like a bitter stranger

[samuraiwomen]

Who: Everyone
What: Our monthly family meeting.
When: March 5th, 2000.
Where: Yogen dorms common room.
Warnings: Discussions of murder, suicide, child death...more?



[ A message goes up on the forums late Friday evening.

S.chidouin: Group meeting in the dorms Saturday. 12:00. No punching. No stabbing. I'll bring stickers.

If your character would not find a post from Sara worth listening too, Bonnie is wandering around, vaguely noting how important this meeting is, and how very much you should attend. No further details are forthcoming.

The meeting itself is a quiet affair. The fireplace is not lit, there are no snacks. Sara waits in the corner for everyone to arrive and get settled and then she clears her throat to speak. ]

As most of you know... [ It's hard to start, but her voice gets firmer as she goes on. ] We spent the last two months investigating Maya Arisu's murder. That case is solved. A few weeks ago, Bonnie-chan and I found the culprit.

Rantaro Amami killed Maya Arisu, Hiro Arisu, the vice principal and is presumably responsible for the scene with Keigo Arata. He is also dead. I just figured...everyone should know. To many people got hurt the last few months. I'm sorry.

[ She fiddles with her hair. That's all...she really has to say. There's not much more then that as the gist of it. ]

Comments

[silentabyss]

...

No. He wouldn't do something like that. He was a good person.

[dokkans]

Is a good person not capable of killing anyone? Even if they really wanted something?

[silentabyss]

...I guess.

[Honestly, he looks like he's about to cry.]

Everyone's capable of murder. But I thought he would be above it. I had faith in him...!

[dokkans]

[ Sorry, Noah. That face just isn't swaying her. ]

I don't understand the idea of being "above" murder. After all, if he didn't want to get his hands dirty, he could've had someone else do it. That's the tricky thing about faith... the higher up on a pedestal you put someone, the harder it is when they fall.

[silentabyss]

It would still be wrong to manipulate someone into killing! Good people don't do things like that.

[He's... not coping, but going through the stages of grief right now. Noah had cried offscreen for Amami, in absolute agony over waking up to hear that he had died, but—]

He was important to me. And I thought... I thought I could trust him.

[But like with everything else, Noah's a poor judge of character. He always is.]

[crystallomancy]

( ...natsume's kind of terse and noah can understand why considering H E L L O but he's trying to curb it when he talks to him, at least. because noah's younger than him, and a good boy who wants to have faith in others, and— )

This isn't the first time he's killed someONE, or might I remind you of September's fiasCO? Even if it wasn't "really Master Clamor", he still did IT. ( ...

and for keigo then, too. ha. )

[notsosou]

...

[He's just like this in the background. It makes... too much sense.]

[heroicpolonaise]

[...]

Ebalon-kun, just because someone is a "good person" doesn't mean they can't do bad things. You can trust someone with your whole being, and follow their lead thinking they're doing what's best for you, and it still end up that way.

But more than that, you can't turn your eyes from any possibility, any truth. Sara and Bonnie-san don't have anything to gain from lying, especially not after how hard Sara's worked to try and uncover the truth. Please, don't dismiss their efforts.

[silentabyss]

I know, but...!

[But he's sad and upset and when it comes down to it, his somewhat-waffly moral compass aside, he's a naive, hopeful kid at heart. And it sucks to have your faith in someone crushed underfoot so brutally.

It's like with Childe all over again.]

But I always thought he was better than that! That's the problem! I wanted to believe that he wasn't... capable of it.

[heroicpolonaise]

[...]

Detective Ebalon.

[their silly little roleplay. how she'd wanted to do it with him again sometime. kaede smiles apologetically, folding her hands in her lap.]

Do you think... that someone like me could kill someone?

[samuraiwomen]

And so he strung all of us along, for months and months.

[ Bitter...what? Who...her? Never... ]

We have a motive. He confirmed his methods. He even said he'd tell everyone, as long as we gave him a few weeks. Then he did that... I'm sorry Noah. Sometimes people aren't good.

