Ask to Join [WHISPERS OF THE NIGHT : MAIN THREAD]

[RhythmThief]

(Discussion Thread here)

~ ??? ~

"Well, that was disappointing. I wish I could say I'm surprised, but..."

"Yeah, yeah, shut it already. Having to hear you gloat again is torture enough, don't you think?"

Two hooded figures sat on the roof of what seemed to be a closed record store, legs dangling off the sides, carefree as children. The moon shone ominously, providing a threatening glow to an otherwise inky night sky.

"Why even keep this charade up?" The lanky figure on the right inquired. Their robes had an ethereal, almost interstellar quality about them that gave their words a sense of gravity. "I've been telling you over and over, these pests just aren't worth the trouble."

Their voice suddenly took on a bored, yet almost concerning tone.

"Haven't we seen enough of these humans killing each other? It's all they know how to do, and frankly, I stopped enjoying it after the first few hundred times. Why keep this thing going?"

There was a pause, and for a while, the silence became almost deafening. After a beat, or a few dozen rather, the other hooded figure rose slowly to their feet, their own robes giving off a more grounded, earthy tone than their counterpart's.

"Because," They began, their tone sounding as bored as if they'd explained this a thousand times already, yet gazing off into the distance with unyielding intensity. "for every massacre we witness, they can just as equally surprise us, Eclipse. For every act of betrayal, cowardice, selfishness, and greed, there's one of loyalty, bravery, selflessness, and hospitality."

Their counterpart sighed, seemingly having heard this same reasoning a thousand times themselves.

"They clearly want to be something greater, something more. As the higher beings we are, isn't it our duty to try and help them with that?"

Another pause. Finally, the other figure stood to their feet themselves, scratching what would be their head in resignation.

"I don't think I'll ever quite understand you, but fine. We're currently tied, right? That means the next game'll be the decider." The voice concluded.

"And for your sake, buddy? It better be a damn good one."

~ Day 1 ~

"It has just been reported that the 7 teenagers in Okinawa, who had all attended the same High School, and fell into comas within the same week, have been declared deceased, all having lost their lives at different times last night. This mysterious illness, dubbed the Y2K syndrome, has now claimed the lives of over 30 young people in Japan, and is estimated to be responsible for the deaths of at least 40 others in countries across the world-"

Click.

Akio preferred not to watch the news, much to his parents' disapproval, since it was always important to 'know what was going on in the world', but Akio had always believed that the most important things would always find their way into his awareness, in one form or the other.

Plus, when it's always depressing stuff like that being reported, it's no wonder 80% of people are pessimists (a figure Akio himself concluded on through his own extensive and thorough research on all of 10 people). In fact, had he not been sent that clip by a friend, he'd likely have never come across it.

He leaned back, sighing, and staring blankly into the view of the Scramble Crossing from the train. Looks like it was almost his stop.

This Y2K stuff is getting kinda scary now. Apparently they can't identify any specific causes or symptoms, apart from being a freakin' teenager! Something about how it seems to only be affecting people born between '05 and '08. Man, I gotta make sure I'm eating well...

As he descended off the train, and into the bustling commuter's parade around Hachiko's statue, he made a mental note to add plenty of greens into his bentos from now on.

"'Sup, Hachi?" Akio saluted cheerfully to the inanimate structure. "Just headin' to school as usual. Hey, did I tell you about Ryuzaki last time? He finally managed to get together with Shiki-chan! I'm so proud of that guy! He says it was thanks to all that wing-manning I did for him at Karaoke on Friday, but I knew he had it in him all along!"

He was about to bring up his phone to show his stationary friend some video evidence of the whole affair, before he caught sight of the time and audibly gasped.

"Dang, no time! I'll catch you later!" He exclaimed, running into the bustling Scramble Crossing, and taking a left just before the 104 building into the side-street where Tensei High stood, flocks of uniformed students filtering in.

"Phew, made it! Well, all those exams aren't gonna ace themselves! Let's get to work!" Akio cheered, marching comically through the front gates.

 

[| Korutesu |]

~ Day 1 ~

Kinoko had just finished breakfast, as the TV played in their living room. It was about seven students in Okinawa who lost their lives in the same night, where there have been more than thirty confirmed cases of the "Y2K Syndrome" taking the lives of high school students. He turned off the TV, as nobody was home anymore, as they left for school and work, but the Y2K Syndrome couldn't get out of Kinoko's head. Questions raced through Kinoko's mind as the credibility of said Y2K Syndrome was still foggy.

How do they know that they died of the Y2K Syndrome?

What are the causes of the Y2K Syndrome?

Why are the only victims of the Y2K Syndrome teenagers?

These were only a few questions racing through Kinoko's mind, as the train finally arrived. Kinoko took out his notebook and started to read some of his notes from class. It was going to be midterms in a few weeks, so studying now would be better than studying last minute. The train eventually came to a stop, and Kinoko started walking towards the school.

Some first-year students came up to Kinoko, and started talking to him.

"Hey Rusuban-senpai! Have you heard about the Y2K Syndrome going on?" One of them asked.

"Of course. It's a bit scary, isn't it? I mean, imagine falling asleep and then not waking up the next day." Kinoko kept walking, watching out for other people, as the road was a bit crowded.

"You're so right, Rusuban-senpai! I hope they find a way to stop this Y2K Syndrome soon, I don't wanna be next." The other student said, in a pretty scared voice.

"Don't worry about it! I bet they'll find something soon!" Kinoko said, but of course, he didn't really believe what he himself was saying. He believed that the Y2K Syndrome probably wasn't real, or it was just some story made-up by the government or something to keep us on our toes. Soon enough, he arrived at the school, and waved bye to the two students who he had the conversation with, and went to his classroom on the 2nd floor, classroom 2-A.

 

[D34N.U5R]

~ Day 1 ~

"Y2K Syndrome."

The words repeated in Daisuke's mind.

As he kept doing research on... whatever it was... his brain began to throb. "No goddamn idea what the hell this is," he said to himself, "It only affects people from the ages of 15 to 18, and it only happens at night." Finally, Daisuke stopped researching. He had a theory. "Y2K Syndrome may as well be a simple nightmare," he thought to himself, "It's just a brutal dream, isn't it?" He wanted to believe it was a simple dream. No, he needed to believe it was a dream. "But how does it kill?" he said, "Why only teenagers?"

Daisuke had other things to worry about, aside from Y2K. "Right," he said to himself, "Midterms in... about 2 weeks, I don't remember the exact day." Then he looked down.

"Better not tell anyone," he thought, "In case they take credit for it."

 

[=Nightshade=]

~ Day 1 ~

“Oh my God, it’s a body—!”

“New choice.”

“Well, of course there’s a body.”

“New choice.”

“Jeremy, I told you, we clean up our messes when we murder people.”

Miharu blinked, then offered a tentative grin as her partner broke character and fell into a fit of giggles.

“New choice,” the third group member said irritably, giving Jeremy, as it was — Miharu hadn’t been able to come up with a character name on the fly — a chance to pull himself together and continue the improv exercise. The American transfer student just kept laughing.

“Maybe the imaginary dead guy was killed by the Y2K, and I didn’t kill him,” he snickered. “Maybe we’re next.” He wiggled his fingers spookily.

Rin, who had been the one to call ‘new choice’, let out a sigh. “Don’t talk like that, stupid.” She pushed up her glasses. “Statistically, with the number of teenagers worldwide, the odds that it would be all three of us are astronomical. Or even one of us.” She shrugged. “I guess we should call the game quits, then. Class is starting soon, anyway; we shouldn’t be late.”

Miharu nodded quietly, then snapped to attention and made a face. “So good of you to join us, you two,” she sniffed, a spot-on impression of the 2-A teacher. Jeremy started laughing again, and Rin cracked a smile. Miharu relaxed again, her lips curving up slightly, glad to make them laugh.

The three of them had been fairly tight since the first year, when they had met in the theater club. Rin and Jeremy were also two of the very few people Miharu could hold a conversation with outside of necessary interactions, and they were the main reason she didn’t feel like a complete social outsider. Oftentimes, they would meet up a half hour or so before school began to rehearse their parts (if there was a production coming up) or simply mess around. Of course, now that midterms were fast approaching, the casual meetups had been converted to study sessions, though sometimes a game of improv would sneak its way in around the end, when essay prep and equations systems became decidedly more boring than one could handle.

As the three began to head up the stairs to class, Jeremy and Rin to 2-A and Miharu to 2-B, Jeremy saluted his farewell. “Don’t let the Y2K getcha if you fall asleep in class,” he teased. Rin slapped his arm lightly, and the group split to go in opposite directions down the hall.

At least she wasn’t late. The last thing Miharu wanted was that kind of attention. She found her way to her seat and let her bag drop to the floor, her mind full of parabolas, prepositional phrases, and impending doom.

 

[Gold The Dragonite]

~ Day 1 ~

Eiji was finishing her breakfast, the distant hum of the TV heard from a room over, where her father had been sitting, trying to make sense of the baffling reports on the news.

"Utter nonsense," Her father sighed, his brow furrowing in concern as he turned off the TV. "Seven kids from the same school, all into comas the same week, then dying the same night. No symptoms, no notable causes, this is unheard of..." He got up, starting to cough.

"You should rest," Eiji shouted over, preparing to leave for school.

"Didn't know there was a third doctor in this house!" He let out a laugh, followed by more coughing. "I was going to anyways, but I appreciate your concern." He walked past her, heading towards the bedroom to rest. "Good luck with your midterms soon, but Eiji doesn't need luck, does she?" A mixture of laughter and coughing could be heard as he shut the door.

Eiji sighed as she walked out of the house. Every morning since her father's gotten sick last week, she's woken up to find him sat in front of the TV, trying to make sense of what the media had named the "Y2K Syndrome."

There was nothing to make sense of, if you asked Eiji. Maybe there was something going on at that school in particular, but it's happening all over the world, and strangely most of the cases are from Japan. And only teenagers? It just didn't make sense to her. Regardless, she was reminded of the midterms in a few weeks time that she would've already studied for by now. Eiji let out an audible groan as she buried her head into her hands on the train.

