[IC] Persona - Academic Akrasia

[AdmrlStalfos19]

"Come on now, twenty-five's not "too geezery for" anything!" Etsu stated after a brief chuckle, before sighing again and guessing she was done here, "Well, thanks for all the help, Igarashi-sensei. I actually need to get going right about now. Here's my address, just so you guys know where to deliver my uniform, and um... yeah, I'll see you on Monday, I guess."

If course, this was assuming there wasn't anything that went wrong along the way, which could possibly be the case. Anyway, Etsu stood up after having written down the address for the house that she and Dai would be living in on a blank page of her diary, and gave a courteous bow before ripping out said page and giving it to Mr. Igarashi, and then taking her leave. Closing the door on the way out, she withdrew her phone and opened up Google Maps as she walked down the stairwell, positioning the map that was on display and zooming out a little so that she could see where the school was and where the station that she needed to get to was. She was actually hoping something that'd be along the way would stand out to her, but apparently there was nothing. She didn't really want to take a detour if she didn't have to, but she supposed there was no harm in scouting this part of Shikatsu out before heading home.

Etsu took the next right, moving the map on her phone around as she walked in case a place cropped up that wasn't that far from the route she was headed. Although what she probably should've done was watch were she was actually walking...

@Crimmy

[Crimmy]

@AdmrlStalfos19

NPC: Iemasa Igarashi - Faculty Office, Saturday Morning

"I'll see you around too!" was the blonde teacher's cheerful reply, waving goodbye to Etsu as she left the faculty office. With that said and done, he glanced down at the ripped piece of lined paper that had been handed to him, taking note of the address that had been given to him. He blinked in surprise; he wasn't really familiar with the area, but it looked like the new student lived on the other side of town. Talk about a super long commute. Hopefully she wouldn't be too strongly affected by that. Getting used to everything new after a transfer was already going to be a real drag.

Iemasa shook his head, returning to his desk and plonking down in the swivelling seat. Right now, he'd need to see what classes had spots open for her. Admin'd probably gotten the goose real quick, but hey, they were always open to suggestions. It'd be awesome if she was in one of his history classes. He could make sure she was settling in okay if that was the case.

Hmm, Class 3-B looked like it had an opening ...

[SMS]

@Sarcelle Renard

Natsume; Saturday Morning - Newspaper Club Room

---

The girl stood her ground as the blonde sized her up for a moment before taking the application from her. She carefully observed him as he scanned the paper, doubtful perhaps of her intention to join the club. Natsume nodded to confirm her name, but then quickly realized that he was facing away from her and backpedaled after clearing her throat. "Yes, that is correct."

"Seiho Yuuhei..." Yes, that was the name she heard about a while back. It seems she was correct about him being the president. Anyone who can turn a 180 just like that doesn't come by often. Especially with his calculating eyes as he took her in earlier. The girl peeked over his shoulder as he gestured towards the vice president in the back. The glare she was shooting the guy made Natsume flinch a little. "I'm guessing they're close. And she must be the one wearing the pants between the two of them." She shyly waved her hand at the vice president, while mentally noting to avoid angering the dark haired girl in the future if she really does bite like the blonde had described. A sight she hoped she wouldn't ever be the focus of. "It's a pleasure to meet you both," she replied before bowing her head in respect for her upperclassmen.

Natsume took another half-step back as Yuuhei spun towards her before kneeling in front of her. And she blinked a few times at his declaration. "I-I'm in?" A few more blinks. She then let out a small sigh of relief before slumping her shoulders a little. While she wasn't expecting a flat out rejection due to his actions a few moments earlier, she wasn't expecting an outright acceptance either.

"I-is this really alright, though?" She asks him before glancing over to the vice president. If she really did wear the pants in their relationship, shouldn't Yuuhei have consulted with her at least? Then again, he technically was the president of the club so maybe he had some authority in this domain.

[GarlandChaos]

@Savo @Crimmy @JBRam2002

Verbal criticisms were nothing new to Suzune, especially not from the men she grew to despise. Apparently, most males in Uchima Senior High didn't exactly hold lesbians in high regard. That, or they just couldn't handle a bit of a tongue lashing from the 'fairer sex', as it were. Jerks and wimps, every last one of them.

That Hayate, though. 'Gigantic tits'? Ugh. What a blockhead. While it was true that Suzune was more...well-endowed than most, it didn't make her 'tits' 'gigantic', not at all. On the other hand, though, the dumbass probably never saw a real human being with anything bigger than a B cup before in his life. She had to let loose a small snicker at that thought as she continued to stare jagged daggers at the two men in the same general area as her and Kimiko.

Speaking of which, the one she didn't recognize turned out to be as dense as she thought he would be. Not only was he irritatingly snarky, he also seemed to be, of all things, a godsdamned narcissist. Just. Peachy. Leave it to the foreigner to be the most self-centered prick around, eh?

