adsum | npc contact.1

I wonder...

[ She covers her mouth, trailing off in thought. Maybe this is... an extreme act of bullying... She'd noticed that too, it would've been impossible for her not to with the position that she's in, but serious injuries combined with students falling off the face of the planet— what was the threat she hears in mafia movies all the time? "I'll make you disappear" or something like that.

Her train of thought is broken when she sees the doll and her eyes widen in surprise; she reaches out for it almost reflexively, before catching herself and pulling her hand back to her lap. ]

That's—... So you've been taking care of it all this time?

[ She leans forward and smiles at the doll, regarding it as one would a cat on somebody else's lap. ] How have you been, dear? [ The doll, of course, cannot and does not answer. ]

I'm not turning you down— I'm turning down bleeding all over your clothes!

[ Your fans are weirdos, Rika-chan! But he enters the bathroom and steps inside towards the sink, letting his shirt fall from his face once he's bent over the basin and and access the damage to his face. A bloody nose but not a broken one, from what he can tell by wiping his face off with a bloody hand and managing to smear the blood as much as he does wipe it away.

The reflection in the mirror lags a split second, just enough to be noticeable, not that Rokkun notices as he tries to turn the faucet with his elbow but can't so he turns it with his bloody hand instead so he can wash his face. ]

The part where you and I... you know...

[ He's doing it on purpose, pretending he doesn't remember, she's sure of it, and she haaaaaaaaaattes being baited by the likes of him. ]

I said never mind! Just forget about it! I'm not saying it!

[ Making good on her promise, she socks him in the stomach, because that's where memories are stored. ]

[ Small and insignificant as bugs are, they're gross and creepy because they're so small, unnoticeable until they're right in your face and takes you by surprise. Gross, gross... Hiro curls a little tighter in on himself, clearly unwilling to open himself up and is content to crouch here until his ankles go numb, but...

He can't help but peek up at Komaeda though his bangs when his hope is mentioned, the detriment it's caused, the wholly miserable look on his face when he searches for the beetle with his eyes while he steels himself to

whip Komaeda's PDA out of his pocket and smack the beetle out of the air with surprising speed and accuracy for a boy who looks half asleep all the time and who winces when he hears the crunch of beetle shell against the device in his hand and tosses it away from him, the PDA clattering on the ground at Komaeda's feet, covered in bug guts and bits of beetle shell.

Here. You can have it back now. ]

[ I've already started compiling ugly pictures, do not underestimate me ]

Oh! That's a good idea! So you have those sometimes too, huh?

[ She turns away from him, giddy with excitement and shoving her WIP to the side so she can pick up a new canvas and fill up on the yellows and blues. ]

I'm going to need lots and lots of red~

[ He's not going to eat uncooked rice, please, he gently nudges Komaeda's hand away so he can drop the very fat single kernel of rice into the pot along with all the others. ]

You really have no faith in me, huh? Never mind the first years, I don't want to lose my face to the other third years!

[ Lose face? Something like that. ]

[ When I first saw this icon I had the same reaction as Wolfie but I didn't want to say it

But yessssssss she loves comfy hammock laps, she has zero interest in cardboard boxes but the moment somebody lays a blanket or a jacket on their lap? she materializes and collapses all her dead weight onto his lap, pinning down one of his arms and leaving the other free to stoke her back. ]

( not you also komaeda kin, i'm not even surprised because i'd believe you in a heartbeat. )

...

( he's going to look at her and then what's on the floor. don't they have to come back through here so she can go home? komaeda would make that comment, but that might make her instantly want to do that so he walks back over to help lift it on his side. )

Are you okay? I didn't mean to be so clumsy.

[He just continues to stand awkwardly bt her desk, as rigid as a mannequin of a soldier.]

It is a fine morning, is it not? Surely, a splendid day of education awaits!

[After a small pause, he tries to get to the point.]

I am sure you must have heard rumors about me going around the school. I would like to confirm one of them at this time!

[There are no rumors about him, but he did apply to run for student council, while everyone else was fighting a cat.]

The part where you and I... were in the back and we...

