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    1. CondorTalon 10 yrs ago

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One does simply kick and/or shake Tate Hwang and get away with it, nosiree, and if Tate was in any state to do... well, anything, really, he would have started shouting. Words, possibly. Maybe throw a punch or two here and there.

Of course, he wasn't. He wasn't in such a state. As it was, he was just barely able to open his eyes. He shifted, slowly, painfully, as if he wasn't used to being in this body. Eventually, he managed to roll over and sit up. His vision was swimming, his mouth felt so dry, and he had a killer headache, but at the very least, he was alive.

Maybe.

The jury was still out on that, given his surroundings.

It was hard to think. In general, sure, but also in this very moment. Tate tried his best. He did a mental headcount, noting that besides him and the three others with him, no one else was around. The town had changed considerably, now. Whereas before everything just seemed subtly off, now it was completely different. Nearly unrecognizable in every way except the physical layout.

"Guh..." he managed to say.

He didn't know what was going on. He blinked, looking at the three others. He recognized them... kind of. They were at the common area where tromboy was. There was still that little speck of a thought in his head that this was still a prank, but it was getting harder and harder to believe it by the second. He shakily stood up.

He was scared, and he was confused. And when Tate is scared and confused, he gets angry.

"Alright, you..." he said, the words feeling unfamiliar in his mouth, "you all have... five seconds... to tell me what's going on."

Standing at his full height, Tate would have been an intimidating figure if it didn't also look like he was fighting a wicked hangover.

Tate looked to the guy (@CriticalHit), then to the girls (@Lugubrious, @BCTheEntity), awaiting an answer that was probably not forthcoming.



There wasn't really too much of interest here, just people milling about, doing their own thing. The whole thing was whatever, really. Nothing new or out of the ordinary that Tate hadn't seen before...

That is, until he heard the unmistakable sound of a brass instrument. Someone was fuckin' putting their iPod or whatever on speaker... was Tate's first thought, but the acoustics were too crisp, too clear, for that to be the case. And so, Tate turned and why was there a guy just playing the trombone.

For a few seconds, or maybe several, Tate just stared in disbelief. Then, his brain did a little reboot, and he had half a mind to go and tell the guy off. What stopped him was... well, this was a public space, and causing a ruckus here probably wouldn't be the best idea, as much as he would have loved to. It was just something about the guy that Tate didn't like. Rubbed him the wrong way. You had to be on top of these kinds of gut feelings, after all. But... okay, fine. No ruckus causing, at least right now. Tate had a little impulse control, yeah? Right? No? Well, it stopped him in this instance and that was good enough.

A sharp pang in his stomach reminded Tate that he'd still not yet eaten. Fine, whatever. Nothing interesting (except for tromboy over there) was happening anyway. He turned right around, heading for the nearest place on campus where he could get food.



The day had come and gone and nothing had changed. Tate had gone through his classes for the day (all two of them), and had spent the rest of the afternoon at the arcade.

Yeah, you know, the arcade. It was a short five minute sprint from the campus, but usually Tate walked. It was one of the only places in the UK, as far as he knew, that still had a working, custom In The Groove 2 cabinet. It allowed Tate to continue to indulge in one of his longest lasting passions: dance rhythm games. Tate considered this place a sanctuary, some place to keep the mindless tedium of the rest of his routine at bay. Here, he still had a lot of room to grow and improve. Here, he would grow and improve. He'd spent the last year here, whenever he was able to find time. Grow and improve.

Not today, though. Today, for some reason, his ITG session was going bad. Everything felt off, just ever so slightly. He could pinpoint what the problem was, but everything was slower, sloppier... he wasn't hitting with the same accuracy that he knew he was capable of. He took a frustrated chug from his water bottle as he ended yet another disappointing credit. What the hell was up with his body today?! He sighed, before checking his phone. 5:29PM, an hour and a half before class. He usually tried to squeeze in as much game time as possible, but today... he may just have to call it quits early. He fiddled with the coins in his pocket, before clumsily depositing them into the coin slot. His hand had been shaking, he noticed. But it was just nerves, he could still do this. Just one more credit.

The headache that pounded his skull just a few seconds into the first song already let him know that this was about to be a waste of a pound. It was a pain unlike any he'd felt in his life. Not necessarily stronger, but it was just... worse, somehow. He couldn't keep going like this. He quickly took all his belongings and left the arcade. All the while, a growing sense of dread rose within him, accompanying the headache that was now feeling all-pervasive. One though shot immediately to the forefront like the sudden activation of an alarm: he had to get back to the dorm.

The campus was a short five minute sprint away.