She took the train to Tensei High's stop, making her way to the 2-A classroom. Class hadn't started yet, so Eiji had sat down in her seat and rested her head on the desk. Not sleeping of course; You never know if the Y2K will strike.

 

[Cmeriwether]

Mizuko And Junko

The Shirogetsu sisters had both woken up and gotten dressed after they took showers. As Junko got in her uniform, she made sure it fit her as she's been having issues with her chest and her uniform. As she got ready, she was looking through her kendo stuff, making sure everything was there. As she had her school stuff ready, Mizuko had finished her own routine. When the two got to the train station, they boarded the train, and got off when the got near the school. As the two sisters got into the school, Junko saw several people, including her friend, as she walked up to her friend.

Junko

After Junko met up with her friend, a couple of people had been staring at Junko and her friend. She gave them a small smile as one approached her and her friend. He then looked her friend, blushing.

"I have a crush on you, Ichimaru-chan, Please, go out with me!"

Her friend blushed immensely. Junko was surprised.

"H-Hasegawa-kun, I-i-i will go out with you." Her friend replied, still looking like a tomato.

Junko mouthed a 'Holy crap' as she saw first year Hasegawa Rentarou confess his feelings for Junko's best friend, Ichimaru Emiko. Several members of the first year class had heard that.

"We'll talk later, Junko-chan."

"You too, Emiko-chan, don't have too much fun with Hasegawa-San." Junko responded.

Emiko blushed immensely as the two went off towards their classroom. As Junko got to her classroom, she sat down and waited patiently, hearing the whispers around.

Mizuko

As Mizuko got to her locker, and put her stuff there so that she didn't overlook her heart. As she worked her way to Class 2-A, she was breathing heavily as she had to hurry. When she got there, she was shaking visibly, and started to walk towards her desk, sitting down. She then whispers of the Y2K Syndrome. Mizuko Cursed her luck under her breath as she fought fainting. She then looked at the clock, and sighed in relief that she was still early. She was sitting in the far corner from the teacher's desk.

 

[DevVoid]

Liu Katoru
O, another day, another tragedy rising up in this horrid world he lived in. This time, some sort of apparent syndrome named 'Y2K', was responsible for several deaths amongst teenagers like him, having fallen still and unresponsive before their final rest was to truly come.. really, this place just keeps getting worse and worse, doesn't it? Well, at least there's one silver lining to all of this - Consistency. As dark as the clouds of fate are growing, they at least know to stay dark and not give a false glimmer of hope every now and again, and that Liu could at least appreciate.

Still, there was no time to regard the situation around him as there was too much attention to be paid to his own, which was to get out of this wreck of a house as soon as he could. Worn furniture, unhinged doors, dust and dirt just about everywhere. Such a shame, really. This place could have probably been made into a nice home, if his circumstances weren't so.. miserable, really. A family of four, he stood in the middle between both of his oldest brethren, who had already moved out and the youngest, who was spoiled and coddled to unbelievable proportions.

It really was no surprise that on a typical day like this, Liu didn't even get himself a bite to eat, instead choosing to wash up and quickly put on what clothes he could manage before grabbing his school supplies and bolting out of the door, only briefly stopping by the TV to catch the last remaining bits of the syndrome's announcement. Luckily for him, breakfast was still attainable. A few roads down was a more well-off friend of his, whose family had gladly welcomed him upon his daily morning arrival.

A short while later, the two had made their way to Tensei High and bid one another farewell, having talked little yet still having enjoyed the company nonetheless. The scarfaced boy managed to hide himself amongst the crowds of passing students, avoiding nearby conversations and quickly scuttling along into the building and to class. He had somewhere to be, after all.

 

[| Korutesu |]

Kinoko sat down on his chair, and took out his notebook, starting to read his notes, just to cram a bit of studying before he started class. If you looked closely, you could see that Kinoko was pretty bored with studying, so he looked over to his seatmate, Miss Eiji Hoshino. Soon enough, Kinoko would start to speak to her to start a conversation.

"Good morning, Hoshino-san! So, have you been studying for the midterms in a few weeks? I've been kinda bored so-" Kinoko chuckled a bit, "I actually wanted to know if you needed help studying? It could benefit both of us, y'know? I'll understand if you say no though."

Was Kinoko asking Eiji on a date? No, not at all. Kinoko didn't need, or even want to go on dates at this moment. Too many things to keep track of. He sat patiently at his chair, waiting for Eiji's answer to his request. He'd hope that she'd agree and take him up on his offer, so that Kinoko could learn more about her, and he could probably use that to his advantage.

 

[RhythmThief]

"So then, I gave him the ol' sliding thunder and that was totally the end of him! I knew from the look he was giving me across the field that he wasn't happy, but too bad! That's whatcha get for playing with-"

"Nightmare Nakamura," replied the entire group in unison, evidently having heard similar gloats from Nakamura before. Akio couldn't help but laugh at the former's now downtrodden expression, offering him a rousing slap on the back.

"Don't sweat it Ryo! You know we love to celebrate your victories on the field, it's just, well... you do love to gloat. A lot." the bright boy offered gently.

"Yeah, yeah, I don't need your consoling, Furusawa." replied Nakamura, waving Akio away playfully. "Besides, I know there ain't nobody who can step up to me on the soccer field! Or any other sport for that matter!"

"Oh? Is that why Hoshino from 2-A's been showing you up since 1st year?" chimed Ryuzaki, now swaggering into the conversation with a newfound pep in his step. Even so, to mention Eiji Hoshino in Ryota Nakamura's presence was a huge sore spot for him. Everyone knew that.

So it was no surprise when Nakamura practically lept off of the desk on which he was previously sitting, grabbing Ryuzaki's neat collar with rough hands. "Why I oughta-"

"Settle down, settle down." appeased another of their party, Hiroshi Yamamoto, calmly yet deftly hooking Nakamura's arms and dragging him away, just a second before he could add another patient to the school infirmary. "You know he didn't mean it like that."

Nakamura shook himself free like a violent animal, huffing and puffing while staring down a frightened Ryuzaki. "Watch your mouth, Ken. I'd hate to send you back to Shiki with more red on your face than usual."

Akio, noticing distinct pause in classroom chatter, and subsequently the stares and glares they were getting from their peers, joined Yamamoto in appeasing the raging bull.

"Come on, we're all friends here! You know he was just messing around! Remember who let you copy their math homework when you forgot to hand it in on the day of Soccer Frontier Finals? Or who came to the rescue when you wanted to impress Yoshino-chan with anime knowledge but needed a mentor?"

Nakamura took a deep breath and looked around sheepishly. It was working. Akio continued.

"Do I even need to mention the Gyro Incident?" he inquired coyly, raising his voice almost as a cheeky threat to expose one of their group's best-kept secrets.

"Ay ay ay, I get it, alright?" waved Nakamura, embarrassed. "I'd rather let Y2K get me than talk about that mess again."

He walked back up to Ryuzaki, who was still visibly shaking, and awkwardly dusted off his collar, finishing with a shy slap on the back.

"You're alright, Ryuzaki. I'm just a bit stressed, that's all. Midterms and stuff, it...it's getting me riled. "

Ryuzaki adjusted his glasses nervously before smiling.

"Why worry about midterms? Hoshino'll just beat all of us at that too."

There was a pause. Then, without warning, their whole 5 man group erupted into laughter, causing any tension in the atmosphere to dissipate. Previous onlookers had now returned to their own conversations.

"Hey, with all that time she spends beating other people, I bet she never learned how to cook like me!" conjectured the last member of their group, Yuki Nakajima, and resident "culinary extraordinaire".

"Whatever, Yakky." replied Nakamura, still smiling. As much as he may think himself the Japanese Gordon Ramsay, the whole group would readily admit that Yakky's dishes were the best. Maaaaaybe only rivaled by Hong Kong Star in Center Street.

"You guys still up for Tipsy Tose Hall later?" Akio offered. There were few things in life he enjoyed more than simple time spent with his 'amigos'. "Heard they finally fixed up that punch machine after... who broke it again?"

"Rumors were that it was that Liu Katoru kid over in 2-B." Yakky offered. He was always clued up on classroom gossip, it seemed. "Or was it that English dude, ah, Cunningham in 3-B?"

"Heck, it was probably that Kakashi dude." Nakamura guessed, looking over into where the former sat during class. "Wouldn't surprise me; dude always looks like he's about to off somebody with that mean expression of his, y'know?"

Akio couldn't help but agree, Daisuke always did seem a bit peeved for reasons nobody seemed to know. Akio wanted to reach out, maybe have a conversation and get to know him. But the boy was so aloof, Akio never really knew how.

"Plus, I could've sworn I've heard his last name somewhere before. In a ninja movie, maybe?" Nakamura continued, thinking. "Anyway, TTH is a no-go for me, basketball practice."

The others gave similar excuses; cooking club, a date, cleaning duty. Akio was crestfallen, but did his best not to let it show.

"That's okay." he conceded. "Another time."

He peered out into the Main Courtyard to see all the teachers, perhaps coming from a staff meeting, now filtering into the building. He gave a quick signal to his peers and, almost like clockwork, the students fell into their prim and proper places, no trace of the antics that had just occurred moments prior.

It seemed class was about to begin.

 

[Void_Nugget]

Arthur was out on his morning run, listening to music as usual when he glanced at his phone and noticed the time, "oh crap, I'm gonna be late for school" he sped home and rushed to his room to change, applying deodorant, annoyed he didn't have time to shower. Once dressed he rushed downstairs grabbing a slice of toast from the table and hurriedly making his way to school.
He made it into the building and rushed to his classroom, finding his seat quickly and sitting in it. He tidied up his hair and sorted out his uniform a bit as he sat their breathing slightly heavier but just happy to have just about made it in time.

