lol she cronched

Each Drawing Below!

Akemi Ishikawa @ultimateglassblower

Rinko Tsuburaya @gameshowfever

Aditi Patel @shsl-daredevil

Artemis Throne @shsl-who

Orochi Morika @shsl-thespian

Hyun Akintola @shsl-crocker

Katsumi Akiyama 

Ezra Marston @shslcartographxr

Akira Sasaki @botanist-akira

Kyoji Amano @shslplaywrightkyoji

Shujin Akaya @headofreservecoursecouncil

Haruki Takahashi @un-luckster

Noriko Mori @law-star

Takehiko Nakata @shslmathemathematician

Ryu Hotaru @cryptographer

Rinko stared at the floor, her eyes bleak and empty. She was still reeling from yelling at Akemi - she remembered how she had retreated back to her room and cried, pounding her walls in regret. (self harm tw) Her arms, torn apart by her own nails, were further evidence of that. (/tw) She sighed a shaky breath before standing up. It was… dining time now, right? She couldn’t tell anymore. Time passed and she didn’t really comprehend it, hardly feeling at all anymore.

Naturally, her first thought is to find the girl who makes her feel.

On unsteady legs, Rinko stood, leaving the room in eagerness and hobbling down the hall, one hand always on the wall. She found Hyun rather quickly - her new getup made her hard to miss. Rinko felt a small smile creep up on her face, despite a pang of guilt that came with it. She doesn’t deserve to feel happy.

Anyway.

The girl shook her head, clearing her thoughts, before walking over and sitting next to Hyun. She felt her heart beat quicker as their legs touched but ignored it.

“H-Hey, Hyun. How are you?” she asked, smiling. She wasn’t sure what else to say - not anymore.

It was even more pitiful that only now did she realize how in love with Hyun she was.

Once Hyun had finished, Rinko stared at the floor for a moment, blinking away her tears, before wrapping her arms around the crocker tightly, burying her face in her shoulder.

Apparently, she did not blink away the tears, because they started flowing.

"H-Hyun, I - um, th-thank you. You know, I - I really - " she bit her lip, hesitating. Why did she do that? Why can't she just -

"Um, I really... appreciate it. Y-You're great," she smiled weakly, slapping herself internally. Great job, dumbass.

The girl pulled back, her hands still lingering on Hyun's arms, her eyes lingering on her's, and god she hoped that Hyun got the hint - that she wanted to say something else.

And then she realized that no, it's not the time, and pulled back completely.

She can't get close here. Not when they - Hyun - could die any time.

Not now.

So, she pulled away. And she stood up. And she waved goodbye, all too quick to be natural, all too slow to be hateful.

But she had to.

Hyun couldn’t breath.

Then her gut twisted and she felt sick.

'I... I'm the bad one here, aren't I? Not perfect, flawless Akemi with all the friends who would drop anything for her. Me. I'm the problem. I'm a horrible person. I'm awful I'm absolutely - '

She collapsed, passing out cold, tears streaking her face.

She had awoken moments before the designated breakfast time, quickly blinking the remains of sleep from her eyes. She felt like garbage before she saw it, still hung up over the trial. Everyone was screeching, crying, angry. And even though she wasn’t the killer…. she felt responsible. Maybe if she hadn’t accused Rinko, or had actually investigated properly. She spent a lot of it talking this time, or pursuing stupid ideas. They could have done it faster if she did it right.

These thought swirled through her head as she read and reread the message. She didn’t feel anything this time, she just felt hollow. She felt like her heart was gone, replaced with a block of wood.

Her door swung open mechanically, leading her to believe it was 8 am. She trudged out without really realizing, hardly noticing the metal additions to the hotel. She rode the elevator in silence, staring at nothing. The hollowness persisted. She couldn’t bring herself to think about the trial anymore, the memories making her hollowness feel worse. She left the elevator when it reached the first floor and wandered to the dining area, looking distraught and not exactly present. The words of a classmate caught her attention eventually.

Hyun and her creator, Miles, slide across the floor “Hey” they speak in creepy unison “Hey My S/O’s heres some fuckin clues love ya muah muah”

The timers at last reached 0. But the water did not rise past the chin.