Tate ran as fast as he could, trying not trip over his own two feet. He strained to not get lost, in this winding streets that he should have known like the back of his hand, but everything was wrong. It was just so subtly different, but it was wrong. The sky was the wrong shade. The trees were the wrong color. The roads were the wrong texture. His mind scrambled for a coherent thought, over the pain, over the nausea, over the heavy, suffocating feeling enveloping him.

What the hell is going on?! What the hell is happening to me?!

His brain clawed desperately at anything it could grab onto that could count as an answer. Food poisoning? Or... had someone drugged him?

His water bottle?!

He threw it onto the ground, almost throwing down his bag with it. It didn't make any sense! Yet, it was the only thing that made sense! Who and why the hell would someone drug him? But then what else could it be?

It wasn't until he reached the front gate of the campus that he'd realized he'd not seen a single other person on the sprint back. It was the contrast that did it. The lone girl, slumped against the wall, was the first person he'd seen ever since he left the arcade. That's when he realized.

He wanted to say something to the girl, but he didn't know what. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. The headache, the nausea, the everything, was just so overwhelming.

Whoever drugged him (it had to be, it had to be) was having a laugh weren't they? He still couldn't at all understand why, or who, but it must have been very funny for them. Haha, look at Tate look at him stumble around like a bug high on caffeine, ain't he hilarious? Isn't this the funniest shit you've ever seen?

Yeah, whatever.

He stumbled to a stop just a few feet away from the girl, which is when his body decided to just give up completely. And he fell forward, just barely managing the put his arms out so he didn't crack all his teeth on the ground.

And just like that, Tate Hwang was out.

And he comes in with a MAJESTIC faceplant and what a way to end the routine! The crowd is going wild and I gotta say that that's a 10 outta 10 from me, Bob! But let's see what the judges think, and by the judges I mean the girl whose feet he landed right beside (@Lugubrious).



The jump from sleep to wakefulness was sudden. Abrupt. And, exactly the same as it had been for the past... who knew, really. The first thing Tate consciously laid eyes on was his clock. Five minutes before the alarm was meant to go off. It was the eternal paradox that he'd grown accustomed to recently: if he set the alarm, he'd always wake up before it went off. So just don't set the alarm, then? Yeah, and say goodbye to all your appointments, fucker. Tate groaned as he rose to a seated position. He couldn't remember much about his time in the world of slumber, but the vague recollections were enough to give him pause. It was different. Tate was used to his dreams being incomprehensible, but there was something off. It made... too much sense, and despite barely remembering anything about it, Tate couldn't shake that feeling out of his head.

What was he, getting spiritual now?

Tate shook those thoughts out of his head. The hell was he getting all pensive for? He had a day to get through. With that in mind, he quickly hopped over to his alarm, turning it off right before it sacked him with the high-pitched beeps Tate had learned to dread it for. Consistently waking up before his alarm had one upside, he guessed. With that out of the way, Tate hopped into the shower. This was also part of his routine, after all. It helped get everything in order for the day. Routine was the main thing keeping him grounded right now. Tate freshened up for the day ahead, putting on a grey t-shirt and blue jeans and slipping into his black hoodie. He slipped on his shoes before leaving his dorm room...

Only to immediately run into someone.

"Heya, Joss," Tate said to the girl. This was also part of the routine he'd settled into. He and Jocelyn would meet just outside his room, before heading off to school. It was why he'd woken up so early today, even though he didn't have a class until the evening.

"Hey yourself," Jocelyn replied, "Ready to get swarmed?"

"Swarmed?"

"Yeah, you know. By the freshies."

"The fr-... ohh, yeah, no, uh..." Tate started, a look of realization coming over his face. The first-years were gonna be out in full force. "Things are gonna get crowded as fuck, huh?"

"Listen to this man talking like he wasn't exactly part of the problem less than a year ago," Jocelyn replied, rolling her eyes, "You got everything?"

"Yeah, course I did."

"You sure? If you realize that you forgot something later, I'm not helping you."

"I got it, Joss. Jesus."

"Uh huh. If you say so," Jocelyn said, and began to walk off.

Well. Tate followed her without another word.

The walk to the main building was short and uneventful. The freshmen were, indeed out in full force all around the campus, and at several points Tate could have sworn he was wading through the crowd as opposed to simply shuffling through it. He and Jocelyn talked about games and anime, mostly. Their shared interests. Jocelyn saw someone at her MahjongSoul table pull off a nagashi mangan. Tate talked about how he binged the entirety of Season 27 of Detective Conan over the weekend.

"Bruh. What the fuck."

"I mean... same."

Jocelyn shook her head as they entered the main building.

"Alright, I'm heading off to class. See ya later," she said, before heading off in her direction.

