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

[dokkans]

[ Bonnie's mainly here to act as moral support and-- well, provide her role. She did mention that this was super important, and hoped that everyone could just piece it together. It was going to be about Amami anyway. ]

We heard it from him directly, and unless he really, really wanted to cover up for someone else, he did it.

[ She's a lot less hesitant in her words, speaking as if she were just in fact, presenting the news. Either way, she's standing nearby if anything pops off for any reason. ]

[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?

[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.

[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.

[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. ]

[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.

[commences]

Why is it murder that turns people away from others? Amami-kun at the start didn't know anything, he was lost, but as time went on... he learned he was the Ultimate Survivor, and then learned he was the Ultimate Adventurer. He learned there was people he wanted to protect, and that there are things that must happen in order to do that... does it make him a bad person because of his actions?

( who wouldn't kill to make something happen, to komaeda, it feels obvious considering the time limit that hovered overtop keigo's head. he is someone who would do something drastic for an outcome that no one else would take, and that's what makes him endearing. )

What could anyone else do if they never opened their eyes to the true problem?

[waitingforplayer2]

What problem, Komaeda-kun?

[ She just wants to know. Keigo died in their sleep, and it looked like they had an inkling they might be going.

She's missing something here, not that it's necessarily her business. But everybody else seems to know something she doesn't? ]

[shimashima]

[ This revelation... Rantarou Amami definitely didn't have multiple arms to hold a corpse in place while nailing the body to the ceiling, and he looked like an ordinary person — perhaps he's like Sara Chidouin, then? But he arranged that other meeting, and defended others being accused. ]

I didn't know him well, but it's true that he seemed kind, and he must have felt regret... What could he gain from any of it?

[ Besides, sometimes murder cases that seem solved aren't so straightforward! ]

[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...!

[heroicpolonaise]

Speaking ill of the dead doesn't suit you, Sara.

[regardless of anything else, firstly that.]

I won't defend his actions, and I won't defend his reason -- whatever it was. But anyone would go to the extreme if they thought they had no other way to it... and that's what I think this was. If I'm wrong, then say so.

[commences]

The problem... that no one is working together, and that they're becoming selfish.

( sighs... )

[starrypoint]

[wow wonder who that could be]

[dokkans]

[ . . . . . .

Alright, well.

That won't stop her from getting up, walking over and staring directly at Subaru. With her eyes closed?! ]

Would you like to chime in on this, Mr. Akehoshi~?

[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.

[waitingforplayer2]

....

[ Well that's a confusing and slightly upsetting answer. She frowns. ]

You think he did all of this... to bring everybody together?

[crystallomancy]

( ...

"no punching" "no stabbing"

okay. natsume's putting his feet against a coffee table, we have those here right? he's doing that and shoving it over with all his might, let it topple over a few feet. there's no rule against that, and there's no one to take it out on, and— )

If he ever comes BACK, I'm going to kill HIM.

( it's only a little bit about maya. it's only a little bit about hiro. it's only a little bit about keigo. the sum of all it, that's all just a part of it, because there's a part, too, lost in the quiet of a hotel room with murmured apologies and prolonged silence and finding someone who would understand better than anyone else what it was like to be helpless, to lose someone, to be frustrated that you couldn't do anything about it—

"i'm sorry," amami had said, and natsume wonders if it was an apology for the twins or if it was sympathy or both. it doesn't matter, because it just makes him angry, hurts him more, either way.

he should have left him for dead in the forest. he wants to tear his skin off where he has scars from their little adventure, always an ill-fucking-advised adventure with amami where he ends up getting off scot-free (he's dead now, he doesn't have to live with any pain or guilt or fright) and natsume doesn't.

he kicks the table again for good measure. god, he hates rantarou amami. )

[shimashima]

So he wished to protect someone...?

[ Is it possible that the murder victims were the villains all along? That many, collaborating...? Not to speak ill of the dead, especially people completely unknown to Alice. ]

[samuraiwomen]

What? I can't be mad he lied to me for months? I'll speak ill all I want, he'll be back one day! I'm not going to stab him, but I'm angry! That stupid... idiotic... cowardly... ugh!!!

[ She grabs her blazer and breaths through her nose until she can even approach being calm again. ]

He had other options. I know he did. If he'd asked for help...if he'd come clean earlier... That's why I can't forgive him.

[commences]

Yeah. Because that would be the best outcome, wouldn't it?

( to be together. )

[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!