 

[Gold The Dragonite]

Ejii looked up from her desk, as one of her classmates tried to speak to her. She wasn't fully sure who: she never tried to get to know most of them, let alone their voices. But from the few she did remember, she recognized it to be Kinoko Rusuban, the student sat next to her for the year. "Ah, Rusuban-kun. Good morning, what do you need?"

He then asked if... she needed help studying? Did he know who she was? Eiji stifled a laugh. "Help studying?" She raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest. It felt like something was up. But she dismissed the doubt: despite being sat next to him for half the year, they never really spoke to one another besides greetings. She's seen the guy around school, and he seemed friendly. Maybe a bit aloof at times, but generally kind to the other students, especially the 1st years. Plus he was part of the Student Council.

If it were any other day, Eiji would've laughed in his face for even implying she needed another student's help for studying, however she hasn't even attempted to yet. Eiji didn't expect him to be of any help, but maybe company would be nice. It'd be better than just stressing herself out alone. So she shrugged her shoulders. "Fine then, we can discuss finer details after class." Eiji cut the conversation short: she wasn't in a talking mood and class was going to start soon anyway.

 

[Banan-chan]

Day 1 - Kotori Yami
The instant Kotori’s eyes flicked open, she slid out of bed and got ready to leave with the efficiency of a machine. In under ten minutes, she’d finished brushing her teeth, showering, getting dressed, prettying herself up, and taking her first step out the door. It helped that she kept pretty much everything she needed in her bag, since she wasn’t going to be coming back here until long after everyone in her neighborhood had retired to their beds. This way, she’d never once meet her mother the entire day--she was always first to wake up and last to sleep. She knew that her mothers feelings towards her hadn’t changed a bit and likely never would, so she relished the day she could get out of this god forsaken house for good. Her Tokyo night life made good money, but not nearly enough to pay rent--as long as she was bogged down by school, she would have to keep on crashing at home each night.

Despite everything, Kotori did play the role of a responsible student. She showed up on time every day, and did fairly well in her classes. It helped keep the school--and by extension her mother--out of her hair, so being a good student was well worth the time investment. Besides, the daytime offered no bounty for her; after all, the depraved only tend to come out at night.

Just a few blocks off from her house, Kotori was greeted by a familiar man whom she knew as Mr. Takahashi. He was a tramp with, as far as Kotori could see, no material value. Thus, Kotori never bothered to put up her usual facade with him and didn’t have a clue why he seemed to like talking to her.

“Yami-san! Good morning.”

“Morning,” Kotori replied curtly.

“Lovely day, isn’t it?”

“No, can’t say that it is.”

“Oh, that’s no way for a young person like you to speak! You should appreciate this life while you still can, because you never know when it might take a turn for the worse. Say, you’re born in ‘07, right? Or was it ‘08?”

Kotori raised her eyebrow.

“I know what you’re getting at—that Y2K crap, yeah? It ain’t a ‘syndrome,’ I’ll tell you that much. It’s probably just some guy on a killing spree. They won’t get me. Later, Takahashi.”

“Take care!”

Kotori finished her trip to school in silence, before heading up to classroom 2-A.

 

[RhythmThief]

~ The Principal's Office, Tensei High ~

"..."

"..."

Principal Inai, the hulking giant of a man, stood with his arms behind his back, giving his posture a business-like quality. His hazel eyes, even through his unassuming black spectacles, were burning with intensity- the target of this fiery gaze, however, seemed completely unfazed, if not slightly bored.

"What are you doing here?" the Principal finally asked, his mouth barely moving.

A smug, recalcitrant chuckle from the other party, a dark haired, brown eyed boy, had completely betrayed the Principal's grave tone of speech. His uniform was notably unkempt.

"My, my. Is that any way to talk to your newest transfer student?"

~ The Classrooms, Tensei High~

"So good of you to join us, you two." announced the 2-A teacher, Mrs. Inoue, at the entrance of two latecomers who scurried off to their seats, having arrived herself substantially earlier than most other teachers.

"Back in my day, punctuality was actually valued. The early bird got the worm. My my, just what is society coming to..." she wondered with a regretful sigh.

Soon enough, the school day had begun in full swing, the students subject to their ordinary rotation of science, mathematics, history, and literature among other subject areas.

In 2-B things got particularly exciting when the Literature Teacher, Mr. Kobayashi, grouped up students to come to the front and enact different scenes of a particularly dramatic play, then asking them to evaluate why they decided to use the dramatic devices they did, how it enhanced the performance, etc, which was hopefully as educational for the students as it was entertaining.

If only 2-C could say the same.

After being forced to endure cruel periods of calculus, chemistry, and history back-to-back, Akio stretched with relief at the sound of the lunchtime bell.

He spent the break as he always did; with his friends, goofing off on the rooftop, drooling over Yakky's homemade curry udon, and, of course, laughing over the latest gossip, also led by Yakky.

"So, rumor has it that 3-B got a new transfer student today," the latter began. "a real pretty boy, apparently. Got half the school simping over him already. And get this; apparently he's a transfer from Okinawa!"

"Really?" replied Akio, remembering the news report earlier. "Do you think he knew those people? The ones that..." despite the trailing off of his sentence, it was evident that the group all knew exactly what he was referring to. The atmosphere grew colder.

"No clue." admitted Yuki. "Though even if he was, I'm sure they'd keep it on the DL. He probably wouldn't want to talk about it much either."

The group nodded silently in assent.

"Also," began Yamamoto in his signature relaxed tones. "Remember Hasegawa from Music Club? "

At the blank faces of his peers he added "The one who came to Center Street with us that time."

"Oh!" blurted Ryuzaki. "When we went to watch Admission Impossible?"

Yamamoto nodded. "Apparently he's gotten himself hitched. With none other than Ichimaru from Lacrosse."

Ryuzaki adjusted his glassy smugly, in the way anime characters do when they've hatched some sort of ingenious plan. "My, my. Letting a 1st year show you guys up like that? How embarrassing."

"Oh, shut it." replied Nakamura, though there was no real venom in his speech. In fact, he, alongside Akio, was the happiest to hear that Ryuzaki had finally gotten together with Shiki, who the former had been crushing over since their first year at Tensei.

"Besides, Hasegawa can have her. What I really want is her friend- the one with the huge honkers!" he announced, closing and opening his hands in a grabbing motion, causing the group to erupt in laughter.

Time continued to flow like a river, and before long it was the end of the day. As his friends headed off to their distinct activities, Akio felt lonely.

Deciding that it was never a bad time for some study, he made his way over to the library, before finding a nice seat right in the middle and getting to work on some calculus.

 

[Cmeriwether]

Junko

When Lunch was called, she headed out to the roof today, figuring that Emiko would want some Alone time with her new boyfriend, Hasegawa Rentarou. Junko was quite surprised by his confession. She heard various chatter including some chatter about Hasegawa. It was about the confession she witnessed. Then she heard someone say something about her friend with huge honkers. Junko blushed a little as she knew it was herself they were referring to. She had felt hot, and was She had never been self conscious of her body. Her weight and health were maintained by her training in the Kendo Club. She was secretly hoping to have what Emiko had, a boy who loved her just as much as she did him. She was happy for the newly formed couple.

"Kageyama-Senpai?" Junko asked as a figure walked up.

"Shirogetsu-San, the other Shirogetsu-San is currently in the infirmary after she fainted from her heart conditions, she is fine, I was told to let you know."

"Thank you, Kageyama-senpai."

He then headed off as Junko ate her lunch, thinking about Mizuko.

As her day went by, she went through more classes, and was on her way to Kendo.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Class had been not just bearable, but enjoyable, Miharu felt. The character she’d been assigned to play in her group’s scene clip had had some wonderfully emotional lines, and she thought her false tears had never been more convincing. It had been a delightful escape from the stress of midterm review and the mental packing of new topics that were on the exam that teachers hadn’t quite reached yet and now had to cram through. Though one of her group members had spoken in a monotone that betrayed the fact that he would rather have been anywhere else, Miharu had enjoyed the exercise all the same.

Lunchtime had been spent with Rin and Jeremy, poking fun at the 2-A teacher, groaning over the amount of homework the American still had (“because you didn’t do it when it was assigned!” Rin had scolded), and at one point, causing Jeremy to laugh so hard that water had come out of his nose. There had been some talk of who was dating who, whether the theater club had decided on the next production, and Miharu imitating characters from pop culture. Hasegawa came up, of course; it seemed everyone knew he’d found a girlfriend, the gossip from the first-years spreading like wildfire.

But now the school day had concluded, leaving Miharu to wait in the late-afternoon sun for her friends to exit the main building. In preparation for midterms, the theater club had cut meetings to twice a week, and today her time after school was free. She didn’t quite know what to do with herself without the utter chaos that was usually waiting shortly after class. Miharu checked the time. They were taking a little longer than usual. Maybe Jeremy had earned himself a detention from all his late work. It wouldn’t be the first time.

 

[Cmeriwether]

Mizuko

As Mizuko had been listening, she asked if she could go to the bathroom. Mizuko then left the classroom to attempt to go to the bathroom. She got about halfway to the bathroom when dropped to the ground, having fainted from her heart condition. A figure found her, a young man who was out doing the same thing from 3-B. Mizuko woke up momentarily to see a familiar male figure.

"Yoriichi-kun,"

Mizuko then lost consciousness. The young man then got a hold of her to get her to the Infirmary. When he got there, a man gave an odd look.

"Kageyama-San?"

The nurse was shocked, Yoriichi Kageyama was the last person he'd expect.

"The girl in my arms is Shirogetsu Mizuko, she needs her Medicines, if any," Yoriichi responded.

"Understood," The Nurse responded.

"If something happened to her, I would probably be put in here." Yoriichi responded.

As the nurse did what was needed, Yoriichi was dismissed to go to the bathroom. He noted he needed to tell Junko about this for sure. He'd call his girlfriend after school.

Mizuko woke shortly before lunch, she walked out of the infirmary, slowly, as she got back to the class, she heard the bell for Lunch. Several people looked at her with worry. When she got her lunch, she sat near a small group of others in the Art Club.