A message appeared on the screen. “Victim safe!”

The metal keeping the person there unlocked, leaving them free to move. Light spilled in from the top and a life preserver fell in.

The speaker was quick to crackle to life.

“Looks like everyone is safe! Well, almost everyone. Because one of you COMMITTED MURDER!”

Akemi felt her stomach sink down- she had put off even looking at the motive again. She opened her laptop to see her neighbor and fought the urge to slam it shut. She knew that was who it’d be- she asked ryu what the motive was earlier- and felt melancholy take her. This was what it meant to feel despair: there was nothing she could do now. In some ways, this was a form of closure. Mrs. Abe had been sick for some time now, and was by no means young, so in some twisted way it was comforting to at least “be there” when she died.

It was indirectly Mrs. Abe’s fault she was here in the first place of course, but she hadn’t known that. Mrs. Abe was the one who taught her to blow glass, how to create things from her imagination in such a delicate art form. She gave her all the materials she needed to practice, to create things she wished were true but never could be. She was the only one to not tell her she was to young to do something, and helped cultivate her passion into a truly ultimate talent.

And now she had ten minutes to live.

Die. He was going to die. He was going to die die die die die die die.

And it’s all my fault.

I couldn’t protect him.

I never could.

Haruki’s head was spinning, he wanted to hide. Hide. Hide. Why were these.. Feelings.. Feelings. Hiding… He gripped his head hard in his hands, a throbbing pulse in his whole body.

Why won’t they all just SHUT UP?

He felt the urge to punch himself hard. Because this was his fault and he was overloaded and he hadn’t done enough and ALL THESE WORDS–THEY WEREN’T JUST AT AMANO, NO–THEY WERE AT HARUKI TOO. HE HADN’T DONE ENOUGH HADN’T DONE ENOUGH HAD–

Haruki tore at his hair, sweat running down his face as he struggled to remain calm–at least on the outside.

Because what am I worth… if I lose face now.

His eyes closed, and he grimaced with panting breath as he faced away from the others, hoping they couldn’t see him. Not like this. Not how he really was.

They already hated people like him enough. People who had nothing more than what they could do. There was no point showing them who he really was–the useless, weak Haruki, who didn’t even have a talent to rely on for self-worth. 

At least Kyoji had that.

Haruki was just his facade… Nothing more. And the hateful spitting words flying through the air… 

Hyun was always an ugly crier.

And for a moment the mask was broken and her true feelings; her anxiety, paranoia, dread, all poked through the holes. 

It repaired almost as quick as it was destroyed.

"S-Sorry about that," she laughed nervously, waving it off. "I-I'm, er, just a lil worried, as you can see."

Clear as day.

Everything seemed fine when he entered-well. Not fine, but not any worse than when he left it. He noticed Rinko still standing in the room, and was grateful she had stayed to protect the crime scene along with Addy. Even if that wasn’t her intention, it was what she had done.

“Hi,” He approached her slowly, trying not to surprise her. “We found some. Things,” He quickly explained to her about the second knife’s location and the blood on the fountain, and then paused, suddenly worried he was overwhelming her. “Sorry,” He apologized reflexively. He knew she seemed as anxious as he was, and it had taken him a good 30 minutes to process all this information. “Are you. Okay?”

It was fake, of course.

She wasn't shaken as much as she could have been for two reasons: one, she just plain wasn't very close to Katsumi; and two, she was used to this - pretending to be calm after a horrible event. That's what TV hosts do. After all, someone had to look on the bright side. Someone had to stay chipper.

Naturally, the role was passed to her.

"I... I'm sorry. That I couldn't be of more help. I - I really need to shape up, don't I?" she laughed softly.

It was fake. Of course.

“That’s a piece of wood.” Shujin responded, walking over and blinking at it, “A… piece of wood with letters on it.”

The font, the curve of the letters looked familiar to him… “I think it might be part of a Ouija board… You know - The things people summons ghosts with in awful horror films? You should probably put it down. They’re pretty dangerous. It’s a general consensus that you leave yourself open to possession and bad spirits by even touching one.”