...of course, her precious Kimiko was always there to try and calm her down, gods bless her soul.~ ...well, 'try' being the key word. The miko tried to convince the other girl who had an unrequited crush on her that she was fine and that the brutes 'have not deigned to touch' her. Yet.

Apparently the foreigner's name was...'Frosty-san?' Oh, that was rich. She tried stifling a giggle but failed spectacularly when a loud burst of noise exploded from what was supposed to be a small snicker. Finally releasing her arms from their grip on the shrine maiden's shoulders, Suzune spoke up. "Of course, Maita-sama," the girl said, her tone much calmer now, "sorry for snapping like that again." She grinned sheepishly and ruffled her hair, chuckling lightly.

Suzune then redirected her attention back to Hayate and continued her death stare. "Yeah, I'll be tagging along," she said, her voice becoming gruff again. "And I won't be raising any hell if snow cone over there-" Suzune shot a quick side glance over at the unfamiliar young man. "-doesn't even so much as touch Kimiko. Capiche?"

[JBRam2002]

Kimiko Maita

@Crimmy@Savo@GarlandDaHero

Kimiko was only slightly offended at the mention of Suzune's gigantic tits, but that was mostly because her own were slightly larger. They typically were ignored more than other girls' due to a combination of her shorter stature, less revealing dress, and the fact that she was ever-so-slightly overweight, likely due to the donuts available at the Sacred Grounds. In either case, she did not feel the need for men to stare at any particular portion of her body and brushed the comment off.

More concerning was mention of her "jimmies." As far as she were aware, she did not own nor have on her person any sort of "jimmies." Her only assumption was that it was a euphemism for something, but for what was beyond her. And why would they become ruffled? As she stood with some confusion, attempting to wrap her head around such confusing turns of phrases, Suzune broke into laughter and ruffled her perfectly-groomed hair.

Kimiko immediately reached up to smooth the offending follicles, an action that was likely the main reason why Suzune persisted in this deplorable act of hair-ruffling. If "jimmies" stood for hair, then she was now thoroughly ruffled. Either way, the group had decided to move on, and Kimiko followed in silence. There was no need to reiterate what was previously said, nor to make any sort of commitment to a club in which she was unsure whether she had any interest as of yet.

As for whether "snow cone" (again, the reference eluding poor Kimiko) touched her or not, Kimiko was not perturbed in the least. Truth be told, he was not the worst-looking student in the school, but very few people in their right minds would even consider laying a hand on the shrine maiden, especially if they knew her father.

As the group trudged along, Kimiko relapsed back to attempting to work out the musical phrase from before, silently humming the tune in her head. If she were not going to chorus, she might as well be productive in the meantime.

[Crimmy]

@Savo@JBRam2002@GarlandDaHero

NPC: Uchima Senior High Hallways -> Drama Clubroom, Saturday Morning

These dudes are like hedgehogs. Except not cute.

It didn't take long for the group of teenagers to reach the Drama Clubroom, although that was likely a result of Sasaki's faster-than-usual strides, purportedly to avoid "Yamamoto riding his ass", but more likely so that he could spend less time escorting the Quik-N-Eezy Shitfest Maker to their destination. If they did end up staying for longer, it meant that he was going to still have to deal with all that drama, but at least with the other folks around, it'd be foisted on them instead, and he could just laze around at the back of the room like he usually did.

Avoiding responsibility by chucking it all at the rest of the club.

"Yo," was his half-hearted greeting as he slid open the door to the clubroom, one that was met by varyingly half-hearted responses from his fellow Drama club members. The room was just as they had left it before the short break, with the desks pushed into the sides and corners of the room, a lamp-post resting in the centre next to dusty old backgrounds (ranging from a cityscape to a desert to an ice cream factory) from the previous year's performance, and what appeared to be a frog costume slumped over like a corpse in one of the wooden chairs (as if its flames had finally been extinguished after a final, dramatic bout in the boxing ring).

Not all of the members had returned yet, but those who had were either sitting around and chatting casually or trying to do at least some semblance of work. Their leader was nowhere to be found, but given that they were actually a bit early to return, Yamamoto had probably decided to grab a quick coffee. Instead, Sasaki's eyes zeroed in on a brunette youth sitting in one of the chairs nearer to the front of the room.

"Hey, vice-prez, nabbed two new dudes," he said, walking over before the other third-year could even react in time. "Hit them with usual schtick. Later."

Sasaki proceeded to slink off, leaving the blinking vice-president sitting on his chair in front of the trio that had come along to the Drama Clubroom. Ikari, he was of course familiar with, given her position in the club, but of the other two ...

"Oh, you are ... Class 3-B's Maita?" he asked politely. There was a slight hint of hesitation in his tone, likely due to the suddeness of their arrival, but it was quickly subsumed into his modulated and controlled voice. "And you-" His eyes flickered over to where Alex was standing. "-You are one of the second-years?"