"Have you heard about the punch Machine?" One asked, "People said either Katoru-san, Cunningham-san, or Kakashi-san."

"Ayaka?" Mizuko asked, "That's old news, anything more interesting?"

"Hasegawa-san from Music Club confessed his feelings for Ichimaru-San, and they're dating." Ayaka responded.

Mizuko took that in, Hasegawa, the boy who hung out with Junko and Her friend Emiko, finally confessed his feelings.

Eventually lunch ended and she went back to class, with the looks not as present. At the end of class, she went off towards Art Club.

 

[Gold The Dragonite]

Eiji turned her head towards the door as Mrs. Inoue ushered in the latecomers. The classroom was busy with the usual mind-numbing work, and although Chemistry wasn't the worst subject in the world, Eiji found it to be too tedious. After what felt like an eternity, the bell finally rang, signaling the end of the class. Eager to escape, the students rushed towards the door, Eiji doing the same. As she left for lunch, she found Kinoko again. "Let's meet at the library after school, yeah?"

~~

"So, Ichimaru and Hasegawa," Ayumi said, in-between chewing her food. "They finally got together! I told you, I could feel the romantic tension since their first day!"

"You say that about everyone. You said the same thing about Ryuzaki-san and Shiki-san," Daiki was going to go on a long tangent of pairings Ayuma had made, but was cut off.

"And I said the same thing about us~" She replied with her signature friendly smile, gently squeezing his hand. Ayuma Tanaka was a self-procclaimed "love guru", and loves to play matchmaker with the other students. Some of them were surprisingly accurate, others were... questionable. Nonetheless, she was usually right on her predictions. Both her and Daiki Suzuki had been together since their first year, and it's been smooth sailing for the two so far.

"You both looked each other in the eyes on the first day and fell in love since, and both of you were too scared to say anything to each other for weeks. Your "predicitions" are just a bunch of dumb, lucky guesses," Haruto Kawakami chimed in, air quoting. Haru seemed to be both their biggest supporter and critic, at the same time. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't jealous of how quickly they bonded. "Come on, Tanaka, sure you've been right about most of 'em," Haru teased with a grin. "But some of them you've made up are just plain stupid. There was that one time you said Nakamura and..."

Haru's sentence trailed off as Eiji approached her friend's table, plopping down with a sigh. Her friends looked at her, and a moment of awkward silence hung in the air. "What?" she asked, noticing the change in their energy. Just moments ago, they were all laughing and teasing each other as usual.

"Nothing much. Hey, d'ya hear about Ichimaru-san and Hasegawa-san?" Daiki quickly interjected, trying to change the subject. Eiji scoffed. "I don't care about some first-year gossip. Midterms is coming up, and all you people can talk about is shipping other students together?"

"Finally, the voice of reason arrives," The last member of their group spoke up, closing her book. Sakura sighed. "There's a reason the two of us always do better than you morons and that's because you start studying the night before exams." Sakura Aoki had always been concerned for how much her friends procrastinate but it always came off as her being blunt and slightly rude.

"Sure, we'll take a page out of your book and study five months before an exam. Saki, you take this kinda stuff too seriously," Daiki teased. "You both would rather watch paint dry than relax for once."

By now, Eiji would've had some remark to say, but she was busy staring into space. "Hoshino? Heyyy, Hoshino?" Haru waved in front of Eiji's face, trying to get her attention. He snapped his fingers and she came back from daydreaming. "We're going to AMX later, you coming?" Eiji preemptively sighed, knowing she would have to decline. She wasn't too upset anyways, she didn't share the same love for CDs as the others, even Saki. "No, I have to study, sorry." Ayuma rolled her eyes. "What a surprise."

~~

Eventually, the school day came to an end. She waited in the library for Kinoko, taking out her notes. Where to even start...?

 

[| Korutesu |]

Class would finally start, as Eiji told him to meet at the library after school. He made a mental note of what she said, as class went on as normal. Taking out his notebook, he wrote down as much important information as he needed, although it got a bit confusing as the discussion went on. Soon enough, the bell would ring, signaling lunch time.

-------------------

Kinoko sat down at a table in the cafeteria, eating his lunch, and conversing with his fellow student government members. They were talking about different ways to implement new ideas for the school to try and make it a better place. The secretary soon spoke up.

"Um, A teacher told me about a student who was smoking in the bathrooms. They told me that we should try to look into that, y'know?" Hinoko Kohaku told the group. She was a fairly shy student, but she was reliable. She was also a second year, like Kinoko, although she was in class 2-B.

"Ah, you're right Hinoko-san. From what information the teacher gave us, we should start from the bathroom. Rusuban-kun, do you mind taking over the second-floor bathrooms? We can rely on you, right?" A student by the name of Minoru Ryousuke, the student council vice-president spoke up. Minoru was a bit blunt with what he says, but he was a pretty nice guy if you got to know him better. Of course, He was blunt either way.

"I'd be honored, Ryousuke-senpai! But seeing that mid-terms are coming up soon, I think I won't have enough time to fit this into my sche-" Before Kinoko could even finish his sentence, the student council president finally started speaking about their situation. "Everyone, we will continue this discussion after class during our weekly meetings. Rusuban-kun, do you mind if I speak with you?" Kinoko hesitantly agreed, as they walked outside of the cafeteria to a fairly secluded area.

"Rusuban-kun, I've heard from some teachers that you'll be running for Student Council President next year, am I correct?" Kinoko nodded, as the Student Council President, Ryoichi Noburu spoke once again. "Well, you've been doing really well in your academics, you're fairly popular, so I asked a teacher that once I transfer out of Tensei High, you'll take my role as Student Council President." It was fairly shocking for Ryoichi to do this, since Ryoichi's whole life motto was 'Hardwork will get you what you want, it's not given to you.' Although Ryoichi doing this wasn't out of character, since people still knew him as a nice guy.

Kinoko was stunned. He didn't really expect that Noburu-senpai would pass down the role of Student Council President to him that quickly. "I-uh, Thank you so much, Noburu-senpai. I'll remember this kind gesture." The bell soon rang, as class would begin again.

--------------------

After school, Kinoko would go to the student council room for it's weekly meetings. They again spoke about the mysterious smoker in the school, as Kinoko agreed to investigate about this situation, or at least investigating in the second floor. After around fifteen minutes, the meeting would be over.

Oh damn! I forgot me and Hoshino-san would study together after class!

Kinoko would arrive in the library a few moments later and sat at the table where Eiji sat. He took out his notes, as he spoke.

"Sorry I'm late, Hoshino-san. We had a meeting at Student Council today about something happening in the school. Uh, Anyway, which subject do you want to start with? Although any subject is fine with me."

 

[DevVoid]

It was time for his class to begin and Liu.. could not be more horrified at what they were going to do today. Not only was he gonna be grouped up with a bunch of people he barely even knew, but he'd also have to humiliate himself in front of everyone by.. acting. Yuck. This was undoubtedly one of, if not the worst class of all time, and this lesson just re-affirmed this statement he's always considered to be true. This was going to be a special kind of hell, wasn't it?

' Oh well, let's just get this over with. I already don't want to be here anymore. '

-------------------

Liu had been the very first to bolt out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang to announce Lunchtime. Thank the lucky stars, the gods or whoever else it was controlling the concepts of time, space and especially fate to release him from this pain. Being the first to get out also had its perks, as that meant he was also one of the first to reach the Cafeteria. This wasn't a positive because he could get to the food quicker, oh not at all. But the tables. Nearly all of them were EMPTY. Oh, what a beautiful sight it was!

As the quiet, if also somewhat weird kid of 2-B rushed to get some grub in order to quickly seat himself by the most empty table in the loneliest corner of the room, Liu could already see all the students pouring in and chatting with each other. And then, one sight struck him that cheered him on - his friend from before, Taro Sozuki, who was making his way to the very corner table he sat by. The two only talked little, Liu mostly keeping to himself while quietly listening to his friend prattle on about different things. While it was very, very exhausting to be in that drama session, at least this conversation was cheering him up a little. Maybe enough to turn down his grumpiness by at most 5%... nah, that would be too much effort.

--------------------

When the school day was finally over and both friends had their classes finished, it was time to head to their clubs. Fortunately for the both of them, they had both picked the Art Club for their own reasons to participate in. Liu himself loved how quiet things usually got around there, while Taro could vent his frustrations into sketches and paintings caused by being named after a damn vegetable. Of all things, why did it have to be a vegetable?

 

[Void_Nugget]

Arthur's day had been as uneventful as any other, one of the other 3rd year classes had gotten a new student, but his class remain ever unchanging. He got through the lesson for the day, taking notes in bulk as he usually did. As the day neared its end he made sure he'd brought his supplies for his painting and made his way to the art club, he had been working on a painting since the start of the year, it was a large canvas, nearly floor to ceiling that he had been allowed to set up in a corner of the art room. The picture depicted a woman, standing beneath a pale tree, staring out across the moon lit ocean.

Spoiler: Reference Pic

Art by Amanda Clark

He was getting close to finishing it now doing mostly touch ups to the trees and the other natural elements, he entered the art room, said hello to the teacher in charge as she mention getting some new paints in to replace the ones he'd used up, he smiled in thanks and set to work.

 

[Cmeriwether]

Mizuko

As Mizuko entered the Art Club room, she saw Katoru-san and Sozuki-san, and Cunningham-san. She then saw the teacher running the club, and she saw where her work was. She was sitting with it, looking at her project. It was a half done portrait of herself, with her family, that she was drawing. She looked around to see what Katoru-san, Cunningham-san, and Sozuki-san were doing. She saw Cunningham-san working on a huge painting, almost to the Ceiling. She was wowed by the sheer size of the painting. She never expected it to be this big. She then got to work on her family portrait more.

Junko's friends

Rentarou Hasegawa was walking Emiko Ichimaru to Lacrosse, with Rentarou having an Arm around Emiko's waist. There were whispers scattering around as people were quite surprised.

