lower

[sisters]

Who: Rantarou Amami, Nagito Komaeda, & friends
What: Hopezone 2022
When: January onwards
Where: Yogen high school (maybe?)
Warnings: TBE

This uneasy feeling is weighing on me / I forced down my heart’s desires that I wanted to follow so I wouldn’t spit them out / They built up inside my chest, like dregs, and clouded me.

Comments

1/2(.5) — amami, ranger

[commences]

How despairing.

( he huffs, a bit of annoyance trapped inside his tone as stands in the science room, which happens to be the warmest place within the cold of the building. there's one hand on his hip as the other dangles by his side, and eyes attach to the cat bed that has two bowls by its side, one filled with water, and the other a sole treat accordingly. what's gotten under komaeda's skin, probably the recent developments, or maybe the broken pda, or the fact that clues are scarce, but this place seems almost like the foundation for the school as they know it.

anyway, it's the fact he can't ping them like normal, so komaeda had to send a quick text to amami, and then ask dynamo for assistance who would go and locate ranger, and there'd be a note attached to the ai that gives a meeting location. )

How stupid of me, we should have covered the container, but then again it would have soaked through no matter what...

( too many missteps that bother him, too many problems that were right before his eyes as he sighs, talking to himself of all things. there's no need to think back on the past (future) now, but maybe leaving a note to make sure the container never breaks would be a good idea; history normally repeats. )

[rearranger]

[ The void, at least, prevents Ranger from practicing his usual habit of seeming to appear and disappear with no warning or explanation. The floorboards creak under him as he walks, stopping next to Komaeda and turning to look at his set up. They probably should have given up on it when it didn't immediately lure any cats in. It's kind of sad to look at now.

Either way, he doesn't say anything, but he does turn his head and offers what might pass for a questioning look behind the open-mouthed grin expression card. What now? ]

[sisters]

( amami is almost a little late despite the text message — the type who doesn't check his phone as often as he should, it seems. he does make it there though. takes him a minute, but he manages to catch the last of ranger disappearing into the room as he rounds the corner, heading in himself shortly after. a of green hair pops in through the doorway, peeking inside before the rest of him follows.

those two seem a bit occupied as he makes his way over, but his line of sight is cut off from whatever it is they seem to be looking at now. tilting his head a little, he tries to get a glance at whatever it is. might end up interrupting the vibe a little when he speaks up: )

What's up, did you find something?

01/03 — ranger

[sisters]

( it takes a few tries. running up and down stairs, scaling the side of the school, checking into empty club rooms and classrooms; no clue where he'll actually end up finding ranger, but he's certainly searching his hardest. he'd been thinking this over for a while, putting it off and reconsidering and second-guessing, but the end of the year is getting closer. with things being as they are in this place, he doesn't want to have this left unresolved at the start of the next, so his eyes light up when they finally land on komaeda's partner. )

Oh, there you are. I've been looking for you.

( with a small wave, he doesn't waste any time in trotting over, easy smile on his face as he closes the distance. )

You're not busy, are you? I had a favour to ask — nothing big.

[rearranger]

[ He'll find Ranger in the faculty office, diligently rummaging through empty cabinets. He'll push the one he was checking on shut when he hears somebody entering the room. He raises one hand in greeting, then blinks as he mentions looking for him. There's no reason that he can think of for Amami to approach him, but it's not a bad distraction after dedicating so much time to banging his head against the wall. ]

Not really.

[ He shakes his head with a little sigh, though it's directed more at the present situation than Amami, tilting it to one side at the mention of a favor. The card switches from the grin to the cat card. ]

Whatchya need?

[sisters]

( oh! good card! amami's smile brightens into a grin. )

Perfect. It's about Komaeda-kun — I have something of his, see, and I was wondering if you'd return it to me.

