player event: spring speed-dating festival

[socialize]

Speed-dating Spring Festival

Believe in your flyness, conquer your shyness.

breaking the ice

Lonely and looking for love? Friends, maybe? Well look no further—the ASUNARO-sponsored Spring Speed-dating Festival has begun. Join us in room 3-A, where participants will then be given an assignment of "even" or "odd" and seated at a numbered table. You only have so long to talk to your partner before the bell rings and it's time to move on, but not to worry, if you find someone you like, the two of you can step out together! At the end of each round, "even" players will stay at their tables, and "odd" will move to the next. This is mostly flavour, but there is one important piece to keep in mind: in the interest of nobody being left out, leaving before the end of the event is only allowed in pairs.

Better hope you find someone you click with!

Icebreakers:

1. Do you have a party trick?
2. Exploring or lazing on the beach?
3. If you could be granted three wishes, what would they be?
4. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
5. If your friends compared you to an animal, which animal would it be?
6. A human hand extends out of the toilet! What do you do?
7. What would be the title of your biography?

Or anything else you can think of!

getting to know each other

So you've found someone you vibe with—congratulations! The next step is getting to know each other a little more. Cementing the bond, y'know? But high school is maybe a little young for marriage, so let's stick to the dates.

For the duration of the festival, classroom 3-E has been transformed into a makeshift movie theatre. Stop in with your date to watch one of these heart-racing movies, guaranteed to bring you and your date closer together! For the more romantic of the bunch, classroom 3-B will be home to dance lessons. Find a partner and get to know a Waltz, Argentine Tango, or request another, and try not to step on each other's feet as you get up-close and personal.

Movie showings: (CW: They're all horror)

April 25: Other Side of the Box
April 26: My Best Friend's Wedding
April 27: The Ballerina
April 28: Don't Look Away
April 29: The Mandela Catalogue Part.1

together forever

At the end of the event, two lucky winners will receive a secret grand prize!

Anyone else who finds someone willing to pair up with them can write both of their names for entry into a raffle for a runner-up prize. Winners of the raffle will be given the choice between riches, quality of life, or valuable information as a thanks for participating and a congratulations on their new life together.

Comments

[dereban]

... I don't know if I should be clapping that you're trying to boast that you think that you look young.

[There it is, the dripping sarcasm that she could honestly laugh at.]

But I'll say 'no comment' to your question.

[shimashima]

[ "No comment"?! In an instant, there goes calming down. Instead, Alice gapes at Inaba, affronted. ]

What is that supposed to meaaaan?! You thought that I'm hoping to find a romantic partner, didn't you? So you must have believed that I'm around your age! I'm simply telling you that our conversation is all part of an incognito mission!

[ And thus, she doesn't need to be so wary... ]

[dereban]

I didn't think that at all.

[She puts it rather mildly and bluntly, almost as if this doesn't have anything to do with her in the slightest bit.]

But you can't really call it 'incognito' if you're telling me this and making it absolutely obvious with your loud voice. You're worse at it than I am. At least I can pass for looking for a new partner.

[shimashima]

[ She's right... but is it necessary to say it like that?! Alice can't help but pout. All the same, he should cease his shouting, and he did intend to blend in.

Somewhat sheepishly, he settles at last. Moments later, something occurs to him— ]

...Oh? Then you're undertaking the same kind of mission?

[ It shouldn't surprise him. The fact that she looks like an ordinary schoolgirl means little! ]

[dereban]

Well - I can say wholeheartedly that I'm not really expecting to find someone to date, that's for sure. I doubt anyone here is my type in the first place.

[She says that so easily and as casually as breathing. It honestly doesn't come to her as much of a surprise.]

[shimashima]

I see... Whether it's a case of unrealistic standards or not, you aren't completely unapproachable.

[ What could her type be, if no one here matches the image in her mind? Older women? There aren't any students who fit that description, as far as Alice knows. ]

At any rate, it's none of my business! I also won't mention it to anyone else.

[dereban]

I definitely don't have unrealistic standards. [She says that rather blandly before following it up with:] Hm. That's a surprising statement, though.

[Not the latter part about it not being none of his business, but rather the whole 'completely unapproachable' thing.

...is she supposed to take that as a compliment?

Or it is supposed to make her feel better?]

[shimashima]

[ At that, Alice cocks his head to accompany the question that follows. ]

Surprising? Why do you say that?

[ For one, he's not entirely sure which statement surprised her, so clarification is in order. She could consider any one of them unexpected, he imagines, especially if she thinks of her standards as justified, for example! ]

[dereban]

Usually people would say I'm just unapproachable.

[Just putting it rather bluntly.]

[shimashima]

[ Oh, so it was that part... With a shrug, Alice leans back in his chair once more. ]

It's true that you appear to be a guarded sort of person. Even so, you're attending this event, and we're successfully having a conversation. If you were completely unapproachable, you would have remained silent or told me to go away, right?

[ He's done just that to others himself before, so he knows that it can make them feel intimidated and unwelcome... ]

[dereban]

The silent treatment is definitely not like me and -- well. As for the latter option. That's reserved for assholes who give me a hard time.

[Or in better words: people she doesn't like.]

[shimashima]

[ He shouldn't project, of course — he knows next to nothing about this girl. Still, he thinks of Reko when they were younger, when others might have described her as unapproachable, and he's convinced that she was lonely then. She seemed so much happier around Sara Chidouin and Nao Egokoro and the others.

There could be any number of reasons why someone would choose to close themselves off, withdrawing from others, pushing them away. Here, the conversation hasn't ended abruptly. It isn't even as one-sided as some. ]

See? You can't refute my point! It's inaccurate to claim that you're truly unapproachable.

[dereban]

Perhaps not truly, but that doesn't mean that I'm not to most people.

[And she says this in a way that's meant to be taken as rather matter-of-factly.]

[shimashima]

That simply means that they've made up their minds based on their own assumptions!

[ But it's puzzling that she keeps insisting on it herself, he thinks. Most people... Is their opinion that important to her? She must be here for a reason... ]

Anyway, if you wish to be unapproachable, then that's a different matter.

[dereban]

There are cases when I wish to be unapproachable. Right now is not the case.

[shimashima]

In that case, you've achieved your goal!

[ Maybe their conversation began with misunderstandings, but all in all, they've done quite well. They didn't even need to use the icebreaker prompts as they were designed! ]

[dereban]

... My goal?

[Now she looks completely baffled, eyes wide.]

No, no, no -- that sort of thing was never a goal of mine.

[shimashima]

Whaaa—?!

[ That expression... Was he too hasty in acknowledging their apparent accomplishment?! He gives Inaba a bewildered look in response. ]

Well, what was your goal?!

[dereban]

[ Blandly, and without much emotion: ]

It's a secret.

[shimashima]

A secret, hm? Very well. I'm not here to pry into anyone's affairs.

[ Alice nods a few times in a row. None of it is his business, as he said, and it's clear that his conversation partner isn't willing to share any more than that. ]