"So, any plans for tomorrow?" Emiko asked Rentarou.

"You've got a Game, I'm watching." Rentarou responded.

"Of course," Emiko blushed.

When they arrived at the Lacrosse Field, Rentarou's arm left Emiko's waist, as Emiko looked at Rentarou. She then kissed his cheek. Rentarou Hasegawa's jaw dropped, not expecting his now girlfriend to just do that.

"We'll talk after our clubs, Ren-kun!" Emiko told Rentarou.

"I'll see you after Music Club, Emi-chan!" Rentarou responded, still immensely red.

When Emiko ran off to meet up with the Lacrosse players, most of the girls were giggling. Rentarou headed off to music club. He was walking in the Hallway, with his thoughts running after his girlfriend just straight up kissed him on the cheek.

 

[RhythmThief]

~ The Hallways ~

News of Hasegawa and Ichimaru's new relationship status had spread like wildfire. Nakamura was surprised that he hadn't heard anything before Yakky told them all up on the roof.

Seriously, is it that big of a deal? How many 'couples' made in first year even last? I betcha they'll be done and dusted by the time finals roll around! Ah, man, finals....

Slightly disheartened at the thought of having to endure even more of Ryuzaki for those inevitable final exams, Nakamura made his way towards the stairway, nodding and signalling to his many acquaintances he passed in the hallway.

As he walked by the bathrooms, however, his strong sense of smell alerted him to faint yet sharp smell of cigarette smoke wafting in the air.

He scratched his head.

Yeah, knowing what our school council's like, they'll have that whole bathroom quarantined by this time tomorrow, and interrogate half the student body. Sheesh, how do those guys even find the time to study? Especially that Rusuban guy. He kinda gives me the creeps, like there's something hiding between those big, round, juicy....

...wait, what?

The impact of having walked straight into someone was what brought Ryota back into reality, his thoughts having been invaded by the unfortunate victim of his absent-mindedness.

"Uh, Junko!" He blurted, surprised. Though the two knew of each other due to shared acquaintances, they never really had the opportunity to speak one on one. "I-I mean Shirogetsu-chan!"

The use of honorifics surprised even himself; he took absolute pride in his rebellious informality when referring to people.

"Sorry, I was just, uh, zoned out there. I hope I didn't damage the goods- ahem, I hope you're okay?"

~ The Library ~

Hey, I'm getting the hang of differentiation now! You just take that funny floating number, slap it on the front, and then-

Akio's very scholarly summary of calculus was interrupted by a soft touch on his right shoulder. He turned around to someone he didn't recognise; a tall, pale boy of medium build, with his uniform unkempt and wavy black hair equally so.

Almost intuitively, Akio knew this was the third year transfer student Yakky had told him about on the rooftop.

"Mind if I sit here?" the boy inquired breezily, twirling a strand of his hair and glancing to the empty seat next to Akio.

"Sure thing!" Furusawa replied, noticing that there were a lot more glances and whispers heading in his direction now. Had it been like this for the new transfer all day?

"Thanks," the mysterious attention-magnet responded, crashing into the seat, clearly exasperated. He leaned back. "I came here thinking I'd be able to just relax, y'know? Maybe even whip out a book or two and get some studying done."

He pointed backwards with his thumb to their surreptitious onlookers. "Buuut, I guess it wasn't in the cards."

He smiled mischievously to Akio. "Sorry to bother your study sesh and all. You seem like a nice guy, and I needed someone to give me quick rundown of what things are like around here. I'd thought a designated staff member or student rep would do that for me, though all I've gotten are stares. Honestly man? I can't tell if they wanna make babies with me or turn me in to the police. Heck, maybe both."

Akio chuckled softly. This new guy didn't seem too ruffled by the attention in actuality; if anything, he gave off the impression he was used to it.

"Hey, no problem." Akio reassured cheerfully. "What do you wanna to know?"

The pair spent the next few moments making pleasant conversation, talking about the locations of facilities, social dynamics, important people, exams, so on and so forth.

Ever the social butterfly, Akio put his connections to good use, pointing out the people he knew as they entered or exited the library doors (which was startlingly frequent).

When Akio pointed out the 2nd Year Rep, Kinoko Rusuban, and the equally famous Eiji Hoshino, the enigmatic boy's gaze lingered on them much longer than usual, though Akio couldn't put his finger on why. Maybe he'd already seen them around?

Finally, the mysterious figure nodded his head, an inscrutable expression displayed on his face. There was a pause before he spoke again slowly.

"Thanks. I think I have a much better idea of who I'm dealing with now." he remarked.

Dealing with...? That's an odd way to put it? Maybe he's introverted like Ryuzaki. Akio rationalized.

"Say, in return, how about I help you out with this ol' stuff?" the transfer offered, reaching over to take Akio's pencil and scribbling something down quickly, before standing up.

"Well, maybe I'll see you around?"

"Uh, yeah, sure!" Akio cheered, waving, yet somewhat perplexed by the whole encounter. He glanced at the space where the boy scribbled.

The number '10' was written and circled.

"Oh, and Akio?" The boy turned said, turning around, smirking. Akio didn't remember offering his name.

"Have a good night."

 

[Gold The Dragonite]

Eiji glanced up to see Kinoko approaching and taking a seat. "Glad you made it," she said with a sense of relief as he apologized for being late. Getting up, she searched for a textbook from the library shelves. "Don't worry about it, how about we just start on Chemistry then?" she suggested, dropping the book onto the table and flipping through the pages. Though not in the best condition, it was to be expected from the library. She stopped on a page about acids and bases, considering it as their starting point since they had the class just a few hours ago. "Let me know if you need any help," she added.

As time passed, Eiji noticed the (ironically) oddly quiet atmosphere. She hadn't studied with others regularly besides Saki, and those sessions were often quiet, if not in silence, as well. "So what's with the study request? Thought you'd be busy with the Student Council and all. Besides, it's not like you're failing or anything," she remarked, knowing he was doing better than most in 2-A, let alone the rest of the 2nd-year students.

Her attention momentarily shifted from studying and Kinoko to another pair in the library, a tall, pale guy sitting next to Ryota's friend. "Must be that transfer from the 3rd year," Eiji wondered aloud, noticing the sudden whispers and hushed voices that spread through the library as soon as he entered. She saw him glance over in their direction for an uncomfortable amount of time, and she quickly refocused on studying. Eiji began to understand why Saki (and seemingly all the girls at Tensei) had been swooning over him - there was something intriguing about him, despite his scruffy appearance, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

 

[Cmeriwether]

Junko

As Junko was walking towards Kendo, she had been thinking about how Hasegawa confessed to her best friend, and the fact they're now a couple. She had been thinking about that when someone walked right into Junko. Junko then hit her butt on the ground, looking up to find Ryota Nakamura having walked into her. She blushed a bit as he was the one talking about her earlier at lunch.

"Uh, Junko," The boy said, "I-I mean Shirogetsu-chan! Sorry, I was just, uh, zoned out there. I hope I didn't damage the goods- ahem, I hope you're okay?"

"I'm fine," Junko got up, dusting her self off, making sure her kendo stuff and backpack were there, "You must Be Nakamura-kun, You're cute, by the way."

Junko placed her arms around the bottom of her chest, making sure her stuff was all the way onto her back. As she did this, she looked Nakamura in the eye, and asked a question.

"Do you want to eat lunch with me tomorrow?" Junko asked.

 

[| Korutesu |]

EIji stood up and grabbed a book about Chemistry from the library shelves in the area, which was a bit run down. Wasn't too shocking to Kinoko, seeing that most of the books in the library was fairly unkept. Soon enough, Eiji said that they would start with Chemistry. It was an alright subject to begin with, and it was more of a recap of today's lesson about it. His study mate would soon flip to a page in the book that was about acids and bases, where they would soon begin.

It was a pretty quiet study session, which was an exact opposite of Kinoko's daily life with the most annoying first years always talking and interacting with him. Of course, Kinoko couldn't say it out loud, as it probably would ruin his reputation, not only as Second Year Representative, but also as a student himself. Eiji would start talking, asking him some questions, mostly about why he asked her to study with him.

"Well, I wanted to know you a bit better. Couldn't really get a good time due to a lot of things with Student Council, but it's pretty uneventful thus far," Kinoko couldn't just tell her about the smoking incident at the bathrooms right now, probably until the President would formally announce it. "And I could probably ask you the same thing, Hoshino-san. Why'd you agree to the offer? I didn't really expect that you'd agree, since you probably have your own things going on." Kinoko chuckled.

Kinoko took a glance around the library, seeing a few normies, but another pair, Akio Furusawa, another second year, and the new transfer student for Third Years. Kinoko didn't actually have much information about the guy, but he'd heard about him from different first years swooning over him. He didn't really understand the hype, he just looked unkempt and scruffy, with nothing much to note about him. Like Eiji though, he noticed that the guy was staring at both of them for a weird amount of time. It was uncomfortable, and really weird. Like he was staring into their souls, or something.

"I guess that's who the first years are swooning over right now. Did you also get that uncomfortable feeling? He kinda just stood there staring at us..." Kinoko said to Eiji, talking about the new transfer. Soon enough, Kinoko would also get back to studying, but the weird feeling about that guy lingered in Kinoko's head.

 

[RhythmThief]

~ The Library ~

Have a 'good night'? At 4:30PM? Akio thought, perplexed. Weird. Maybe that's a normal thing where he's from? And how did he know my name? Ah, shoot, I forgot to ask for his!

Akio spent the next few moments in silent contemplation before dismissing the whole thing away, preferring not to dwell on things too much.

Spending the next thirty or so minutes tidying away some more practice questions, he wanted to rub out the mysterious number '10' left in the bottom-left corner of the notebook, yet couldn't bring himself to. Something about it felt important, relevant, intentional, though it was a mystery as to what.

By the time it had hit 5PM, Akio stretched proudly, feeling accomplished. He gathered his things together and marched out cheerfully.