( there's a pause, and y'know, he already kind of sees the gap here. don't worry. looking a bit sheepish, he lifts his hands in front of him in a kind of "hold on a minute" gesture. let him explain himself here! )

I know, I know, I could return it myself, right? But it's not actually something that's coming from me, and I don't want him to try and pin all the credit for it on me just because of my talent, since that'd defeat the point. I thought if it came from his partner, he might actually listen to what you had to say about it.

01/15 — meng yao

[sisters]

( knock knock.

meng yao will find someone tapping at his door some time in the late saturday afternoon if he happens to be around at the time. (again in the early evening, if not.) and if he opens the door, will reveal one (1) rantarou amami standing there with a slightly anxious look about him and a laptop tucked under his arm. (he's "borrowing" it for a bit,) just in case his offer is taken up on. looking otherwise no worse for wear however, he'll offer a half-hearted smile to meng yao when he catches his eyes, glancing absently over the other's shoulder to be sure there's not already some company in the room. )

Hey, A-Yao. Sorry, but are you busy right now? I had something I wanted to talk about.

It's not— ( "—nothing bad" is what he catches at the tip of his tongue, grimacing as he reconsiders his approach. ) Well, uh, that is... It's kind of important.

[filialdeception]

[ There's the sound of someone moving quickly in the room for a moment, before the door suddenly opens quickly to reveal Meng Yao. He looks mostly composed, but also with a touch of concern as he looks over Rantarou. There is no company in the room with him either. ]

No, I'm not busy at all.

[ Quickly he reaches to put an errant hair strand that is currently out of place back to where it was. ]

Did you want to come in and talk about it in my room? I promise you that we would have privacy from others and I'm not expecting anyone to come on by.

[sisters]

Yeah, that'd be great actually. ( his is no good for something like this, in case kamo-kun decided they wanted to stop back in, or he'd have done this there.

anyway, if meng yao allows, he'll step inside. he peeks around momentarily, a little curious about whatever setup the other might have in here, but the pensive expression he wears seems to suggest he might be doing it to stall a little bit too. you know, gather some thoughts, decide how he should put this. when the door shuts is when he'll decide to speak up, voice faintly coloured by stress. )

So there's something I've been meaning to... Well, it's something I probably should've told you before all of this.

( vague gesture. what's "this"? meng yao can decide that for himself. amami takes a few steps, restless. looks to the window. looks to meng yao. )

It's probably easier if I show you, but... I guess it wouldn't make sense without context, huh? I know I haven't really told you much about where I was before I ended up here, so we can start there, if you're okay with that.

1/14 — natsume, stephanie

[commences]

( with the classes pushed together, komaeda uses this to his advantage to sit in the same room as the second years, so when lunch time hits, he's able to scoot his desk over to natsume and stephanie. clapping his hands together, he looks back and forth between the two, smiling softly as he starts. )

What's it like being back in class, Stephanie? Feels a little thin, huh? Well...! We had this little event called the Practicum, and Sakasaki-kun was our guardian angel the entire time!

[crystallomancy]

...I wasn't a "guardian anGEL," I just offered healing to those who needed IT.

( there's a difference. )

Guardian angel implies I was keeping an eye on people and saving them in the nick of TIME... ( his lips thin, but he folds his hands in front of him on the desk and glances at komaeda, then at stephanie. hmm. ) You didn't miss much in regards to that THOUGH. You did miss Hiro-kun's birthday, on the other HAND.

[closewithnewintown]

I missed Christmas! [with just the greatest put-upon sigh. missing her absolute favorite holiday.

but, that's clearly the least important thing here, because she can dang well sense an attempted subject change.]

There's hardly anybody left... Did this place just make everybody kill each other? [she'd ask if they killed anyone but honestly she just. can assume.]

01/28 — ranger

[sisters]

( anyway, it's lunch time in the third years classroom. they're all crammed together into one now, and honestly? it's not so bad. sure makes it a lot easier for amami when he makes his way over to ranger's desk, wherever it might be in the room, and offers a little wave. )

Hey, Ranger-kun. You have any plans?