[Suku]

@Crimmy
"If your sure sempai" Kagami replied a bit of worry in her voice though she trusted her senior in this matter from her understanding what she wanted normally happened with few variances to her understanding Hanazawa was that persuasive apparently though with that said she was unsure on how true those rumors was but in the long run she never cared much since in the end it never concerned her really till now. "I am unsure on how you plan on hiding me." She continued a bit of worry in her voice as she looked at her sempai with that said who knew what was going on in her mind.

[Kafka Komedy]

Kazou - McDonald's

As Kazou gathered his things, the attractive young worker man commented on his frankly diseased behavior. Yeah normal people probably didn't act or look this terrible. Still, if he left quickly, he could probably save face in that guy's eyes. Not in the ladies certainly but at least one person today wouldn't regard him as a fool or a lecher.

Grabbing up his tray and turning around to excuse himself, Kazou was astounded to notice that the fire=headed girl hadn't noticed her friend's bleeding face even though they were so close they could reasonably feel each other breath. Kazou felt almost incredulous that these two women existed. Both seemed almost as bad as him at interacting with people, bird-girl maybe even moreso. Looks really did matter it seemed, judging by their decently attractive nature and the man sitting by them.

As the woman turned back to Kazou with a deservedly disinterested tone, Kazou was prepared to have her insult him in a roundabout way before he left but that didn't happen. Instead, she mentioned pizza robots.

"Excuse me?" Kazou blurted rudely, before clearing his throat. "Sorry it's just... What?"

This had to be a prank right? Make Kazou look like a fool and spread rumors of his idiocy. It wouldn't be hard, his test grades weren't exactly the best and he never did his homework. Or schoolwork for that matter. But something about this was so... Alluring, the woman seemed, while not incapable of lying, so frank it was a distant thought. Besides, the girl on top of her would speak up if they were taking advantage of him; she was most definitely incapable of anything resembling social grace.

Kazou, against his better judgement, sat down next to the worker boy with his tray. For now, he'd try to suss out if they were yanking his chain or not. If this really did appear on the news, he'd have no idea. He never cared much for current events anyways and he'd neglected to check his phone today. Speaking of, that'd be the best way to see if such an outlandish story was real; the internet, while it lied, was everyone's thoughts. Not two odd girls and some part-time McD's worker.

"Pizza bots you said? I mean, I know robots are taking everyone's jobs, but that's bo- erm, crazy! Heh." Kazou said, pulling out his phone. "Mind showing me where you heard about this stuff? I don't watch the news too often; It's kinda depressing frankly!" Kazou laughed again. Kazou handed his phone to whoever offered their hand first; the worker or the redhead. He wouldn't bother giving the birdbrained woman his expensive tech since she'd likely peck at it.

@Plank Sinatra@Krayzikk@Write

[Krayzikk]

"I didn't hear about it on the news."

Daisuke shook his head a little and didn't take Kazou's phone, but he tried to keep his usual glower off his face. Guy was skittish. Like he'd bolt if you looked at him wrong. Given that he looked at just about everybody wrong, it wasn't easy. Kimiko wanted him to take a seat, though, and the guy didn't seem too awful. Or like a creep. He was way, way too nervous for that. The idea of looking at Hitomi or Kimiko's 'cans' probably'd give him a heart attack. Make him jump out of his skin. Maybe both, he was jumpy enough. The delinquent rolled his eyes a little, frown deepening a touch.

Come to think of it, gossip'd been pretty light about the 'bots. He wasn't sure what people had seen, or hadn't seen, or... Well, what they'd admit to seeing. No one wanted to end up in the funny farm. Self delusion was a bitch and a half, but it was a strong one. No cops came looking for him this morning, so he figured no one'd really seen them leave. But even if someone did see, would they really believe it?

Hitomi's comment about coffee reminded him that he'd nabbed some on the way out, so he took a sip from his cup and thought a minute. He gave the girl herself a quick nod, eyeing her nose with a little concern.

"Might just check it out, Hitomi," He began, though his gaze eventually moved to the new guy. "Try and do it in the morning, though. Think the customers are a bit classier than me. Probably ain't used to my sort."

"Anyway, buddy, I dunno what was on the news but it was probably weirder than they're sayin'. Was about ten minutes that way, if you go see the spot. Not really sure how to say it, you'll think it's crazy."

[Crimmy]

@Suku

NPC: Ai Hanazawa - Hallway, Saturday Morning

"Don't worry, you'll be fine," was the older girl's cheerfully prompt reply as they took the final few steps to the Drama Clubroom's door. Hanazawa reached out for the handle, gripping tightly onto it as she slid the door fully open to let her and Kagami inside. A few short greetings were sent her way by others in the room, ones that she responded to in kind, but what she was mostly focusing on was closing the door behind them.

