Akito Sumisu

"I’m… glad that I could help."

Hopefully that was convincing enough. She continued to stir, and listen to him at the same time. Once he asked her, she had just finished doing her part of the work. Time to give her two cents about the situation.

"I… am not for certain. I suppose it’s for the best to just be thankful at times like this. The snake could have given us something a lot more.. uncomfortable."

Zara couldn’t help but be afraid of what was in the future for them. Where were they off to next? A jail? Some volcano? A place full of Keiki’s? Each of those were equally horrifying.

He shook his head and glanced over at his oven, before watching her dole out her own dough. His hands kept on his lap, the small lumps of raw cookie flattening as she poured. Though messy, they would surely bake, with time. Akito tapped his own oven.

"A girl after my own heart. What's the fun in a cookie you can't share?"

A chuckle rose from his chest as he toyed with a few buttons on the Easy-Bake, trying to find out if it even had a high power setting, let alone if he was using it. He figured he would have to keep it on for a while to get them done, but that was fine. They had plenty of time to talk.

She had to say, this caught her off guard. He had just broke something in half like it wasn’t that big of a deal at all. Something Zara could probably never do that. She would have known if she could do that too. Once upon a time, those puzzles had made her frustrated.

"Like this?"

With all the amount of patience and carefulness Zara had possessed, she began pouring into the bowl. This wasn’t how she thought she would be spending her… what time was it? Her sleep schedule must be so knocked off of course she hadn’t even noticed how tired she was.

Well, if she wasn’t this tired, she wouldn’t have been doing this. She must not have slept well. Either way, here they were, pouring away and making cookies. Knowing this stupid place, Zara wouldn’t be surprised if someone came out of nowhere and ruined what there were working on.

Oops. Maybe she should try aiming for that bowl. 

"That's good," he instructed, handing her the next ingredient. Akito smiled and idly stirred his own bowl, As she began to miss the bowl, he opened his mouth, hand reaching out, but she corrected himself. The blacksmith shifted and hummed contently. 

"What do you think about all of this, eh? It's not exactly a kiddie park, but... it's still not that threatening."

Akito scratched his chin. "At least, in my opinion."

He grabbed and pulled over an Easy-Bake, taking one of the serving trays the packaging had come with. Each, small cookie was poured, totaling eight before filling the spots. He slid it into his oven and gestured toward Zara. 

It had a weird effect on the spell caster, as it just looked so normal. The buzzing of the lights, the empty echos of the hallways… it was all surreal.

Really? Zara spoke strangely? She never would have guessed. That was a lie, of course. She was quite aware at their dialect. It wasn’t the most fancy thing, but they always thought it was the best to do.

"I guess we all have to make do, yes. I’m making do with the people who were lain out in front of me, yes?"

Zara sighed. That might have been harsh, but Zara was already tired of being in who knows where with a bunch of potential murderers. Who could really blame her, in the end? She dropped the lover joke, knowing that she actually was not serious at all whilst saying that. It didn’t matter if they told Akito, though.

Carrying the Easy Bake, Zara had just been looking for any outlets. Considering they were in the middle of two aisles, their vision was a bit blocked. As for that dough, though…

"I suppose that this will only do for small quantities... hm. Ah, one moment."

He stood and grabbed for another toy - a jumbo puzzle sphere. He grabbed each end in a palm and tore it open at the plastic seam effortlessly, extracting the intricacies inside and stepping on the metal bearing as it fell out. He set the parts neatly aside, opening the ingredient packaging.

"This will do, yes? Grab the other half of the... heh, bowl. Just do as I do. We'll have to eyeball ingredients, but lucky for you, that's just my specialty. Other than... yeah, blacksmithing."

He began to pour, staring at the stream carefully, before cracking two eggs into the makeshift bowl. He grabbed a portion of the sphere's previous ball track, using it to mix. His free hand gestured towards the open ingredients.

"Oh, it is not me who requires assistance… but rather you helping yourself. All I simply do is transport. I know it’s rather… strange.. but you wouldn’t imagine what even the strangest of items do to help me in the long run.”

They rocked on her heels a bit, knowing that she had talked for quite a bit. She was thinking for a bit on where the heck they were going to find something to bake in here. Zara thought about causing a fire out of the arts and crafts, but that wouldn’t be so good for a lot of people. Especially Yuurei.

"As for finding something to bake cookies with, this place does have a toy section, if my eyes didn’t betray me. Perhaps you and your lover would be… reunited."

"Help myself. You know... you speak strangely. I think, though, I'm gettin' something from it. You may have a point. I think."

At the news of a lover, he raised an eyebrow. His thoughts traveled backward a day as he thought on the Easy-Bake oven. Again, he shrugged, motioning for her to follow. 

"I wouldn't call it a lover so much as I would an anvil. They're a tool, and something rather familiar in a strange situation. I make do. Isn't that what we should all be doing?"

The smith glanced down the second toy aisle and nodded, standing in front of a few Easy-Bake ovens. Seriously, who stocks these anymore? His hands tore into the packaging as he looked about for an outlet, humming. He handed Zara a packaged oven, smiling.