Which left him alone again. Tate moved to one of the common areas to see what was what. He had so, so much time to kill. Time to see how he could kill it.

Maybe with breakfast? You haven't eaten yet, doofus.

...He'd probably get something soon. Fine. But for now, he scanned the room.
@Yuuta

I'm okay either way.


same
Meanwhile, Shuusuke was busy trying to piece things together. The odds of this being a prank were remote. Not... impossible, but remote. Shuusuke didn't ask any of the questions. They were all being asked, by the other students, as this girl... Tsukuyomi? Yeah... gave her explanation.

Manami and Yuuga were quick to ask why she had chosen them, of all people. And... well, Shuusuke agreed. Why them? Not in the same sense as the other two, but... why Japan? Why Yamamura, of all places?

He thought back. They definitely weren't the only ones to have used the app. So... why them?

And then there was something else that bothered Shuusuke. It wasn't in what Tsukuyomi said, but rather in what she didn't say.

"What, exactly, are we stopping?" he spoke, for the first time in a while. His voice was dry, hoarse, and so he swallowed and spoke again. "And what happens if we don't?"
Ryousei Aoyama


Ryousei was about half of the remaining distance to the flag when he suddenly heard Asa calling out that the game had been cancelled.

Oh.

He was about halfway back to his side of the field when she noticed the purple-haired girl there, standing with his team's flag.

Oh.

The fuck?

Okay, well... alright.

Ryousei sighed. This had all been pointless. What had his teammates been doing? As he got closer he noticed a dude on the ground, surrounded by puddles of vomit.

Had he missed something big? That's what he got for being so single-minded, he guessed. There were other people standing around his side of the field now.

"So, uh..." he started, approaching them, before noticing... something getting closer to the group. If Ryousei had to guess, he would say that it was a person.

He tried to ignore it.

"What now?" he asked.

@tipssyCalibrator@Hammerman@Azereiah



Jun-Sang Kim


Jun-Sang had seen it. Well... in a sense. He'd been watching the commotion with Brock and had been side-eyeing the flag. He was therefore able to notice a blur of motion and suddenly the flag was gone.

He blinked a few times, trying to process what happened. It wasn't until the purple-haired girl showed the flag to Asa that Jun-Sang connected the dots.

"Well, that happened," he said flatly... the first thing he'd said since shortly after the game started. He looked over to see that someone new had joined them. Jun-Sang hadn't seen him before, so he deduced that he was new.

He idly cracked his knuckles before turning from the field and walking away.

@pkken@Silver Carrot@13org



Rumi Kataoka


And then the game was over.

"Huh. Jus' like that?" Rumi said, before shrugging her shoulders. "Well. I guess nothing much was happening anyway."

Rumi wasn't exactly taken aback by any of this, if she could be honest. She hadn't exactly expected it either, to be fair. Rumi approached the group reconvening in the middle of the field at the same time another person did.

She looked horrible, but more importantly was asking who'd been hurt.

"He is," Rumi said, pointing to Brock.

@Zero Hex@Dblade26
Uesugi Fumie


Whoops, it looked like she wasn't the only one to have the same idea as her. Or at least, that was Fumie's initial thought as Ryuji suddenly came up to the roof and sat himself down beside the new girl.

Hmm... hmm...

Click!

It never hurt to have to many pictures. Fumie retreated back behind the corner and continued eating, but kept an ear out on the conversation.

Admittedly, it didn't turn out to be much of a conversation. And it wasn't long before before Ryuji exited stage left.

Or rather... stage down.

Fumie peeked out just in time to see Ryuji catch the banknote in his hand and soar right off the edge of the building.

Well.

Fumie managed to get one last bite of her food before the new girl stood, moving toward the rooftop door. Damn it... Fumie looked down to see half of her lunch still untouched.

Goodbye, good food, and good luck.

Fumie cursed her slowness at this moment, before packing her lunch up and getting everything collected. She hefted her spear, lain on the ground just behind her feet, and stood, waiting to hear the telltale sign of the rooftop door opening and closing.

@VitaVitaAR



Yokoi Kaito


Man, this was no good, huh?

Through sheer luck, he imagined, everyone hanging around the courtyard was either too high or too low for it to be worth challenging. Man.

Kaito stretched again. Maybe he should head to the courtyard after all.

It's what he thought until he noticed the giant figure flying out from the rooftop. Oh, boy...

It was Ryuji. Weren't really many others it could be, huh?

He landed with a loud thump, possibly drawing the attention of everyone in the courtyard.

Kaito scratched his head. He decided to head over to see if he was alright.

Seemed like he wasn't the only one with that idea though.

@AtomicNut@Ryougu
I just realized I had Ryousei away from the fight and...

Where he goin' now?
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