"Look, those two talking to Okacchin aren't Drama either," she whispered, leaning closer to Kagami's ear and pointing over at where Kimiko and Alexander were standing. "There's going to be 「no problem」!"

Her English accent was, incidentally, atrocious.

[Matador]

McDonald's

@Krayzikk@Plank Sinatra@Kafka Komedy@Write

Akira's eyes shifted from side to side as he entered the McDonald's. It didn't look like there were too many people around here, which was good. Going to school with people you've known for a year was one thing, but the last thing he wanted to do was to go outside and make a complete and utter ass out of himself in public. As was probably obvious from his choice of clothing—-running shorts and a gray sweater--he had just finished up his daily jog. Normally, he wouldn't have come here, but he had gotten really into grinding his Imagine online character and decided to stick a piece of buttered toast in his mouth and run out the door before he wasted any more time. He got a lot of weird glances for it.

Just look ahead... He mentally coached himself as he walked up to the counter, eyes inadvertently shifting downwards with each step.

"Uh, one Big Mac please."

"That'll be 340 yen."

He reached out to his pocket and pulled out the money, passing it over to the clerk, only to second guess himself and place it on the counter as the clerk was reaching out to get it himself. While the clerk, evidently, didn't give a rat's ass about it, Akira couldn't help but be hit by a wave of embarrassment. He was given a receipt with a number on it and headed down to a random booth. That booth just so happened to be in front of a table with a few interesting characters. He recognized Daisuke from all the rumors of his delinquency floating around, but the bleeding girl and her two other friends were foreign to him.

Akira hastily pulled out his smartphone to make it seem as if he wasn't totally just staring at them. He couldn't help but give a near inaudible sigh. He knew he wasn't always like this and that made getting spooked this easily all the more depressing.

[Savo]

Alexander Furst

---

@Crimmy @JBRam2002 @GarlandDaHero

---

Alexander just glared at the girl as she guffawed rudely at... something. If he had to guess, it was either the facet that they both retaliated and she saw them as nothing, or she was laughing at the way his name was pronounced by Reimu's alternate skin. Regardless, he wasn't going to say anything and not make any more assumptions. After all, assumptions did start with ass.

Though he could say he was off-put by the sudden alteration of personality, her switch being flipped way too friggin' easily. Alex just raised his eyebrow before ruffling his hair. He would just have to endure her presence for the time being...

Oh, and she's telling him what to do? Seriously, he wasn't going to even do so in the first place and at this point he just wanted to tell her to piss off... or actually grab the shrine maidens hand just to irk her.

But he had standards - he only knew her as a customer and not as a friend, acquaintance, or anything aside from the part where she was his senpai and a singer.

Gripping his bag, he pretended to completely disregard what AC/DC's Back in Black had to say and had his eyes pressed against the air. It was as if his eyes were completely glazed over in a sort of trance-like state as he walked, back erect as an army soldier. Focused on the front, his glazed gaze broke upon the shrine maiden humming a tune of her own. Despite all the rigidness, that seemed a bit nice and put him to ease, even if it was marginal.

Alexander's eyes often drifted between the hallways, his satchel, and back to the humming lady. There wasn't anything else interesting happening as they marched to the Drama Club room.

...

Eyeing one of the doors this Drama Club member opened, Alex poked his head to the side as the short guy gave and received weak responses. He recognized a few people from his class who either didn't see him... or if they did, well... he could see the knives in her eyes. As the group entered, the first thing he noticed was the frogs in the corner. Creepy. Pretending he never saw those things, he was escorted over with the rest of the group to a brown haired boy before departing from the now dwindling group.

The guy went over the third years (with him gaining more knowledge, yay) and then correlating over to him. Releasing his vice grip from the side of his satchel, he studied the guy for a moment before extending his hand out.

"Mhm," he nodded as he continued. "Alexander Furst, it's a pleasure to meetcha'," he spoke in his usual serious and hard voice. Alex didn't bother on the sound of a door being open; it was either that dude leaving or some other members coming in.

Either way, it didn't matter. Right now, his focus was impressions and learning about the other members of this club.

[GarlandChaos]

@Crimmy @JBRam2002 @Savo

Suzune bumped up the intensity of her glare as the foreigner gave the drama club member one of his own. Stupid narcissists. Always trying to prove their worth, as if it were something they even had in the first place. Men tended to be the worst with that, of course, and this 'Frosty-san' was no different. If he ever had a chance at getting on Suzune's good side, it was long-gone by now.

Following Hayate as he escorted the three students to the drama club room, Suzune just stared straight ahead. The less eye contact she made with the two men, the better. However, Kimiko's sudden humming caught her attention, and she turned her head to look at her and smiled.

Of course, the damn foreigner was also looking at her. She stared daggers at the young man and huffed, hopefully getting her message of 'She's mine, buzz off' across, and returned to staring directly in front of herself. Every now and then her eyes would drift back to Kimiko, and she'd smile again.