Well, she had to be accepting about where they were. Who knows what would happen to Zara if she showed her disapproval around that stupid snake. Checking the maps, Zara set off on a brand new adventure, being sure to check out everything in the bigger main area first.

A lot of aisles that had seemed to be stereotypical for any kind of supermarket, like monocobra simply plucked it off of the known world and put it in here. It seemed that everyone would be sharing a room with someone else. Zara knew of her roommate, and wasn’t completely annoyed by this one. Maybe she’d actually get to know him.

Walking though the cooking section, Zara was trying to find some extracts for her spells. It just so happened that while doing so, she heard a voice coming from the other side of the aisle. Something about cookies? What was it with him and baking? They turned around the corner, and approached the blacksmith.

"Baking again, are we?"

Laughing, she continued to search those shelves. She still hadn’t found that ingredient, though she had at least found the person she’d be spending a lot of time with. Starting up a conversation might not have been best in times like these, but she still had to get comfy with him. Oh, there it was! She got her ingredient and went back to looking at him.

"You know it."

The blacksmith gathered the last few things and beamed at his new pile of stock with pride. In a time like this, he had to keep his restless hands occupied with something. While baking didn't grow callous, it definitely kept one busy.

"So… I suppose we are paired up in here. Perhaps we can aid each other? I accept cookies for payment, you know."

"Are we?" he inquired, scratching his head. "Sorry, I... I got a little wound up with the new location. Stressful. Needed... something."

The smith sighed and shrugged, before giving his neck a quick little crack. It felt rather good to finally get the kink out of it. "Help you, eh? What is it that you need help gathering, Miss Spellcaster?"

Wataru wandered around the castle aimlessly, just barely finding the power to stop in time before hitting a wall or obstacle. 

"Everyone has a target… A is after B, who is after C, who is after A. But what about D though R? Or M, is it? Augh…"

Wataru had his aching head buried in his ID, the Murder Rules glossing over his eyes. He could put the words of Monocobra he remembered to words on the screen. This was so confusing! Was he B, for Boy Scout meaning C is his target? This was dumb, he realized; the babble about letters were probably examples for the idiots of the class. He was just so far below everyone else that even his well-worded example made no sense to him. Wataru felt in need of an aspirin, or to check back into the hospital and be cared for again, or anywhere not resembling Munchkin-Land. That was from the Wizard of Oz, he was proud to remember.

Wait, this was stupid for an entirely different reason! This order was set up for murder, which wasn’t going to happen anyways so why bother spending the little brain power he had on it. The rest of his mind, which was still honestly not much, was devoted to the chaos of the situation and dissecting it the best he could. As you could guess, this dissection was slow and painful and the cause of his meandering. His legs were simply too complicated to be handled by his hurting mind at the moment, so they were given control of themselves. His legs new-found freedom led him up the stairs, bumping into it’s rails but not caring or noticing, and near to his room. Upon Wataru’s arrival, he had finally reached his conclusion! 

"This is so stupid…"

He spoke with an airy breath, almost as if he was exhausted. He looked up and- oh! A person, which he figured he was standing inside the personal space bubble he learned about in Elementary School. Unable to recall the grade, he still remembered that it was a problem to be this awkwardly close to someone else without their say-so. His legs seemed reluctant to give up their freedom and simply laughed as Wataru found himself unable to move away. So he instead looked the person straight in the eye, with a hearty and confident-

"Hi I’m Shima Wataru the Super High School Boy Scout. High School Level Boy Scout. Yeah. Nice to meet you."

So instead, Akito did what a blacksmith does best. He sat, he waited, and he molded his next set of thoughts. Now that this 'game' was under way, he had a lot of considerations to make. Murder was definitely not on the table. 

As the oven dinged, he sighed. There had been no knowledge in this batch of moon pies, as he had hoped in the beginning. He stood, pies still within the womb of the toy, and tucked it under his arm, beginning to head towards the stairs. It was at this time that the Boy Scout, shorter by comparison, was ascending the final steps, and entered a very close proximity. Akito could tell something was up. The other did not even seem to acknowledge his surroundings at first, before welling up and spouting out words, looking him dead-center in the goddman pupils.

"Akito Sumisu, Super High School Level Blacksmith. And apparently, baker, now."

Akito set down the Easy-Bake.

And ugh. This conversation again. He wasn’t sure whether to get ticked off at everyone for not understanding his title or at Hope’s Peak for giving it to him in the first place. So he did both. He rolled his eyes.

"Super High School Level Mastermind. International chess champion. Strategist. Logician. Planner. As well as a shitty action villain, apparently. Clear enough for you?"

Toshi had his own opinion on the solid vs soft balance that Akito had presented. He couldn’t think of anything ‘soft’ that he was particularly fond of. Maybe a cat? Cats were soft, probably. He’d never had a cat.

…A blacksmith. Hm. The only images that came to mind were those of someone smashing a sword with a hammer on an anvil. That accounted for the fire and metal, but what the hell was this about puff pastries. Toshi wasn’t aware of any sort of blacksmithing that had anything to do with baking as well. Strange.