( he knows better than to assume someone's got time for him, but he'd like to hope. )

[rearranger]

[ It's not, mostly because there's only about 30 students left in total, meaning it's mostly transfer. He's still not quite comfortable with it, but it's tolerable. He looks up from the notebook he's scribbling in when Amami address him. ]

Me? Nope.

[ He usually just wanders off for awhile. ]

Whatchya need?

[sisters]

Nice. I wanted to see if you'd do lunch together.

( anyway, leaning on the desk, he'll peek down at the notes before glancing back up to meet ranger's eyes, smile bright and warm. )

I've got something for you too. Call it a thanks for before.

( "which before?" yes. )

cooking lesson, amami.

[decrypter]

[Helena is never late to these appointments - no matter the day, she's always there and ready to learn. it's been showing that she takes his instruction to heart, and finding ways to modify things to suit her. timers instead of using visual cues, scents and carefully pre-prepping items, learning enough to get by. she'll never be a world class chef, but she'll be able to cook for herself, and that was the goal of all of this.

today's dish requires some prepwork as well, and when she shows up, she's ready to set her hands to the task. well, she's extra excited because Rantarou said it would be a cake, and her own taste for sweets has never failed yet.]

What do we start with?

[sisters]

For sans rival, we'll want to start with the meringue.

( it's something he notes as he gathers up the ingredients they'll need, setting them out one by one to make everything easier on the two of them. )

You'll need to use an electric mixer to get the right consistency, but it should only take about a minute. You'll be fine with that, right?

( if it weren't for sore arms and all that, he usually prefers to mix things himself, for one, but... well, that's how it is with this recipe. he's sure helena will have it handled, but if she's uncertain he can always lend a hand to make sure everything goes smoothly for her. )

lena - idk january

[sisters]

( it's a bit of a surprise when he notices it at first — the middle of one of the meetings, keeping an eye on komaeda as he is, it'd be hard not to catch the sight of him leaving together with helena just as things are becoming more serious. it's not that he necessarily blames them, mind you, but... well, suppose that's that when it comes to his notes, huh? either way, it's something that sticks in his mind, even in the coming days. while it takes some time for an opportunity to arise, sure enough, he's able to find one.

peering out to an otherwise empty rooftop to find helena alone, he steps outside. )

Hey Helena, I've been looking for you.

( his voice is easygoing and calm as he greets her, and he habitually raises a hand in a wave before pocketing it to make his way over. )

Do you have a moment? Just wanted to check in on you and see how you're doing.

[decrypter]

[bundled up on the rooftop, she feels calm. it's a good place to eat lunch, but also to think and listen to the wind, giving her time to decide what she wanted to do with the day. that said, Rantarou's voice is a pleasant surprise, and she turns her head in his direction.]

I always have time for you, you know.

[that's the entire truth!]

But I'm fine, I promise! Have I been acting strange lately?

01/29 — sara

[sisters]

( being stabbed gets a lot less fun the second time around, amami thinks. at least the first time, he'd managed to accomplish something by taking that hit — this time though? there's no satisfaction in it as he sets himself up in the nurse's office, shirt folded beside him so that he can re-wrap his own bandages. the nurse is out tending another student for now. basketball, you know how it is.

anyway, he'd timed it like this on purpose, and even if he's not necessarily trying to hide his fresh wound... he still doesn't want to make a big deal of it. that's probably the reason he jumps a little when he hears the office door click open, pausing a moment before he peeks around the small infirmary curtain that's set up to see who's coming in. kaneko-kun? kaneko-kun? kaneko-kun? )

smh we lost 70% of the student body and ppl are STILL risking basketball

[samuraiwomen]

AMAMI-SAN!