Aside from that, however, the walk to the drama club was relatively uneventful, no thanks to the two guys with her and Kimiko. How exactly she managed to not go completely crazy yet was a mystery, but it was likely because of the shrine maiden herself.

---

What was up with the weird frog costume? Suzune remembered seeing one last year too, and it still confused her to this day. She had assumed it was for some sort of musical, but she either wasn't there or it was just some miscellaneous thing. Oh well, didn't make it any less odd.

Yamamoto apparently wasn't there, but the vice-president was at the very least. Hayate left after briefly giving him some info, and the foreigner (whose name was Furst Alexander, apparently) introduced himself. Suzune didn't need to introduce herself, since basically everyone in drama knew her name for varying reasons, but there was one person she did need to introduce...

"Maita-sama, this is our vice president," the dark-haired girl introduced surprisingly calmly. "You remember Kimiko, right?" she asked the vice-president. "I talk about her a lot, but I don't think you two ever met." They may have met outside of drama, of course, but Suzune hadn't actually gotten Kimiko to really join the club yet, so it was honestly exciting to be getting her crush into one of her biggest hobbies.

[Sarcelle Renard]

Yuuhei Seiho

Saturday Morning - Newspaper Club Room

---

It was Yuuhei’s turn to blink several times, the girl’s reaction reminding him of a similar conversation he had been a part of in this very room. ’Heh, is this the view you had back then sempai?’ he mused as an oddly nostalgic grin broke through his attempt at a serious face. It was only there for a moment though, as his usual goofy grin was quick to retake control. But as he sprung to his feet, he adopted a look of faux confusion, raising an eyebrow in the most exaggerated way imaginable and cocking his head slightly to the side.

”Of course it’s alright. Why wouldn’t it be?” Yuuhei asked his new kouhai, scratching his chin in bewilderment. ”Wait," his eyes took on a rather worrisome glint as his mind started to have perhaps a bit too much fun filling in the nonexistent blanks, "don’t tell me you are starting to have reservations about joining because you are secretly involved in a fight between good and evil and are actually humanities last hope against those that would destroy us and don’t want to get us-“

THWACK

For some reason, the sound of a rolled up newspaper hitting a particularly thick skull produced a noise that was actually quite easy on the ears. Unfortunately, the thick skull in question was Yuuhei’s, so it was a sound that he was quite alright with giving up entirely. “Don’t scare off our newest member on her first day,” Saika chastised the blond, slapping the rolled up newspaper against her hand for emphasis.

“And you,” she said, turning to Natsumi with a softer tone and look, “Welcome to the club. If you have any questions, come to me first. This one,” she rather rudely gestured with a jerk of her head in Yuuhei’s direction, “means well, but is still all too likely to waste your time with his nonsense.”

At that, Yuuhei opened his mouth to defend himself, but closed it after a brief second of silence and hung his head sheepishly. ’Well it’s not like I can say that she’s wrong…’

---

@SMS

[Crimmy]

BIG IMPORTANT PLOT POST THING DO NOT IGNORE

Extra Rotten

Disembodied arms. Shattered pieces of what had once been a eerie-looking mask. A shrivelled, balled up mess that was far too uncomfortably human for him to look at for long periods of time. He had known it was going to be a real queer bajoomah, but just because the scoop was swimming inside his mind meat didn't mean it was that easy to grease some information from something that looked like the corpse of some poor, starving sap. It seemed like a cinch at first, but boy, was he looking like a boob now. He didn't want to grab air just yet, but after several hours without being able to get anything to spill, he really wanted to hang up his hat.

It was way more than just some dame's missing steady anymore. This dingus sitting in front of him was nothing less than the real McCoy, a sign of "foreign talent" having their mitts on the city's pulse. And who would've thunk, when he was all worried about being sent upriver to the big house, he should have been worrying about being a floater in the river. Maybe the broad got an edge from jumping head-first into all this mess, but he wasn't the type of guy to take any wooden nickels. Paying off the bills was already hard enough with metal coins.

Speaking of that freeloader who was supposedly his partner, he hadn't seen her around this morning. No sign of the ragamuffin pink bed-hair. It wasn't like the bird to get up early for any worms, but there were some files missing, and the coffee machine hadn't been cleaned. Man, even if she was a smart cookie sometimes, she really liked to go off like a fairy. Didn't even bother dropping a dime to tell him where she went. It would've been real swell if she was here right now, because she'd probably catch something about this caper that he hadn't.

"Nuts and Bolts" here wasn't somebody he could beat his gums to.

Hey, what type of shamus talked to a delivery drone? Not him, for sure.

He sighed, rising to his feet and walking past the machine sleeping next to the table leg. The bearcat girl had left the thing in here yesterday, but he hadn't gotten to chance to rat anything outta those circuits. It probably wasn't going to be an easy rube either.