( STOP they were getting somewhere, and komaeda was just adding words on top of it to make it seem like he was onto something!

sadly, when she goes to punch him in the stomach, he does lean forward, a hand on her shoulder so that he doesn't fall to the ground. it's enough to make him smile, his interest still there, and maybe he's a little proud of that one. his other hand reaches to touch his stomach and... )

...There's the Kudo-san I remember! ( he's trying to get this breath back, but also he's wrapping his arms around her like some annoying pest. i'm crying. ) If remembering me like that gives you such hopeful punches... I don't mind it at all.

( not going to lie to you, as soon as komaeda gets his pda back, he's looking at the splatter like it can be used for something. the crunch of the bug was audible, so this would give a more crisp flavor to some food he could make later. this is good luck! and he's pretty happy with it as he kneels down to pick it up. pulling out his switchblade, he's attempting to scrape it off into a pile on the floor so he can save it. )

That was pretty good, Arisu-kun! You always know where to aim to kill something.

( is that praise or a reminder, either way, and the way he says it is like he understand what he's going through. or is that the emotional manipulation he's so good at. whatever it is, as soon as he finishes what he's doing, and double checking that he's actually got it all... he's walking to the vending machine again. holding it up, he spends what he needs to get the bag of candy he noticed the other was going for, and it drops ker-chunk! to the bottom. )

There we go... ( he wants hiro to eat the candy and give komaeda the bag for his beetle flavoring. :c )

( there's this blank stare as he watches chiaki be a little excited about her current needs, and komaeda glances off to the side to see if there's any containers around. )

...What happened to your secret stash, Kudo-san?

( or is that a nickname she was trying to give komaeda... huh... huh... of course, he doesn't mind though if that's what she's getting at. )

Are your cult friends on vacation... how sad, I thought they'd always be here for the Art Club...

( IS HE NOT LOOKING NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... ROKKUN...... PLEASE I'M GOING TO CRY. they're a disaster waiting to happen. )

...Is that how you think of me, that I don't have any hope in you, and I'm someone who loves yours the most.

( look, rokkun has made him soooooooo sad, which, he really isn't, he's just saying shit that comes to mind. with the fat, rice kernels doing what they do best, he's going to walk away to the fridge so he can squat down and look inside. )

You made it this far, I doubt you can let down those simple minded people. ( they need meat... for this dish right... so there's a few kinds, which one he like? )

( STOPPPPP I'M TEARING UP. is this permission for him to do his school uniform low cut... is this what the npcs wants, including you and wolfie.

no.. she's soo cute, i'm crying. now that she's comfy, resting and relaxed, komaeda's going to scratch up and down her spine, and if anyone comes into the kitchen... he goes "shhh!" because he's trying to get her to sleep. they may get weird looks because of where they're sitting, but they're trying to be out of sight — stroke, stroke — out of mind. this is his baby girl, his one and only feline — he would never let her go. unless she wants to leave him (:/ rokkun...). pat, stroke, pat.

not even bev can have this spot... maybe... bev can have komaeda's head. )

[ He was hoping she might have some insight, or something, but he figured that was likely not to be case at any rate. He will simply cross this avenue off as not likely to receive answers on that front.

But, her response to seeing the doll was curious. He just simply smiled lightly in return, like this kind of reaction was normal or something no one would find odd. ]

Yes, I have been taking very good care of it.

[ That was not a lie; he had no idea what to do with it (he had even mentioned it to Hajun once because he figured telling someone else might be a good idea, but he didn't know how this would help them find answers.) ]

Would it be rather presumptuous of this one to assume it is not your first time seeing this?

Same thing!!

( in this context!

anyway, most of her fans were weird adult men, so, yes, they were weird. she's not gonna talk about it, because the recollection of shaking their sweaty hands makes her shudder... but anyway, she follows him into the bathroom and stares at him as he cleans his face, narrowing her eyes when his reflection seems to lag behind.

... how strange. mirrors... really are weird around here, aren't they? she wonders, briefly, whether shattering this mirror would bring them back to their own world, like shattering mirrors in the void school brings you back here. so as rokkun is just innocently trying to wash the blood off of his face, rika's wrapping her jacket around her hand, before...

just slamming it into the mirror, with every intention to destroy it. )

Rika!