~ The Hallways ~

Nakamura's eyes widened in disbelief, both at the complement and at the prospect of lunch with Junko.

"Uh, I- sure! We... we can eat!" Ryota exclaimed, struggling to keep his eyes up where they should be. "How about we meet at the cafeteria? The table closest to the vending machine near the windows."

Though he usually ate on the rooftop with the gang, opportunities like this only came once in a lifetime! Everybody needed to know he'd finally scored a date with one of the school's Kendo superstars, and what better way to do that than to parade down the social runway that was the cafeteria?

Noticing the number of students roaming about in hallway beginning to thin, he glanced at his watch.

"Shoot, I'm late for practice! My body can't take another 50 pushups!" he cried desperately. Coach Bando was not a man to be trifled with. Ryota had learned that the hard way.

"See you!"

With that, he dashed over to the gymnasium, an evening of lay-ups, literature, and algebra ahead of him, excited for what tomorrow may bring.

~ The Rooftop ~

"Shiro Kurayami? Really? Could you have even picked a more conspicuous name?"

The exasperated voice belonged to Principal Inai, clearly in disbelief of the boy's actions, the latter of whom chuckled.

"Well, you know me. Always the attention magnet." the enigma replied, carefree as the wind.

There was a pause, with both of them contemplating the world as it appeared from the rooftop.

"Man, the view from up here sure is pretty. I hardly ever get to see it during the day because of- well, you know. Shame it's spoiled on these guys."

The wavy haired transfer gazed at the bustling image of Tokyo from behind the chained barrier, drinking in the gentle evening atmosphere of trains whizzing past in the distance, students clamoring around, making plans for this and that.

"I had the luxury of meeting some of the new crew, " he continued, randomly remembering a meek-looking, purple-haired girl lingering around the Main Gate some time ago.

He wondered if she was still around. He wondered what, or who, she was waiting for. Above all, he wondered what kind of abilities a wimpish looking girl like her would unveil later on.

After all, the quiet ones always tend to surprise everybody, for better or worse.

"Completely unremarkable, though that's kinda the norm at this point. Between you and me, buddy? I think you should just let me take over now, eh?"

The boy smugly looked to his right where the Principal stood, dignified with arms held behind his back, also taking in the Shibuya hustle-and-bustle.

"In your dreams." the suited man replied. "I still have one more, don't I?"

"That you do." the boy conceded breezily, arms behind his head. "So then, I take it everything's ready? For tonight?"

At the nod of the Principal's head, he sauntered back towards the rooftop entrance, grinning troublesomely.

"In that case I'll see you tonight, Principal."

 

[Gold The Dragonite]

Somebody wanting to know her better? That was a first. He then echoed her own question back at her, and Eiji sat silent for a short moment, thinking of a reply. She shuddered at the thought of admitting to her laziness.

"I probably would've been at something like basketball practice, but beating Ryo's ass over and over gets boring, so I figured his fragile ego needed some time to recover." She laughed.

It was still half-true anyway, as she's noticed his surprisingly fast growth at rivaling her athletically since first year, even making noticeable improvements in academics, although she'd never admit it.

"Of course, I've already studied plenty enough, but what's the harm in doing some more?" Eiji then lied, not wanting Kinoko, or anybody else for that matter, to know of her lack of preparations for midterms. Saki took academics more important than Eiji herself, and although she most likely would've been willing to assist, Eiji feared the silent judgement her friend was capable of.

Kinoko then brought up the appearance of the transfer student, and his uncomfortable gaze towards them. "Guy's probably just a weirdo, I wouldn't put too much thought into it, Rusuban-san," While she's heard gossip about the transfer student all around school, it seemed nobody really knew him or what he was like, much less where he's from.

Time had passed in a mix of comfortable silence and idle chatter, as it started to get later into the day, a handful still remaining in the library. "Let's leave it there today, same time tomorrow?" She asked him as she took the textbook back to the shelf, gathering her things.

 

[Void_Nugget]

As time went buy Arthur worked on his piece with a fierce conviction, giving small nods and waves to the ither students who arrived at the club. After about half an hour, Arthur finished up the final touches and took a step back to admire his piece, it was intended to be used in his applications to art school that he would have to send out closer to the end of the year, the teacher walked over and helped Arthur move the painting somewhere to let the finishing touches dry, he would move it to the art cupboard tomorrow, where it would be safe until the end of the year. He swiftly packed up his things and bid the other club goers goodbye before heading home for the day.

 

[| Korutesu |]

Eiji explained why she actually agreed to his offer, where she mentioned that she would most likely be at Basketball practice, although she was letting Ryo, Akio's friend's ego, heal first before she'd come and best him again. He chuckled at her statement, as she started speaking again. She'd already studied, and she said that it'd be fine doing some more. Kinoko knew what she meant. Being a student who can keep getting a high grade every exam comes with studying again and again, which already takes up a lot of time on it's own.

Anyway, Kinoko started some idle chatter as they studied, as time eventually passed by. It was probably around 5:00PM now, as Eiji mentioned that they should meet back in the library tomorrow, at the same time to study.

"Ah, yeah. That sounds good. I'll see you tomorrow, Hoshino-san." Kinoko also started to pack away his things, as he got ready to leave, and return to his humble abode. There were still questions running in Kinoko's head though, mostly who that new transfer student is, and why he was staring at them for a weird amount of time. Anyway, it didn't matter much, as there were probably more important things than focusing on some transfer student.

 

[RhythmThief]

"G'night, Mom, Dad!"

"Sleep well, dear."

"Night, son."

Akio trudged upstairs to his room, yawning. As far as decoration went, the space was incredibly basic; just your standard desk, bed, window, closet, chair and lamp, though it seemed like everything had been dumped the same shade of sky blue, even the walls!

The walls themselves, however, were perhaps the most interesting part of the room. All across the four walls of the room, organised painstakingly, were pictures, snapshots of all the little moments that led Akio from birth all the way to now.

Moments like his first ever trophy (2nd place at an elementary school spelling bee), his first girlfriend (who he missed every now and then, deciding to split up before first year due to her school being all the way over in Kanuma), and when the Tensei Twisters (the basketball team) won the first year reigonals.

He often narrowed in on Ryota's face; he was voted MVP for the boy's team, and in pictures with them and his friends he looks absolutely overjoyed- a humorous contrast to his stubborn and comically aloof expression in the pictures he had to take with Hoshino, who was also voted the MVP for the girl's team, also leading them to victory in the girl's finals.

Their rivalry was a big thing among the students, and Akio's gang (sans the rival in question) definitely enjoyed the fireworks. More than anything, Akio seemed grateful; he noticed Ryota's rivalry with Hoshino was a great motivator for the former, pushing him to excel and achieve more.

On some occasions though, Akio has wondered if Ryota's feelings toward her ever went deeper. It seemed he wasn't the only one, as the gang often tease Nakamura about his 'relationship' with his rival, suggesting his competitive spirit to be more of an infatuation.

Ryota, of course, dismisses the notion aggressively each time, though Akio never sees him blush like he does then, not even when talking about that first year in Kendo he's always going on about.

Akio yawned longingly, crashing onto his bed.

"Man! All this thinking is making me tired. Think I'll just...get some... shut eye..."

When he opened his eyes again, he felt his bed was much colder and rougher than prior, which was curious because he felt more layers of clothing on his goose-bumped skin than he recalled wearing.

Groggily wiping his eyes he leaned upright to a confusing sight indeed.

He wasn't at home anymore. Definitely still in Shibuya- around the Center Street Entrance, in fact- though there were no people. The Hong Kong Star shopfront looked dilapidated and abandoned, his brain barely recognizing it at first.

He stood up now, alarmed. If this was a dream, it was becoming far too real. He looked up, and what he saw confirmed that this was no ordinary dream.

The night sky was much bleaker than usual, the moon pale and ominously bright. The strangest alteration, though, had to be in the direction of Towa Records to the North-East; a massive, colosseum-like building stood in its place, its sharp top almost piercing the moon.

It reminded him of a game he had played before- 'Purse-Owner 3'? Or something like that. It was a great game, Akio thought, clinging onto the warmth of the memories against the chilling bite of the wind.

Glancing around, he noticed his clothing had definitely changed, and there was some sort of staff on the floor next to him, but there was no time to get into all that now.

He wasn't alone, after all.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Jeremy had, in fact, been gifted a detention, which is why Rin had taken so long on her way out. Miharu had walked with her friend to the train station, where they had said their goodbyes, Rin headed on a southbound train while Miharu walked home. The station wasn’t too big a detour from her normal route, and it was a typical occurrence for all three of them to head there before parting (though three had become two this time, due to a certain American’s abysmal study habits).

When Miharu had made it back to her apartment, she struggled through her schoolwork with enough time to spare for some sketching before dinner. She waved a hasty ‘goodnight’ to her parents before continuing her drawing. She nearly fell asleep over the paper twice, and eventually deduced that it wouldn’t do her any good to stay up further.

Miharu’s room was small but quaint, her bed nestled in the furthest back corner next to a window whose sill housed several small plants. A dresser stood at the foot of the bed with a desk a few feet away. The performing awards she’d received stood clustered in a corner atop her dresser, understated but visible, and nearly everything else was painted in earthy tones of beige and brown, with the occasional green accent. Posters from the shows Miharu had been in were arranged neatly on the walls, curls of fairy lights looped near and around them.

But Miharu was too tired to care to do a once-over of her room before she flopped down on the bed. With a click, her lights went out, and she drifted away to dreamland.

What felt like thirty seconds later, Miharu opened her eyes again. She let out a frustrated groan; she had been exhausted a minute ago, and now she felt wide awake once more. Fantastic. She began to roll over onto her back, with the thought that a new position might help her back to sleep faster… Miharu’s stomach dropped as she completed the turn and felt herself falling. The fall couldn’t have been more than a few inches, but the metallic CLANG upon her landing was certainly not a sound she heard often.