The detective grabbed his beloved hat, fitting it snugly over his head.

He'd have to nab some of his contacts' brains. Maybe scoot by those kids, wherever they were.

The agency door slammed shut behind him.

---

@Savo@JBRam2002@GarlandDaHero

NPC: Uchima Senior High Hallways -> Drama Clubroom, Saturday Morning

The Drama Club's vice president nodded politely, even as he took Alex's proffered hand, responding with a light, but still noticeable, shake. "I do not believe we have," he said honestly, warm brown eyes looking from one newcomer to the other. "It is also a pleasure to meet both of you."

In the corner of the room, fabric shifted.

He had a subdued aura to him, as if he didn't really belong in his current position. He was just the vice president, after all, a stand-in for times when Yamamoto was unavailable. Meeting prospective new club members - well, one member possibly - wasn't something he was used to doing. Holding the fort wasn't particularly difficult, but there was always a strange feeling being the one "in charge".

It was very green.

"My name is Okazaki Jihei," he continued, rising to his feet and giving them a short bow. "I assume you two are interested in this production?"

The monster - green and beady-eyed - loomed behind the vice president.

"New comrades are always welcome!" boomed the frog costume, which had managed to sneak up behind Okazaki without any fanfare.

In a testament to his familiarity with such things, the vice president's subdued, calm aura didn't shift a single iota.

"This is Oogami Youta," the brunette added. "One of our actors alongside Ikari-san, and currently should be in charge of stage lighting."

The frog costume gestured in a "what-can-you-do?" manner, letting out an audible sigh.

"I thought it would've been most excellent for our newest comrades to know the excitement of this club!" the aforementioned Oogami explained flamboyantly. "That I can do for acquaintances of our Ikari-chan!"

"We usually are not this excit-"

---

An overpowering scent. Disgusting sweet, like the juices of ripening fruit splattered against the dirt. A familiar scent. A sterile yet pleasantly comforting odour, stagnant reminders of a long-gone past. The scent of them. The scent of perspiration, of pointless effort. Of their sweat, sticky and salty. The scent of something delicious. Something filling, a flavour that would last for eternity.

It breathed.

The scent of opportunity.

Here, in the darkest parts of the clock tower. Here, surrounded by the charring of a long-ago fire. A disaster of sixteen years past. A tragedy borne from a beautiful maelstrom of light and fire. But all that was left was black. Eerie black markings. Black, shadowy scars that would not heal. Scratched into the foundations of the school. Eternally a reminder. A dead end where grudges festered. Where the pain never left.

Drip.

In the darkness, it moved.

Drip.

Something moved. Something important.

Drip.

Searing hot. The air couldn't be breathed. Choking wisps.

i̧᷅᷅͝͝͝͝t᷅̄᷅͝͝͝͝ l᷅̈́᷅͝͝͝͝i᷅ͣ᷅͝͝͝͝k͊᷅ͯ᷅͝͝͝͝͝e᷅᷅᷅͝͝͝͝d̠᷅᷅͝͝͝͝ t᷅͋᷅͝͝͝͝h̖᷅᷅͝͝͝͝a᷅ͨ᷅͝͝͝͝t̛᷅᷅͝͝͝͝

too cold

warmth

a wave

darkness rose

hissing

a fork

unfurling, sickly

It would come. Brick and mortar shattered. Glittering, millions upon millions upon millions upon millions. Glowing gems. It could sense it. The potential. The potential so close and close and close.

Prey.

a̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̘̅᷆̓᷆ͩ͞ s̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̹̥̻᷆̓͒᷆e̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̓᷆̑᷀̆᷆͗c̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̈᷆ͣ᷾͏̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶᷆̎o̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶͇᷆̋̎͋᷆͠n̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̫̻᷆̎᷆̃͜d̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶͕̙᷆̌͐᷆̈ c̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̜̑᷆͐́᷆̾h̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̎᷆͂ͤ᷆ͣ͡a̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̷̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̬᷆̐͌ͦ᷆̆n̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̻̈᷆̑᷆͗͘ç̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̝᷆͋͑᷆e̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̘͕᷆̆᷆̒ͅ

Golden light screamed through the black.

The world stopped.

Every inch of the school. Frozen. Half-opened books. Sports equipment left unattended. Chalkboards half-written.

A facsimile. A mirage of a school.

No students. No teachers.

Sickly crimson dripped down the walls.

A long-dead image.

Its realm.

Filled with nothing. Except the scent of potential. The scent of prey.

Prey dragged inside.

The school itself shook with screams.

---

"-ing?"

Okazaki's voice trailed off.

The empty room. The red splattered against the opposing wall.

Taunting him.

[Savo]

Alexander Furst

---

@Crimmy @JBRam2002 @GarlandDaHero

---

Alexander's grip was a lot more firm than the vice-presidents as he tightly gripped the hand and shook it. Guess the guy either wanted to get straight down to business or they were a bit out there when it came to steering this club to say the least. Regardless, his shake was as firm as his face as he kept a straight-laced attitude the best he could as his hand drooped back to his bag.