After a long pause, Toshi crossed his arms. This guy was looking at him funny. No way was he gonna shake his hand.

“This is MonoWorld, didn’t you read the message?”

Hm, MonoWorld. Sounded like a place you went to to learn about mononucleosis. Pretty crappy name for a theme park, in his opinion.

“Unless I’m mistaken, the general consensus is that no one knows what the fuck is going on right now.”

He went ahead and explained the contents of the message, since this idiot clearly hadn’t read it. Or maybe he had, and just hadn’t retained the information for more than thirty seconds. Maybe he just didn’t know how to read.

“Basically, we’re in a theme park and we’re supposed to go to the castle at six. There’s a map of the park on the card. …I’m Shinsato Toshi. What do you do?”

If this guy was here, then he was also accepted to Hope’s Peak. For something. If Toshi had to guess, judging by the apron and work boots, it was something messy or requiring physical labor, neither of which he was interested in hearing about. But maybe he would surprise him.

"No, stop. I can read. Those words, though, they mean nothing to me." Akito flashed his ID briefly so that the other could indeed confirm he was aware of what reading material was available. "I am aware of what we have been given. A deadline with an empty threat, and I do not find it very interesting, nor informing."

"Want some?" She held out an extra cotton candy bag to the approaching boy. Her own cotton candy bundle looked disgusting, unless you liked a rainbow of sweets so bright color they start to turn once-pink cotton candy a mucky brown color. There was everything from sour gummies to M&Ms. Of course, it was up to him to create something just as sickeningly great.

She grinned. “Cotton candy is good for the soul. Trust me, I’m a psychotherapist.” She took a handful of cotton candy and stuffed it in her mouth. Her eyes widened a little bit and it was everything she could do not to gag. It was disgusting. But no… she must prevail. Creativity was pain.

Her eye twitched as she swallowed. She took some napkins to try and wipe off some of the sticky substance, but it was kind of a lost cause.

"Anyway," she said, "I’m Midori Minako, but call me anything you want. Who are you, kiddo?"

"...kiddo?"

Akito chuckled and glanced down at the contraption, trying not to focus on the blob of sugary cacophony that she held in her hands. He couldn't even begin to imagine what it tasted like, but he was sure that it was as bad as it looked, if not worse. Though, he had no clue how to use the machine himself! Cotton candy was not a normal delicacy for him.

"I am Akito Sumisu. I am... the blacksmith."

"I can't smith cotton candy though."

The appointed time wasn’t until 6 pm, and Toshi had already exhausted whatever entertainment he could have gained by looking around the park. The place was tiny, and he wasn’t interested in the rides. He ultimately decided that aimless wandering was somewhat preferable to talking to someone else, or blankly staring at a wall.

Oh, but look at his luck. He rounded a corner, and someone was there. He simply stood and watched for a moment or two. Look at this idiot. Spinning around in circles like a four-year-old, wearing an apron, of all things. Was this guy even real?

He sighed. The idiot seemed confused. He walked forward, stopping a good distance away from him.

“…Hello.”

That should answer both of the guy’s questions. Hello? Hello. Is anyone out there? Unless Toshi had suddenly become incorporeal without his knowing about it, then his very presence should answer that one as well.

Well... that was a great start to the conversation. Literally. Maybe. He couldn't tell, but the other did not look happy. Nor did he seem anxious, or unnerved... anything, really. Okay then. It was something.

"Yes, hello. Ehh... look, I'm not even going to bother asking where we are, or why. You probably have no better idea than I, no?"

He shrugged and waved it off. 

"Alright. So, who are you then? May as well meet the... classmates?"

Something was happening in front of the gift shop. The door was propped open and a certain Midori Minako scurried in and out at a rapid pace.

Near the door was a cotton candy vendor’s cart, though the vendor was missing in action. And when they got back, they’d be in for an awful surprise: there was cotton candy everywhere. Not only on Midori, but also on the cart and the ground around it. She had a large bag filled with candy that she was trying to pour onto cotton candy.

Apparently she was taking the map’s advice to heart and making the most of this situation. The amount of havoc she was causing before 6 pm clearly rivaled that of a certain cinematic troublemaker whose name also spelled out Rebel Flurries. But that phrase was nonsensical. And the point was moot.

She seemed so engrossed in her work that she failed to notice anyone and everyone nearby. Well no, that wasn’t not true. As soon as her concoction was ready, she looked up. Cotton candy was in her hair and on her face and she looked even more disheveled than usual.

"Yes? What is it that you need?"

Akito figured at this point that he damn may as well just jump the bandwagon and forget trying to understand for the moment. There was a mess of cotton candy, all over her, but it didn't look so bad. Cotton candy was actually quite tasty. Did that make her tasty? No, that was cannibalism. Can I make cotton candy in my furnace? I wonder.

Hello hello! This will be the official roster for Ouroboros Protocol. After going through all of the apps carefully, we have narrowed down the applicants to the list we have today. Thank you once again to everyone who took the time to write applications. If you’ve been accepted, please create your blog as soon as possible!

Without further ado, here’s the official roster!