must be the beetle part because it sounds like rhinoceros, but then his mind starts to catch up with the words and he realizes that it was the fungus weevil name natsume was referring to. that makes sense. he probably looked like he was understanding that explanation about as much as he was until that lightbulb moment though, and now he's being asked even more, please god. )

Ahaha, wow, what I wouldn't give to have Gokuhara-kun on my team right about now. That's beetles then, right?

( unfortunately, there's one kind of beetle everyone knows.

... )

Dung beetle.

( then he just stops. he's waiting. he's really just saying this to take the hit to his points, so it's fine. you always wanna write down an answer, at least, even when it's wrong. )

( .............................

his expression is that of "you lost your one point" and now he's moving on, he clicks to the next slide and it's amami-kun on the screen. just a still image though.

natsume sits on the desk with this janky ass-laptop, leaning back on his hands. )

Amami-kun, who is THIS?

( WHO IS THIS?

(OPEN-ENDED QUESTION.) )

...

( oh. so he got the wrong answer, that'd be fine, but natsume clicks the button again and all of a sudden that's him looking back from the screen.

and amami's immediately on guard. the problem, though, is that even if his eyes flash with recognition and confusion at first, seeing himself, they flicker to take in the background a moment later. it's... not somewhere familiar to him, and a sense of unease builds in his chest, glancing to natsume with a look equal parts exasperation and suspicion. )

Is this some kind of trick question?

( natsume, you're not blind ~~yet~~. )

We're here to learn about one another, aren't WE?

( natsume smiles. it's a pleasant one, but the only place it exists is on his lips. )

You have ten seCONDS.

Guess I wasn't wrong, huh. ( earlier, he means. natsume feeling in no way fond of him, to be so roundabout with this, but... ) I mean, it looks like me.

( he can't say that it is him, but with the situation he's in... he also can't say that it isn't, and maybe that's the part that frustrates him the most. that's the best answer natsume will get out of him though; the vibes that he's getting from this question are atrocious, and he doesn't know what he might be implicating himself in if he says anything more certain. )

( "it looks like me."

...yeah. )

And unless you happen to have a clone or a doppelganGER, it is YOU. This is from a video I found among my iTEMS. ( with a sleight of hand, he makes a video tape appear. ) You went to the same school as Saihara-kun and Akamatsu-chan, corRECT? "The Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles," enrolled like several other fellow UltiMATES.

( enrolled, because is there a better word for "you go to this school now"? no. )

Yeah, that's right. Ouma-kun, too. ( if they're listing off every ultimate he knew at this school.

but anyway, he'll lean back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest with a sigh. )

I take it this is what you really wanted to interrogate me about though, so why don't you show me what's on the video? I'll tell you what I can if you do.

( it is, so natsume hops off the desk to put it into the video player; he hits play and takes a seat on another desk closer to it, watching the video at first before he turns to watch amami instead.

he's seen this video a dozen times already, anyway; it's more important to him to watch people's reactions to it, the way he'd done komaeda, too. )

( it's a serious, but measured look on his face as he watches the video play, now leaning forward in his seat with a sharp attentiveness to him.

there's a short exhale as the voice on-screen confirms it — tries to. "no tricks, no actors. it's you." almost immediately after, his brows furrow, remaining as such until the point where the amami on the screen points out that life's never easy. that, at least, draws a wry smile across his features. something that feels more like a bitter resignation than anything else. it's gone almost as quickly as it appears though, once the topic moves forward.

the siren goes off and he grimaces, but it's really the next part that surprises him.

eyes widening only just barely, but that's not right — he narrows them instead, watching the remainder of the video with an unreadable expression before leaning back again. he's tense, and not entirely sure what to do with his hands, so one reaches up to rub at the back of his neck just to keep occupied. he'll meet natsume's eyes without hesitation though. )

So you said you found this, huh? Must look pretty bad on my end.

Just a little BIT.

( a lot of a little bit. natsume crosses his arms, expression carefully kept neutral. )

...I talked to someone who stumbled upon me watching this alreaDY, but I'm not an entirely unfair perSON. I'd like to hear your thoughts TOO. ( who is rantarou amami? ) You can take your time sorting them OUT.

( he'll give him that much, at least. time. )

Say, Sakasaki-kun... How much do you know about the killing game?