His hardened brown eyes never left the guy, and he constantly kept a frown as he placed his hand onto his hip. Alex sized up the vice president who gave a polite and subdued bow. Tilting his head, he nodded back as a polite way of responding to his own introduction.

"Mhm, otherwise I wouldn't be here for the time being." Wow, no ridiculous tasks the group would set him up to yet? No malevolence in his voice? This was a little too perfect, save for the ambience. Even the shrine maiden could overtake him and she seemed to not have such a strong presence as well.

While his voice did stay completely serious, Alexander did flinch when the sudden frog popped up behind Okazaki, fleetingly pulling up a hand to shield himself as he winced a little. Once he saw the suit was possessed by an actually living being, his frown deepened, and the black-haired boy let out a slight "tch" as he barred his teeth.

Even though he was affable, his eyes darted between the vibrant young star and one of his classmates. Strictly speaking, he would see how long this would last before things ended up out of hand.

At this point, he felt like the vice president could be suffocated by the stagnant air surrounding him. Alexanders hand held up instantly dropped the moment the introductions were underway. He jabbed his chin upwards and furrowed his brow.

"If you're going to be exciting again, don't do it in that ridiculous costume... frickin' frogs," Alex glanced to the side, not bothering to stare at it as he uttered the last part under his breath. He shifted a little bit back from the frog-man, trying to ignore the fact that someone was occupying the frightening costume.

"Also, Ikari-san is far from being an acquaintance, I can say that much," he shot out, eyeing the Black Widow Spider with a similar cold scowl.

And then it all went to hell.

Alexander blinked. His iris' widened. He blinked again and continued staring at this environment. He blinked, twice, three times the room, the people, they were all... what? What the heck? Where was everyone, was he alone with the vice president?... oh, no, Suzune and Kimiko were still there, along with some other girl standing at... wait. That was Kagami-san, great... another person from his class to brighten his day.

Ok, but seriously, where were they? This was the school, right? Alexander eyed the crimson seeping from the walls, looked around the forlorn area and kept his jagged visage up. His face whipped from one place to another as he jammed one of his hands into his pocket and began toying around with the baton in his pocket, spinning it at a more frequent rate.

"Oh good, you guys went all out with the Otherworld special effects, impressive," Alex jabbed, "Y'doing something that was inspired by the s-series I guess? He stuttered as he continued studying the emptiness. The geometry of this place... it felt... off... it felt horribly wrong...

As he analyzed the place, when he came into contact with that thing Alex then froze, staring into the maws of hell... or rather, the head of the frog costume Oogami was in.

"Alright, jus' what the hell is going on," he said in a low, growling voice as he looked at everyone, possibly just as confused as everyone. "Where did most of the Drama Club members go," he spoke as if Okazaki had all the answers, trying to hide his frantic voice as he gestured towards the now vacant seats of the room.

"Oogami, you have any answers," he questioned, motioning over to the garments that stood in place with its head down, unmoving, still as a mere statue. No response.

He... he didn't like that.

"... hellooooo, Frogger," he inquired in his hardened voice, gradually inching over to where the costume was. As much as he hated to brandish his weapon, this was eerie enough to warrant some usage versus self-defense. Extending the baton and his own arm, he barred his teeth weakly as he prodded the costume with the batons tip.

"Ok, calm down Alex, this is either a dream or you're hallucinating..."

Yeah, that was reassuring. This place felt too real to be a dream, yet too distant to be mere hallucination.

Maybe Little Miss "Obsessed With The Miko" shoved him to the pavement and knocked him out. Maybe those headaches over velvet got to him earlier and in reality he was lying on the sidewalk passed out. These all sounded like highly unlikely solutions and yet he wanted to believe those instead.

Because honestly... this was uncanny to a pint. And the echoing shrieks throughout the vicinity only worked to increase his sense of dread at all.

[JBRam2002]

Kimiko Maita

@Crimmy@Savo@GarlandDaHero

Kimiko had mentioned a few times to Suzune once upon a time that she did not deserve the title "sama" when addressed, but after the other girl insisted on maintaining the honorific, the shrine maiden let it slide. It certainly was not due to the small boost to her ego she received when Suzune called her Maita-sama, but rather because of all the vices Suzune displayed, this was the one that chafed the least against Kimiko's standards. And also, she enjoyed the ego boost.

"Good morning, Okazaki-san," Kimiko had said before he introduced himself. Despite having never formally been introduced to the drama club's vice president, Kimiko made it her business to know the names of her fellow third years, especially the ones who held any sort of important position. She was about to offer a handshake herself, but Frosty-san stepped forward instead. She was about to respond that she held no current long-term intentions regarding the drama club and that she was simply interested in seeing what they were planning when it happened.

