Shinri Kenmeina

Sachiko…?

Whether or not she heard that was largely irrelevant. She gave no indication of having done so, seeming rather preoccupied with… whatever was holding her focus. It had been so long since the game started, since the threat of murder loomed over all of them. Sachiko hadn’t had any reason to worry. She wasn’t an ideal physical target as far as VR went. She wasn’t the sort of person who would let herself get put in a position like that so easily. She was useless and deserved to suffer through the motive for being so ungrateful.

She flinched when Shinri touched her hand but did not recoil, nor did she react in a favorable physical manner. Rather, she looked at Shinri as if she was not quite seeing her - like she hadn’t quite finished waking up after a particularly restless nap. Leaving… hm, leaving, leaving. Leaving sounded good. Removing herself from the situation would be nice. But, running away was showing weakness. It would do nothing but prove she was weak and afraid and showing weakness or fear meant that instead of maybe getting hurt she would definitely get hurt.

Given her terribly foggy state of mind, though, it was difficult to parse any of that other than leaving = good. She COULD leave. It wasn’t always a luxury that could be afforded.  Later, almost certainly, she would loathe herself for it. Sort of vaguely affirming with something that might be considered nodding if you considered a bobblehead figure in a light breeze to be nodding and… weakly reciprocating the hand holding, more like she was letting herself be held than anything. Like she was hesitating, unable to say anything she wanted to, uncharacteristically vulnerable and thanking the heavens that if anyone else was noticing the exchange, they weren’t saying anything about it.

“…yeah.”

She didn’t need to go for long. Just enough to get her head back on her shoulders. Rationalize it. They wanted people who would hurt more. Bleed more. They wanted gore, they wanted everyone to see the unfortunate victim of the day bleed and writhe and suffer. They didn’t want her. She was not wanted. But what else was new? If she wasn’t so out of it, she might have tried to brush it off, make some flimsy excuse, play it off like she was totally fine. But nope. Shinri pls remove ur gf from this situation.

Sachiko’s hesitation didn’t bother Shinri. She waited patiently, and tried her best to read the expression on her significant others face. Shinri couldn’t be described as worried, but it was a heavy sense of concern still. The spilling of blood... the want for gore. It sent a shiver down the psychologists spine. It’s not nice to think of or witness. The moments passed and the single word gave Shinri enough to roll with as she carefully squeezed the hand she held and began pulling Sachiko to a warp point. 

Shinri leads the two of them as best she can to the Chocolatier’s room. Generic, certainly, but potentially the most helpful place. Some foreign sense of familiarity for Sachiko. She hoped. Leading her over to the table, Shinri pulled a chair out for Sachiko before plopping down next to her. 

“I’m not a mind reader Sachi, but I want to help so badly. But but but, I’d never force you to talk. You can trust me, You know this.”

So, it was time for the motive again. Great. Lovely, even. Delightful. Sachiko had gone into it fully expecting to not give a shit. What could they possibly do now? Recycling motives would be unpalatable. With the secrets thing out of the way and who she really was already all but public knowledge, it was hard to think that anything would get to her. Gore? Viscera? Of course not. If one were to go back a couple chapters and a private thread, they would know that she had noted seeing worse than any of the murders up to that point. That much remained true. Frankly, she seemed about as unimpressed as usual. What were they going to do? Show them graphic murders? That would surely be an ineffective motive. They–

…

They…

… needed a volunteer?

Interesting. Lots of blood. Hm. Painful. Decidedly, most certainly painful. Didn’t doubt that it hurt. He’d been through it before? He’d been through it before. Poor dear, sweet, precious Seiichi. She didn’t really have much attachment to most of her classmates but she still didn’t want to see them hurt. Maybe? She didn’t know. Nothing… she couldn’t wrap her head around much of anything that was going on. It had been so long. She wanted to tell herself it had been so long she had forgotten about it and they couldn’t do anything to her. She wanted to do something. Anything. Anything but standing there, frozen, glassy-eyed and unresponsive. Stop it. Pull it together. He can’t hurt you. Yes he can. He just hurt Seiichi. Look at him. Look at that.

Do you want to end up like him?

Funny. Breathing doesn’t usually feel very hard. For once, she’s quiet, unassuming, and completely gone. Tense like her fight-or-flight response kicked in, she’s obviously chosen flight, but it can’t quite get her to panic enough to send her running. Would it hurt as badly now? So much of that was so long ago. Smaller and weaker. She wouldn’t be worth it. Haha. She wouldn’t be worth anything. She already wasn’t. Yes she was. No. Maybe. She didn’t have the mental energy to hold that struggle with her imagination. She couldn’t. She could just slowly try to shuffle away. Without being noticed. Yes. That was it. With everyone so focused on Seiichi it wouldn’t be hard. It would be easy to stay under the radar and come out unscathed. She’d gotten so good at that. If no one noticed then she would be able to go away until she was able to pretend nothing was wrong and if no one noticed anything was wrong it was like nothing was wrong. 