[ Rika gets one good punch in and whether or not she manages to break the mirror, Rokkun jumps in to pull her away— doesn't even bother trying to catch her hand and instead wraps his arms around her torso and physically lifts her up and off the ground before pulling her away from the mirror. She wanted blood on her clothes? she's getting blood on her clothes. ]

[ What does one do with an abandoned doll besides shove it in your locker and forget about it? At least it hadn't ended up in the trash. The nurse straightens up and leans back in her seat, gaze fond on the doll but she forces herself to tear her eyes away and look up at Meng Yao. ]

Yes, I've had the pleasure of speaking with the young woman who owned this doll. She would carry it with her wherever she went. Did she pass it onto you after graduation?

[ crying, yeah, he can low cut his uniform and nobody will stop him

Lily May won't move from this spot even after Komaeda's legs go numb and someday Bev will be brave enough to approach Komaeda and sit on his head and chew off his ears. ]

Huh — ?!

( one punch isn't enough to break a big, bathroom mirror — she could've kept going, though, if rokkun didn't just... pick her up and drag her away?! she wants to question him, she really does, but when she thinks about it, she's the one being highly irrational here.

... yeah, just randomly starting to punch mirrors is definitely worrisome. )

You didn't have to pick me up, y'know!! ( she feels the blood on her neck, a thick rivulet sliding under her shirt. ew. ) I'm fine, it's fine, I just — ( she just what? had a dumb idea and acted on it without thinking? yeah, sounds about right. ) — I wanted to check something.

[ Standing a little taller in front of someone who is six foot...

She's endearingly cute. ]

Ah, you gotta give us a little more credit... There's no reason to offer something if we're inadequate? I'm not sure about his experience, but I'll be sure to give you a good time. [ That said -- ] Were you going somewhere? I'm sorry for getting in your way.

[ More of a reason to stand tall... Sometimes you gotta do what you can to get noticed, whether that be standing tall or putting yourself out there at the auction or stabbing somebody in the hallway. Really, there are plenty of reasons someone would offer something they can't follow up on, but Chiaki looks Hajun up and down and nods a little to herself. ]

I'm going to the art room— there's no club today, but there's something I want to get finished, so I'm gonna paint until they kick us out of school. What about you? Were you going home? You're not in any clubs, are you?

[ It sure sounded like a dumb, unfounded idea, and Rokkun hums his uncertainty, warm breath hitting the back of Rika's neck against that spot of blood because he hadn't let her go yet, like a cat owner who'd hastily picked his cat off the ground and is still gauging whether the cat will behave when he lets it go or if it will immediately do more crime.

Crime, it feels like, since he doesn't see anything different about the bathroom mirror when he glances up at it, his reflection lifting its eyes to meet his a split second after but he's already lowering his gaze to meet Rika's reflection instead. ]

"Something" like what? You scared me...

[ He loosens his grip enough for Rika's feet to touch the ground, while still keeping his arms wrapped around her. ]

What if the mirror had broken? That's seven years of bad luck, Rika. Seven!

[ What if the mirror had fallen and smashed them both over the head? never mind that— the bad luck, take it seriously ]

...You can't save everybody, Komaeda. For some to prosper, others must fail.

[ Fact of life. She cares but... she can't care about everyone— her role as the student council president isn't to care, it's to lead and if people don't follow then that's their own business. ]

That said, if everybody gives up, that would be the worst case scenario. I absolutely will not let that happen. When it comes to hope, leave it alone, let it flourish naturally and it will. You don't have to provide something like that.

I'm just wondering why it has to be one or the other. I'm the captain of the soccer team— I might not be the best in the world, but I'm better than everybody else here.

[ He ??? pulls a wooden sauce spoon out of his pocket and taps Komaeda on the tip of the nose with it, like he's making a point, and he's not even going to wash it it goes back into his pocket. ]

Does talent have to be a competition between everybody everywhere? As a student, the world is the school, you know.

[ His hope is confidence, it's grit, it's the all-or-nothing of "graduate or perish" that all high school seniors should have. ]

Edited 2021-05-18 05:20 (UTC)

npc contact.1

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