Whatever "it" was, Kimiko immediately felt sick to her stomach upon seeing the crimson splatters on the wall. "Ikari-san, if this is your idea of a joke, it is not currently being received very well," Kimiko whispered, moving to stand behind her ally. "But if it is, excellent use of lighting... It is very creepy." The worst part about such a display of horrors occurring in a drama club is that one could not even trust the reactions of the club members since feigned reactions was something they trained in. However, Kimiko was almost certain that the place had been populated by at least a few additional people beforehand... She briefly returned to thinking about the news of the morning and the whispers of a supernatural presence. Either this was the best stage production she had been privy to in quite some time, or something otherworldly was going on.

[GarlandChaos]

@Crimmy @Savo @JBRam2002

Suzune jumped slightly when the frog suit suddenly started moving, but then breathed a sigh of relief when it introduced itself. Youta had a tendency to be a bit of a weirdo, and this was no exception. This kinda went above and beyond, however; what was up with the costume? Maybe it was for a play she didn't get the memo for. Whatever it was, the black-haired girl was beginning to feel uncomfortable, and it wasn't just because Youta addressed her with '-chan'.

And then everything, absolutely everything went tits up.

Youta's suit was limp, with what seemed like blood dripping down the wall. Eyeing the unmoving frog suit with widened eyes, Suzune was left completely speechless. Youta wasn't...dead, was he? If that were the case, he most certainly didn't deserve it, despite his somewhat eccentric tendencies.

That wasn't the only thing that was messed up, however. The entire room, no, the entire SCHOOL felt completely different. It was like something out of a horror film, and it made Suzune's stomach churn and her heart pound against her chest like a herd of stampeding elephants.

Oh, Gods, did Furst have to prod the (probably) lifeless suit like that?! Youta might be dead! Leave the poor thing alone!

Suzune had a bit of a tough girl reputation all throughout the school. However, that was mostly in regards to men.

When around women and especially situations like this one, she became a completely different person.

"M-M-Maita-samaaaaa..." Suzune let out an uncharacteristically girly whimper as she silently ran behind Kimiko, who had just went behind her, and hugged her tightly. "Wh...What's going on here? I...I wanna go home...!"

[vancexentan]

What could be said for young Hans Olsen that hadn't already been said already? Not much could be said too be completely honest. Hans was now a stranger in a new country that he had escaped to in order to find some peace in his life. He loved his home but sometimes it got to be too much for him. At least here studying in a foreign country he didn't need to worry about life throwing unexpected curve balls at him. Japan was a place where he was more or less a shadow. No one especially cared too ask a foreigner much of anything beyond a few simple questions here and there. More over Japan itself was pretty standard even if it's foreign outlook made it look outlandish, and weird. It was all a bunch of stereotypes that really meant nothing to the young Norwegian at the end of the day. There was only one way of life that suited him here to be quite frank: A quiet one. Hans never craved for popularity until he lost most of his friends and then somewhere along the line he kinda just gave up on the subject. People were finicky now of days and tried to use you. He'd still give people the benefit of the doubt but there always that nagging suspicious nature in the back of his mind that made him distrust some people, and girls especially.

Still Hans wasn't thinking much as he spent his time going around the park jumping around and going about doing what he did best: parkour. He felt much more alive jumping over benches, or climbing up trees than he did anywhere else. There was no need to worry about people, or whatever curve ball life would throw at you when you were doing this because you needed to focus. It was a simple hobby that required little in the way of money, and physically improved his own body. He enjoyed doing it because of that, and because he was actually pretty good at it after so much time practicing. He didn't need to talk, and he didn't need to show off he could move at his own pace, and usually pick his own stunts. It was that freedom to do what he wanted to do that let Hans enjoy himself. So he kept jogging, and then jumping, and then climbing and rinsing and repeating. He didn't need to act like it was a strange thing to do. Parkour was popular in Japan too with the advent of some T.V shows so some people would probably assume he was training for that sort of thing, or another. Still as he jumped from one place to another, and tried to push himself Hans's only other thought was of what he was going to eat once he got back to the dorm.

[Suku]

Kagami kept quiet as she took into account the sudden change of scenery and the seemingly dead frog suit. "Something's foul in Denmark" Kagami said as she gripped her wrapped bokkken it wasn't doing much but it comforted her just a little no matter what may pop up she was protected somewhat. The sudden change of the walls and the people suddenly vanishing was odd very odd. "WE all need to calm down now." Kagami said aloud to the people in the room with her. "Something has happened and sitting around twiddling our thumbs is not going to do us anything. Look something has happened i'm going to go and see if I can find anyone else stay here if you wish but im going." Kagami said her tone strict and holding a strong steel to those outside of the kendo club it would sound a bit odd for the normally softspoken girl but to those in the know it held all the commanding voice of the future president of the kendo club.