[ Amami will wish it was Seiya in a moment, because Sara catches sight of him the insant he pokes his head around the corner. The little curtain is nothing, Sara wrenches it back half a second she enters the room, looming over Amami with a furious expression. N-normally walking in on shirtless guys isn't her thing, but her eyes are fixed on the bloody bandages at his side. ]

You damn idiot! You...you you don't play along when it just words, but you'll let someone stab you for a theory that wasn't even true!?! [ It's good the office is empty because Sara is shouting, loud enough it must echo down the hallways. She can't even keep her hands still, gesturing wildly as she stands above Amami. ]

2/1 — alice

[commences]

( it's around eight, and there's no reason to actually go to bed at this time, but silence hits around twelve so have enough time to get a snack, do anything extra, and then get to bed appropriately. the top bunk is for komaeda which he claimed for quite awhile now, and he's actually excited to have someone on the bottom at last. both hinata and add have the separate beds, and they don't bother one another as much, but komaeda needs someone so the day doesn't feel boring, or the night.

rolling to the side, he's going to hang his head off the edge to see what alice is doing — )

Hey...

( he'll lean even further, holding onto the wooden brackets that keep the bed in place so that he doesn't fall off, and his hair hangs down while he watches the other who is laying in his bed too. )

When are we going to bed?

( yes, you heard him, "we". )

[shimashima]

[ Winding down for the evening is acceptable at eight, even if a pre-bedtime snack may be a good idea to prevent waking up hungry during the night, unable to do anything about it then. If only borrowing books from the library to read in bed were possible... For now, Alice has fluffed his pillow and smoothed out his blanket, simply resting atop it while he pats his hair dry after returning from a shower. A sudden thought gives him pause: at this rate, it's going to grow out, and he'll be forced to bid the stripes farewell, won't he...?

Komaeda's head coming into view, upside-down, interrupts his thoughts entirely. The initial shock that he really is being haunted by his odd fairy godmother wherever he goes has dwindled — it's beginning to become a normal part of his stay here — but one hand flies to his chest all the same. Then he crosses his arms instead, meeting Komaeda's pale eyes.

This counts among the fellow's quirks, it seems — acting like any other student, antics such as what he's up to now. Perhaps he also chose the top bunk to acknowledge good days? ]

So even you need that?

[ Or is there some other reason for the question? It's not that he's waiting for them to close their eyes at the same time or he expects to be tucked in or hear a bedtime story, is it? ]

We're in bed, but isn't it too early to sleep?

[ Maybe he merely wants an answer like "half past ten"... ]

2/8 — alice

[commences]

( if alice is still within the hotel, he'll notice that as he walks down the halls that he'll hear footsteps following alongside him, but cannot see where they're coming from. whenever he stops, the footsteps stop, and when he moves, so do they. it's like an invisible monster is following him.

the monster? well that's komaeda who happens to be in the walls, and he's been doing this for an hour now, following someone's footsteps until they move on out of the hotel. it's just this time when he notices who has came through by peeking through a hole in the wall, there's no way that he couldn't play with alice too. in a friendly way, not in a "oh, you're my toy so i want to play and break with you midori way"!

where will alice go? )

[shimashima]

[ Last night was unpleasant, to say the least. There's something very wrong here, and the employees can't be trusted, but hiding in a hotel room for the remainder of the trip isn't really a viable solution, either. Room service inevitably means relying on the staff! If nothing else, they know that the food on offer is edible earlier in the day... Besides, during the day, everything creepy seems gone again.

Or so Alice thought. Hearing footsteps nearby without anyone there is definitely creepy, no matter what time of day it is! Each time he stops in his tracks, listening, glancing around, the sound ceases. No one appears. Yet whenever he takes a step, so do those invisible feet!

On edge, tension squeezes around his heart; it's pounding a wild beat in his chest.

There— The sound is back, as if it's pursuing him all the way to his shared room! Shin Tsukimi and Helena Adams probably won't be there yet, with other company to meet with and the like... In the middle of the corridor, Alice debates whether to tiptoe onward or to run. He hasn't even brought his knife with him!

And if the footsteps belong to someone moving around unseen... Holding his breath, he opts to tiptoe the rest of the way to the door. ]