Miharu sat up with a start, rubbing her head. She was definitely not in her bedroom anymore.

The tumble she’d taken had been off a concrete step onto a road devoid of cars. Still, habit was hard to break, and Miharu quickly scrambled back onto the sidewalk. Some sort of strange light from the immense moon washed out the entire scene, edging buildings with bloodied silver and blurring shapes together. It seemed like Shibuya, but different, somehow, even when Miharu tried to disregard the odd lighting. She couldn’t quite place her finger on it…

When the girl looked down to think, her gaze landed on herself. She jumped in surprise. That certainly hadn’t been what she had gone to sleep in, though she didn’t mind the strange suit; it was comfortable, and its warmth, when compared to the T-shirt she had worn to bed, was much appreciated as a chilly breeze sent a shiver through her. Miharu glanced sideways, and caught her reflection in a building’s window, where she found that the massive sword on her back had likely been the source of the unnatural sound of her fall.

A sword. That settled it; this had to be a dream. And the most realistic one she’d had in a while, at that. Miharu grinned at her reflection. She’d have to hang onto this dream, to make the most of it while it lasted. Like extended improv with a fantastic set! Okay. I'll have to come up with a character…

Miharu looked herself up and down, then nodded. As far as this dream was concerned, she would be Red, a runaway noble with elven blood…

A sound from behind broke her out of mental backstory crafting, and Miharu whirled on her heel. Suddenly, it seemed, the mirrored Shibuya had become a good deal more populated. Wow, Miharu thought idly, as she took in the others. My mind sure comes up with wild plot points.

 

[Gold The Dragonite]

(OOC: Two post in one 'cause Night 1 wooo)

"Great," She smiled at Kinoko's confirmation, leaving the library with a casual wave. "See you tomorrow, Rusuban-san."

As she descended to the ground floor, she found her friend Haruto headed for the gym. She grinned, knowing all too well of his predicament. "Three times in a row," Eiji let out a disapproving tut, her voice a mix of playful mockery and genuine sympathy, knowing what he would have to endure. "Bando's going to have your head at this rate, Haru. All for some dumb CDs."

"Hoshino," He took a short glance towards her, ignoring her hurtful comment that he knew had more bite than she intended. Haru barely slowed down; he was late enough as it was. "How was the study date?" Haru said in response to her jeering, getting a weary sigh as his answer. If he's saying this already, it's just going to be worse tomorrow with everyone else. "It wasn't a date."

"Doesn't matter anyways, Tanaka'll find out one way or another who it was and won't let you hear the end of it," She sighed again, Haru's words hitting home. "I predict... Eiji's gonna be alllll over her secret study buddy in just a week!" Haru imitated Ayumi, raising his pitch and looking like he had to really concentrate. Eiji smacked him on the shoulder, as there was still a few students roaming the ground floor. "I said it wasn't a date, dumbass," Eiji hissed, despite now smiling at the frighteningly accurate imitation. Though, Haru's words did make her wonder if that was Kinoko's intentions.

"Sure, just don't go cheating on Nakamura now," Another swift smack was delivered to Haru's shoulder, albeit harder and losing the playfulness behind it, instead driven by a mixture of frustration and annoyance. It was the same recycled joke from her friends - Ayumi, Daiki, even Saki, each time being progressively more annoying for Eiji, and each denial being more defensive than the last that would just lead to more inquires; it was a loop of non-stop nagging. She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped herself and instead glared at Haru, who chuckled knowing he stuck a nerve and won their exchange of banter.

"The others went to Tipsy, if you still want to catch 'em," Haru's offer lingered, met with Eiji's silence. "I'm just headed home," A hint of weariness in her voice she couldn't mask. Haru looked over, going to ask another question but stopped, the two nearing the gymnasium doors, instead bidding farewell to each other. "See you, Hoshino."

"Bye, Haru." And with that, she turned back around as he opened the gym doors, followed by near-instant yelling about extra push-ups. Eiji's smirk made a return, as she exited the school grounds.

~~

As she returned home, it was eerily quiet as she immediately navigated to her room, due to her father's slumber and mother most likely still working.

Her room was painstakingly organized and clean, yet felt hollow of decoration, devoid of emotion with its white walls, except for a few posters of manga of Sakura and Daiki's influence. It didn't matter to Eiji anyway, as she never cared for the aesthetics. It had her bed and her desk; and that's all she really cared about.

Eiji sat down at her desk, riddled with notebooks, textbooks and supplies, and a number of Daiki's sketches and art taking up empty space on the shelves. Above the desk housed her trophy shelf, smaller medals hung up besides them. She found herself staring at it occasionally with a mix of pride and uncertainty, the trophies possessing a daunting, towering aura. It provided her both great satisfaction and yet great disquiet, but above all else it served as her motivation. She returned her focus to her studies, words and formulas appeared to blend together as Eiji started to scan book after book, unsure when in the night she'd drifted asleep.

That was, until Eiji found herself woken up again. It hadn't felt like her head was resting on wood or paper; now that she thought about it, why did she wake up lying down if she was at her desk? Her eyes slowly opened, recognizing it as Center Street being a few minutes away from AMX, despite how gloomy the place looked.

In fact, everything felt much more ominous, sinister almost. The sky was bleak, with the moon taking center stage, and a strange tower that seemed to go on forever in the distance. It looked like a surreal dream, yet felt so lifelike at the same time. What happened to Shibuya?

More importantly, what happened to her? Eiji began to notice her surroundings more, in a change of clothes she hadn't seen before, and a large hammer made of a crystal material rested next to her. Not only that, but it seemed others were there too, bewildered as she was. "What's going on...?" Eiji muttered to herself, now standing.

 

[Void_Nugget]

Having made it home, Arthur had found himself far more worn out from the day than he thought. He made himself dinner, ate it quickly and headed up to his room. The room was quite obviously a room belonging to an avid art fan and artist as his walls were lined with art pieces illustrations from famous artists as well as doodles, sketches and art pieces of his own making, his desk was covered in art supplies and he had two different easels set up with works in progress on them. He walked over to his desk and did a few sketches before finally deciding to call it a night and collapsed into bed, falling asleep almost immediately...

...before waking up with a jolt almost seconds later. He slowly got to his feet looking around and the run down city around him, "what the actual hell" he muttered before noticing what he was wearing, "well that's certainly different he stated as he began to notice that there were others around him, "huh, this is an interesting dream" he said to no one in particular, "definitely hits the top 5 weirdest ones I've had" he added looking with intrigue at the various weapons the people around him had with them.

 

[| Korutesu |]

Kinoko had finally gotten home from school. It was now almost six o'clock, and Kinoko's expression is the exact opposite of his expression from earlier in the day. It looked tired, not only from school, but from his own life at home. The reason for this is that his parents are currently going through a divorce and had fallen out a year before. The problem with this was that because of their falling out, Kinoko was also affected by this. His home life was filled with misery and despair, not being able to do anything about it. That's why he's pretending to be a nice guy, to hide his true colors, and get what he wants from other people. After eating a quick dinner, Kinoko left the dining room to return back to his room.

His room was fairly basic, having a dark blue color for its walls, a bed on the farthest side of the room, and a desk beside the door. It had a wardrobe beside the bed, and overall, the room looked very empty. Kinoko got himself ready for bed, as when he got home, he was feeling weirdly tired. He already studied anyway, so it was fine. He closed his eyes as he fell asleep...

And now he'd awaken. Not on his comfortable bed, or in his house, but somewhere in Shibuya. He looked around, as he noticed that his clothes were a bit different than what he slept in. He looked around, making sure he WAS in Shibuya, and... he was. It looked like it was abandoned though, some buildings broken down, and even the streets empty of cars. He saw some people, looking also pretty confused, but they had some weapons, unlike himself. His clothes were almost robe-like, but Kinoko had never seen these pieces of clothing in his closet, nor has he ever gone to church.

"Maybe this is a dream. Who knows? It feels a little too real for a dream, but..." Kinoko was a bit skeptical of whatever was going on here, but he knew one thing for sure, and that's he shouldn't trust what he's seeing right now. He could ask the other people who are here, but it was too risky, what if it's something dangerous. Better to just wait, and see what will happen.

 

[DevVoid]

When it was finally time to head home, Liu and Taro still chatted a bit before splitting ways. While Taro was actually on his way home, Katoru was not one to immediately come back. Instead, he wandered about the area, avoiding alleys and sticking to open light until he deemed the outside dark enough. He could have just come home before, but if he took his time, chances are those wretches that were his biological parents would already be asleep.

As the door was opened from the outside with the key he had on his person, Liu quietly slid into the empty building, slinking through the cover of darkness, trying to stay as quiet as was humanly possible. Given the lack of noises in the place he would have preferred not to call home, he deemed those two to have already hit the hay. Good. Anything to avoid dealing with those two waste of oxygen.

Being on edge the entire way through due to not allowing himself to turn on any lights so that he'd not wake either of his so called 'parents' up, Liu quietly snuck his way back to his room. Wasting no time, the boy practically threw himself into bed after getting everything done and stashing things where they need to be, drifting off to sleep almost instantly..

..but then, he felt strange.. a bit, at least. He thought he was in his bed, but what he lied on felt very hard and very cold.. which, truth be told, wasn't that much worse. Did he roll off his bed and tumble onto the floor? Well, why should he care, really? He's got school in the morning, and frankly, this floor was just as comfortable as his bed.. which it wasn't, but at least it was something. Liu just kept his eyes closed and tried to drift to sleep again, not in the mood to get up and get back in bed again.. for all he knew of, at least.

 

[D34N.U5R]

After going to sleep (like always), Daisuke almost immediately woke up on a surprisingly cold ground to what seemed like a twisted version of Shibuya. "What the fuck...?" he said as he stood up... only to see someone lying on the floor. Normally, Daisuke wouldn't be phased by this, but for once in his life he was kind of concerned. Daisuke walked up to the guy on the floor.