[heroicpolonaise]

Amami-kun wasn't a bad person.

[this is something she's sticking by, sorry.]

He wasn't the type to string people along, Sara, believe me. He may not have always told whole story, he may have kept things closer to his chest than he should have, but Amami-kun was not that sort of person. Even the best intentions lead to hell, right? It's just... we weren't the ones he had the best intentions for.

[samuraiwomen]

He killed three people...and then when he got discovered he just turned around and murdered himself and a child after lying to our faces.

[ Ha ha. Funny. ]

Those are the shape of his "good intentions" Akamatsu-san. I don't care what he wanted anymore. He hurt to many people, used all the trust everyone gave him, and the worst part...he probably does think he was doing something good. That it was worth it. Is there anything more disgusting then that? None of this needed to happen.

[waitingforplayer2]

[ She's sitting towards the back. She's even put down the console, for a moment, because this is so important. She holds it limply in one hand.

Her heart is so heavy. ]

Did he say why?

[dokkans]

Well, part of it's that a certain somebody supposedly had a plan to make all of his wishes come true. I don't suppose that somebody wants to actually come forth, hmmmmm?

[ If he's here. And willing. ]

[silentabyss]

What was his motive for killing innocent people?! How could he do something like that?! He can't be like everyone else here! He can't!

[starrypoint]

'Cause of something I said, waaaaay way back. Dunno if you guys even remember that I did, but it was brought up when his girl over there brought us together the first time.

[...

does noah remember?]

[samuraiwomen]

There's never a good reason to kill anyone Noah...that's what I think. Amami's reasons...I think he thought they were good, but they caused a lot of pain.

[ Look to Subaru ^ to actually explain she made a promise. ]

Everyone else...? Oh... I guess... [ Is she everyone else? ] People are selfish... I don't know what else to say.

[rearranger]

Huh? There was no need to string anyone around when everyone was just running around in circles. If you'd stopped playing games, maybe it would've stopped after the first one. If you'd paid attention, maybe you could've prevented the last one... Ahaha, you're just pissed because you didn't do anything but make excuses, right?

[ Not couldn't. Didn't. The warning signs were all there. But they were all busy being afraid to doubt, running around in circles and infighting, dropping every thread in seconds. The method doesn't matter. The motive doesn't matter. Excuse after excuse.

He scoffs. ]

He was an idiot, but he at least he did something.

[ The right thing? The wrong thing? Anything is better than inaction. ]

[samuraiwomen]

...

[ She doesn't even have words... Playing games? Didn't she try? Try so hard to fix something? To trust her friends but find the truth. The truth was, her friend was lying to her, and he killed rather then ask for help. That's the miserable reality at the heart of this mystery.

Where was her inaction? She worked...so...hard.

Maybe she shouldn't expect Ranger to get it, but she'd worked hard with him too. Just insults in return... ]

Do you feel happy blaming others when they're upset?

[notsosou]

Huh, surprising advice from someone who did barely anything themselves...

[Are you really going to throw this boulder inside your greenhouse, mister step-back-and-observe? At least they tried things, instead of waiting for it to be worked out and then commenting from a sports-stand high horse.

Shin's not in the mood. It's as close has he gets to outright saying back off.]

[rearranger]

[ ... ]

You think good people never kill? He wasn't a bad guy, just a stupid one.

[dokkans]

[ yay! ranger gets it! good work, ranger!! ]

[silentabyss]

Isn't that rational to think?

[rearranger]

... Good people don't want to kill each other. That doesn't mean they never do.

[ That's why Ranger isn't a good person, but Amami is. ]

But they can be backed into a corner too... Do you really think Rantarou wanted to run around killing people? C'mon. If he saw any other choice, there's no way he would've done something like that.

[ He can't even call it a mistake when he thinks Amami would stand by those decisions even now. But it's hard to see him as the type to wish for it. ]