( they'll start there; he's not going to get into his thoughts, and his fears, and his concerns that are brought to light by this video until he knows that natsume will understand their context. otherwise, he just looks like some kind of freak who wanted to participate for the fun of it — a competitive streak, maybe. he'll admit that parting comment, it did make something in his stomach turn with discomfort, with anxiety, but he doesn't need to say a thing about that until he's sorted out what they're working with. )

It's a game devised to pit people against one anoTHER. SpecificalLY, Ultimate against Ultimate—hope against HOPE, after erasing their memoRIES... Its original intention was to inspire despair among the populace at seeing symbols of hope killing each oTHER, though there are certain people who'd see it as simply growing that same hope, I'm SURE.

( not to name any blatantly obvious names. )

In order to WIN, you had to kill someone and get away with IT.

"Hope against hope," huh? Guess I'll need to have a talk with him too, then.

( that friend who shared his thoughts with natsume, from the look of things. but... there's one thing about that description—

... )

Sure, lets go with that. How about the rest of the rules — do you know them?

( amami is turning this interrogation around, but natsume should know from before that there would be a point to all of this. )

( one day he'll have a normal interrogation. not with amami, but with someone.

and it seems like komaeda's been found out despite natsume keeping his name out, but that's definitely not hard, because he wasn't really trying to not make it obvious; it's just if you say komaeda's name he's sure to appear. like a cockroach, or bloody mary. )

You were given different motives to entice you into murdering your PEERS, and to entice you into getting away with IT... There was a "class triAL," where it would be the culprit versus the rest of the stuDENTS. If the culprit got away with IT, the rest of the students would be execuTED. Presumably if they were CAUGHT, the opposite would happen: they would be executed inSTEAD.

( ...that's how it works in the world anyway. you get caught, you get punished. not usually with killing, but, well. an eye for an eye, or whatever. )

...The other way of winning the game was to kill the Mastermind of IT, but I presume it's a little easier to kill the people around you and try to deceive them to graduate and LEAVE, rather than finding whoever was powerful enough to bring you all together and taking them out inSTEAD.

I already have blood on my hands, so you figure there's only one way I could've "survived" that game then, is that it?

( there's a bite to his words, bitter and dry, but matter-of-fact in how he presents the assumption. still, natsume's description, it's lacking. he waves a hand, and he'll continue on. )

Anyway, you're missing something — you heard it too, didn't you? Rule number six: the game will continue until only two students remain.

( a pause. a pointed look. )

Funny that this rule was the one that was singled out, wouldn't ya say?

( he pauses here because, well, truthfully, he probably should've taken natsume's initial offer of time. he didn't though, so now he has to make his case on the fly. why would "he" single out that rule? what makes it so important?

...

it takes him a long moment, eyes closed as he brings one hand up to his chin in thought. )

If a murderer is discovered in every class trial, all the way to the point where only two people remain, what do you think happens, Sakasaki-kun? I'm not sure how the rules you were given worked, but in our game, there was only one that allowed someone to graduate and leave: that's if a blackened survives the trial. It makes sense that taking out the person behind the game would end it too, but that wasn't written out. The rest of us, those of us who didn't surrender to the motives Monokuma gave us, we weren't given a win condition.

( not everyone who kills is happy or truly willing to do it—it's like shuichi said. sometimes things push you into circumstances, and people become desperate, and they turn into murderers in a context they didn't choose.

like himself.

like amami, he supposes.

but he sees what the other's getting at, though. two people remain, and the only way to leave is if the blackened—the culprit in fancy terms, darkened by the sin of killing another person like an angel fallen from grace—survives. someone who killed can just kill the last person with them, but they wouldn't technically have to go through with that if the other person just...

...

natsume raises his head, lips pursing. )

Would someone survive if they just let the blackened go, THEN?

I dunno. Not sure if we got a choice in the matter, really, and I can't imagine we did.

( it's not exactly his place to say, but knowing his classmates, he'd like to think that maybe they wouldn't have gone that route if they could avoid it. break the game themselves, y'know? )

But say there's three people, and among those three, one is blackened. You have to catch them, or else you'll be executed in their place, and it wouldn't be hard to figure out which one did it. So they get punished — what happens to the last two? The ones who didn't kill?

( because he... doesn't want to believe that he would have given in to killing in a game like that. not when he worked so hard to get them out of the one he does remember. not when it turned out the way that it did for him. and, you know, the more he builds the case in his head, the more solid it seems. it's biased, sure, but it doesn't feel impossible. )

One of them has to kill the oTHER.