He wondered who would even have a Ouija board - where could they even find one here? This was odd…

gameshowfever

Rinko looked over, still a bit stunned. “Huh? Uh -” She walked over to Ezra, looking at the piece before her eyes widened. “Is that - oh, my god, I think -” Rinko looked up at Ezra before looking back at the piece.“Th-That’s from a Ouija board… Where did you find that?”

Ezra immediately dropped the board piece as soon as Shujin said “dangerous,” but quickly scrabbled to pick it back up and at least set it down on top of the weights rack. He wasn’t…too superstitious, but both Shujin and Rinko had reacted badly to whatever it was-a…weegee board?-so he figured it was better safe than sorry.

“Um. I found it in. There,” He said in response to Rinko’s question, pointing at the empty space in the weights. “One. Weight is. Missing, I think? But this was there instead.” The more he learned about it, the more suspicious it seemed, but Ezra couldn’t figure out how it possibly related to anything. Ghosts? Possession? Who would ever want to own one of these?

“Did this. Belong to Katsumi?” He questioned aloud, glancing at said figure to make sure the body was still mostly undisturbed before turning his attention back to Shujin and Rinko. “Where did it. Come from?”

@headofreservecoursecouncil

“Yeah… this is definitely a Ouija board fragment,” he confirmed, rolling it between his fingers. “But… I don’t think it’d be Akiyama’s.” Haruki gritted his teeth, humming under his breath.

“There’s only one person here who has an affinity to ghosts. That’d be Nakata.” He glanced back over his shoulder, thyen to Ezra, then to the others. “And…” Haruki pulled out his Ehandbook, flipping through a few screens until Takehiko’s student profile showed. Haruki zoomed in until the ‘Likes’ portion of the page was highlighted. The words “Ouija boards” were clearly printed in the space below.

“This… definitely has some ties to Nakata. I’m sure. But whether it’s being used to frame him or a diversion or is actual evidence…” He shook his head.

She sighs, shoulders drooping. Was that really true anymore?

Suddenly her eyes widen as she looks at Haruki excitedly. “What if it is being used to frame him? After all, why would Takehiko break a Ouija board?”

People were moving, and investigating around him, but Ezra was barely aware of them. The room might as well have been empty. Logically, he knew he should be trying to help, to look for clues and find who did this, but he couldn’t bring himself to move from beside the rack of weights, keeping a careful watch on Katsumi. Katsumi’s corpse.

His eyes drifted over to the weights beside him, which seemed inappropriately bright for the situation, all fun and vivid colors. He didn’t know what they were called-Addy would probably know-but they seemed innocuous enough. He snapped his gaze back to Katsumi, feeling guilty for letting his guard down, but something was bothering him. Wasn’t there something off…?

There was an empty space. Ezra didn’t know much about weights, but there was a space in between the ones labeled “15” and “35” that seemed weirdly barren. Was he imagining things, or…was there supposed to be something there?

And if there was, then where was it?

Ezra reached in and grabbed the weird piece of wood, examining it with more than a little confusion. It looked like…an art piece? A board game? A decorative sign? Something like that, as it had clearly printed letters on one side and seemed to be a broken piece of something larger.

He’d never seen anything like it, but…if it was hidden like that, it maybe was important. Probably. He wasn’t much help if he couldn’t figure out what it was, though. Maybe someone else would know?

“Um.” He held up the piece, trying to attract anyone’s attention without being too loud. “Does. Anyone know what. This is?”

Rinko looks up at the girl in confusion. “U-Um, I-I think so. I’m sorry, I… don’t speak French,” she giggled nervously. “My name’s Rinko. Ah, what’s yours?”

Hoshiko narrows her eyes at the girl She didn’t look fine, but she claimed she was. She couldn’t tell; was she? Or was she not? “French? Oh- I was just- It was nothing.” She glances away for a moment, before looking back. 

Was it… really okay to be so eager for friends now though? At any time they could turn around and murder her. She could die here, actually die…

Rinko put her hands up to her face, realizing she was crying. Stop that. You’re not gonna die, not gonna die, not gonna die…

“Oh, je … Je ne sais pas ce que je dois dire, ici. Je suis désolé. je… Are you alright?” She doesn’t want to sound pushy, but she wan’t to help her, if she can. What can she say?