"My theory was right," he said to himself as he walked up to the guy, "But this dream feels so real." Finally, he had reached... whoever it was on the ground, only to say nothing.

"Get up," he finally said.

@DevVoid

 

[Banan-chan]

“Ow…”

Kotori slowly sat up, placing a hand to her head. What was she just lying on? It felt like concrete, but that wasn’t possible. She could swear she’d gone to bed not too long ago. Her eyes squinted as she began registering her surroundings. It was still nighttime, and it appeared that she was lying in some deserted alleyway. Her heart sunk. She’d heard stories of what happened to girls who hung out in the wrong sort of place—many first-hand, and many ending with the unfortunate victim waking up in some back alley trash heap. Unfortunately, hanging out in the “wrong sort of place” was precisely what Kotori tended to do.

“I don’t remember a thing…” she thought to herself mournfully. “How could this happen? I’ve always been so careful…”

Indeed, Kotori was experienced enough to avoid the various occupational hazards of life at the unreasonable hours. She knew how to navigate Tokyo without being attacked, and she never took as much as a sip out of a cup she’d taken her eyes off of. Unfortunately, it appeared that she’d somehow been drugged—her senses weren’t quite back to normal yet, since the soft moonlight came off as rather…red to her. Whatever the case, Kotori decided to pull herself together and get up.

“No point in dwelling on it,” she muttered quietly. As she started to move, her foot caught on something hard on the ground. When she looked down, Kotori was shocked to discover a large, menacing looking scythe laying at her feet. She bent down to inspect it, as a weapon like this wasn’t exactly something she saw everyday, and certainly not something she expected to find laying, perfectly pristine, in a back alley. Though the item seemed rather plain looking, all things considered, both the blade and handle were crafted beautifully. Kotori brushed a fingertip to the cold steel edge, and found that it effortlessly drew blood. So polished was the blade that it was almost mirror-like; gazing at her reflection, Kotori realized that she was wearing a tattered black cloak in place of her usual clothes. How odd.

“I’m dreaming,” Kotori remarked, attempting to reconcile the many abnormalities of her current circumstance. “I must be. And within this dream, I am the Reaper.”

Rather relieved at this conclusion, Kotori hoisted up the scythe and stumbled onto the street.

 

[Cmeriwether]

Junko

Junko responded to Ryota Nakamura, "That works, I'll let Mizuko know I will not be on the roof tomorrow, as I would normally sit there."

As Ryota left, Junko went to Kendo Practice, bumping into Yoriichi Kageyama, who was helping another student in the club. Junko waved over and then got her stuff ready. She was helping another first year with some strikes and other moves. As time went through, she walked Mizuko home and the two went to bed.

As they woke to a strange version of their town, they saw people they had seen in school. Junko and Mizuko kept themselves up and looking around. As Junko looked down, she saw some strange clothes.

Mizuko looked down her body, a short black shirt and short black shorts under an ominous purple cloak and wears a mask similar to the Phantom of the Opera.

"Odd, this isn't like anything I would own."

Junko looked down Shoulder Cape, this has gold threading, and her shirt reveals about half her cleavage, with silver threading at the seams. The shirt is long sleeved, and has a mesh midsection area made of silver threads, which conducts the Electricity. The shorts she wears are decently long, with long socks, both of those have copper threaded into them. Black, Silver toed boots are worn with the outfit. All of the costume's non metal threads are black.She felt around her body as she grabbed a Handle on her back.

"Where am I? This outfit looks like something I'd wear, but don't own."

 

[RhythmThief]

"Welcome, welcome."

A deep, rich and sinister voice rang out across the empty cityscape, causing all screens in view to pulse and shake with static; be they the huge billboards that hung mounted on the towering skyscrapers, or the humble monitors on the vacant shopfronts. Akio spun to face the billboard that he often passed on the way to AMX, his heart racing.

Before long, the screen had settled on an image; a heavily robed and hooded individual, the color of their garments depicting an earthy green, along with a gas mask crowned by two blue, sharp lenses for goggles.

"You have all been called here," the figure began, "into a labyrinth of sounds and smells, misdirection and misfortune. A labyrinth with no exit, a maze with no prize. You have been called to the Hollow Night."

There was a pause. Akio couldn't believe what he was witnessing with his eyes. Hollow Night? It was clear that this was no longer a dream, no- it was unraveling into something far, far more sinister.

"You may wonder whether this is a dream or reality, and I assure you, what you experience here is no fantasy. While your physical bodies slumber peacefully under the covers of your beds, your spirits, if you will, are whisked away to this mirrored, distorted version of your home."

There was something disillusioned, almost bored, about the figure's explanation that suggested this was not the first time they'd said those words.

"Here, you will encounter many hardships, for you see, you are not alone during these nights." the figure continued, the dark corners and alleyways teeming insidiously with threats unknown.

"There are creatures named Noise that come in a plethora of different shapes and sizes, and their objective is simple; to feed on your essence, the essence that makes up all living things, known as EXS. But fear not, my young warriors. Each of you has a unique ability, a gift, through which you can channel your EXS to defend yourselves- and others, should you wish to do so."

Another pause.

Should I wish to do so? Why wouldn't I want to defend these other guys? What aren't we being told? Akio wondered, stealing glances at the other 'warriors'. Many of their faces washed his senses with a flood of familiarity, though he was too panicked to think any further on it.

"In fact, I have a feeling you already know what each of your abilities are, don't you?. They are part of you- as natural as breathing, regardless of any...prohibitions on EXS use in your world."

And that's when it happened- like a childhood memory being unearthed after years of neglect, Akio realized- or rather, remembered exactly what the figure was talking about.

He clenched his gloved fists open and closed as small sparks of energy pulsed around them, before reaching for his scepter. How did he forget something so crucial?

The enigma cleared their throat politely before continuing.

"I'm sure you have many more questions, and I tell you, they shall be answered in due time. But for now, I simply ask you to trust me. A preposterous request given the circumstances, I know, though you'll soon find my only purpose here is to guide you through the trials of this place, so that you may survive what it has in store for you."

The atmosphere thick with words left unsaid, the shadow gave their first instruction.

"Around you currently are your peers, other dreamers who find themselves beckoned to this realm. You may or may not recognize some of them as your contemporaries from your daily lives; I leave that to your discretion. You shall be collectively referred to as 'Players'. My first order is simple; each of you is to form a partnership with another player, known in this space as a 'Pact. "

Silence.

"You form Pacts simply by making physical contact with the target of choice; typically a handshake or some other display of partnership; with both players thinking 'I'd like to form a Pact with this person'. Once that's done, you'll be bathed in a swathe of light, and you shall become partners henceforth."

Akio glanced back and forth at his 'peers', a few faces now definitely becoming familiar to him. As he was about to query them, Akio dropped to his knees suddenly, feeling lightheaded and weak. He took a surprised glance at his body, which was, to his horror, fading away and becoming increasingly transparent.

"Oh my, it seems I spent too long rambling." the figure conceded, no hint of emotion being betrayed by their monotone speech. "You see, Players cannot survive here for long without a Pact. Make haste, young warriors."

Without warning, an inhuman, blood-curdling scream erupted from the Scramble Crossing neighboring them, echoing menacingly through the night breeze.

"...profound haste."

 

[DevVoid]

" Hnnrr.. five more minutes.. "

Like a sack of potatoes, there lay Liu on the cold, hard ground, about as comfortable as he would be in his real bed. This wasn't saying much, but the one thing that did end up saying much was the loud and clear announcer who would have ended up forcefully awakening Katoru, causing him to get up with sloppy movements from the ground, only now just noticing the vast change of terrain and environment around him. Odd.. was he dreaming, was this real? Was this part of that syndrome that's been going around the news all day? Who knew, who cared.. he certainly didn't.

' A labyrinth with no exit, a maze with no prize. You have been called to the Hollow Night. '

Well, why the hell would they even be brought here if the whole point of participation was pointless? So far, Liu could care less about whatever that stranger had to say, as even the darkness around him was currently more interesting to analyze than to actually bother remembering what that thing was talking about. What a mess, to be brought to a puzzle with no reward at the end. If he had a choice, he'd have rather just remained awake. And.. what was that odd feeling in his wrists when his annoyance was just beginning to build up..?

' Each of you has a unique ability, a gift, through which you can channel your EXS to defend yourselves- '

Eh? So, there WAS a reward involved, after all! Why didn't this idiot start out with that already?? While he couldn't speak for everyone, Liu himself sure as hell was happy that he had some sort of power attached to him.. but, how could he use it? How can it be utilized? And most importantly.. how can it benefit him?

" I believe I can answer that. "

Huh.. he could swear he just heard someone talk to him just now. But, strangely enough, nobody was looking toward him when he turned all about.. well, there was this one guy who tried to wake him up moments before, but it probably wasn't him that just talked to him, right? Especially since that mysterious voice didn't seem to be coming from any particular direction, almost as if it were coming directly from within his very mind.. how odd..

" That's because this voice IS coming from inside your head, dumbass. Look, just do as the guy says and get an alliance. Then I'll explain everything. "

" Ok, magical voice in my head, I'm sure following your orders will bring me no misfortune what-so-ever! "

With a voice so heavily laced with sarcasm that one could practically feel it dripping off of each syllable spoken, Liu now turned to the guy who tried to wake him up earlier, before MysteryMcGee over there did a far better job at doing so. Katoru simply extended one arm forward, hand stretched out for a handshake. He briefly looked the boy up and down, though a sense of familiarity wasn't exactly ringing any bells for him quite yet.

" You heard the.. "

Liu briefly looked to the screen, trying to discern whatever it is that this announcer was.

" ..the thing. Let's make a pact or something, before we both disappear. "

As he spoke aloud this proposal for a partnership, his body was contorting to strange proportions. A portion of him was melting into what looked like blackened sludge, while the other was starting to burn with equally dark flames. Liu himself seemed unbothered, if only for the fact that, surprisingly, he felt no pain from either such events.

" Or, I guess, melt and.. cremate. In my case, at least. "

@D34N.U5R