( the most obvious answer. then they'll become blackened, and since there's no one else to oppose them, they'll get to leave.

otherwise... they just stay, or something else; natsume can't say he knows the mind of this "monokuma" person, and he only has so much to go on between shuichi and komaeda—shuichi, who only told him enough to explain why he'd exposed him and then gotten in the way of rika's sword, komaeda who knows of plenty of killing games like he's a history professor on the subject but couldn't be sure about the one that took place at the ultimate academy. )

...Whether you've killed someone or not doesn't matTER. I can't judge you for THAT. ( he has more blood on his hands than amami does. ) But what I take issue with is the idea you perpetuated a GAME.

( killing if it's necessary—fine. out of desperation, or because there's no other choice—fine. it's an unhappy circumstance, but having been in the position himself, he can't say anything against it; he has no moral high ground like everyone else who lambasted him.

but enabling it because you want it? erasing your memories, and joining in the game again? or even for a reason like komaeda would do: to breed new hope? he can't abide by it. and yeah, he should take this more roundabout, but this has been on his mind, too: )

...He said you had something at the beginning of the game that would end it quickLY. What was he talking aBOUT?

Not quite what I was getting at. ( and if he has to explain it from the top, he will; natsume can wait on the second half. )

I mean, the game ends when there's only two people — who's to say they'd even let the last person out? Graduation is a part of that game after all. So I guess what I'm trying to say, is what do you do when a game ends and there's no winner? When it comes down to a draw?

( he pauses for emphasis, but he won't make natsume figure it out this time. )

You hold a rematch.

( to see if he can try again — to outsmart the mastermind without getting blood on his hands. )

If you're trapped in a place like that, sure, you could just stay and live out the rest of your life there, and maybe they'd let you, but... What if there's something important you wanted to do outside? What if there's something you had to do, and you couldn't afford to stay there?

( because amami distinctly remembers a feeling like that, from his time in the killing game; it wasn't that he wasn't willing to be patient, to hold out for the right moment where it would've been possible to out the mastermind behind it all, but... that sense of urgency and anxiety, it's something that followed him even to this place. if it was between being locked in like an animal in a zoo and trying, again, to win over the game itself, he can't say he wouldn't be willing to take his chances, no matter how small.

so there, that's two questions with one stone: a way for him to repeat the game, with a reason but without killing anybody. )

Anyway, it probably wouldn't mean much to you, but the "perk" I got at the beginning of the game was a note. Well, uh, actually, it felt more like a trap, compared to anything helpful.

( ...he was right to think amami wasn't smart enough for the long-con, or maybe he's just not patient enough for it, because if it were natsume

if it were him

he'd like to think he'd find another way. but his first instinct was to kill another girl instead of telling anyone what happened or seeking help or asylum, so maybe not. it's difficult to know what you'll do until you're in the moment, and sometimes not even then...

his expression sours and he looks off for a moment, then returns his gaze to amami. )

...I see; then I hope that was the reasoning for your second killing GAME, rather than anything maliCIOUS.

( ...sincerely, he does, even if he doesn't quite look it, doesn't quite sound it. if rika were to ever come back the way inaba somehow had, the way kouji and chiaki somehow had, he'd hate for her to heart to break over amami.

he shakes his head to clear it, sighing. )

What kind of trap--something that might just get you KILLED? ( look how well that turned out, ) I hardly think if the you on the video really wanted you to end things once and for all he'd put you in any more danger than he needed TO. It'd be senseLESS.

( the look he gives natsume tells him that he wasn't wrong, but he'll run a hand through his hair, feeling exasperated. )

Yeah, but see, that's the thing. How do you think he got that note to me? It'd be nice if the mastermind would play fair and hand it over without taking a look to see what was on it first, but it doesn't seem realistic. So the mastermind sees the hint I was given to end the game, do you really think that they'd let me just go ahead and use it without interfering? 'Cause it was that kind of hint. The kind that's ruined the moment the other party knows about it.

( he sighs, 'cause this is a natural conclusion for him; filled with suspicion and doubts that come so naturally to him that even his own face and voice aren't enough to convince him. and you know, maybe natsume can take these things at face value, accept them as they are, but as for amami? )

And all of that's assuming that it really is from me, and it really was meant to be a hint in the first place.

( semi-open ) —quand notre coeur a fait une fois sa vendange

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(mise voice) crippled rokkun

crying

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v3 spoilers idk if anyone will need this but

how peace cant follow this thread anymore. untrack it you heathen

farewell peace...

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