So of course you look to your classmates. Some flocked to Seiichi, which was reassuring. It’s nice to see acts of kindness and concern. And then she glanced over the others as one person in particular was on her mind. Sachiko of course. Sachiko never expressed much, and it made Shinri think what would make her crack. It’s not the nicest thought but when it came to Sachiko’s insecurities, Shinri knew there must be a lot more to her than what she let on.

To follow on from the actual post: Boy was Sachiko wrong.

Shinri caught a glance of Sachiko backing away, and the concern started brewing. No time to worry about your own problems when shit hits the fan! She made a beeline for Sachiko and once she was close enough to read the expression, she hesitated. Pause. Think about this carefully. Don’t look too concerned. She doesn’t need to worry about you remember...

“Ah,” Barako says as she notes the handshake. She accepts, although it’s a bit of an odd gesture for a Japanese person to make. Perhaps Shinri was accustomed to more English politeness?

“That is an odd way to phrase your talent,” she smiled at them, “although as long as you have pride in it I suppose that’s okay. Though… if you mind me asking…”

Barako leaned over the table and looked at the book Shinri was reading. What exactly did they find ‘boring as fuck’?

“It’s the only appropriate way to phrase my talent? I mean, look, you got the whole fluent in  7 languages thing going for you- no wonder why hopes peak scouted you!" Shinri says with a small chuckle, “I am... as proud of my ‘talent’ as I can physically be." She finishes.

At Barako’s leaning, Shinri flipped the book closed and turned it around so the other could read it. It was a large book titled “The Positive Psychology Book” It has all the generic icons of brains and question marks all over it just to try and look more interesting.

Shinri was seemingly engulfed in the first few pages to a rather lengthy hardback book when Barako arrived, her head bowed down, propped up by one of her hands.

The moment the other spoke, Shinri jolted upright, her head whipping around with her eyes half open, only portraying obvious confusion and tiredness as she try to recollect herself from her brief nap.

“Oh, hey! It’s the vr techno-magical girl! Or another person who had fun with their avatar if you’d rather me say thaaaat.” her words come through with a slight slur as she stretches both arms upwards while smiling.

Barako’s eyes narrowed at Shinri as they spoke but then, she sighed.

“Yes. I suppose they did take great liberties with my avatar,” she admitted with shake of her head.

“I apologize but… were you sleeping?” she asked before straightening herself.

“Oh I didn’t mean to like. Upset you or anything. You look pretty cool.” She praises nonchalantly, before pausing. 

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhh, I mean probably? It’s not unbelievable... This book is boring as all fuck.” Shinri states, looking down at the book in dismay. 

At the formal introduction, Shinri looks back up with a blank expression, only arching an eyebrow,

The library didn’t have as many books explicitly ABOUT translating as the translation room (doy) but it did have a variety of different subjects that Barako knew she would have to brush up on! As such entered, made her way to the top, and began studying up on some 18the Century European literature and the effects it had on Pre-Renaissance Era Belgium. That was her designated task for the day.

It was then she noticed that, as she took a seat at a table, someone else was there. A girl with short brown hair was sitting across the table from her, doing… ???

She didn’t know quite yet.

Shinri was seemingly engulfed in the first few pages to a rather lengthy hardback book when Barako arrived, her head bowed down, propped up by one of her hands.

The moment the other spoke, Shinri jolted upright, her head whipping around with her eyes half open, only portraying obvious confusion and tiredness as she try to recollect herself from her brief nap.

Suu watches dispassionately as Shinri stands and walks over, looking down from his excessive seven feet upon her much more reasonable five foot seven. He doesn’t step back or shift or move at all, but there’s nevertheless a sort of… tense feeling when she gets closer to him. Like he’s waiting for her to do something and ready to react if and when she does.

Trust level, negative fifty.

“Phenomenally is an interesting choice of word. If you like what I did, why didn’t you take more advantage of the customization options?” He asks, tone remaining smooth and unruffled. Not much of one for emoting, this kid. There’s a pause when she offers her hand, where he just stares at it… presumably. His face is tilted in that direction, but it’s difficult to tell what his eyes are actually focusing on since his avatar’s pupils and irises are indistinguishable from their sclera. Maybe two or three seconds elapse before he takes accepts the handshake, her hand engulfed in one of his giant ones. His fingernails are long and sharp and painted the same red as his hair, and his grip is firm albeit brief, he lets go again almost immediately.

“Well, that’s good to hear then.” And that’s… all he has to say on that subject. Yep. Suu may not be entirely convinced that Shinri won’t bet taking notes on them, but he has no interest in pursuing the subject right now.

“Actually I came looking for you, Kenmeina-san. I’ve met everyone else, so I figured I should complete the set. And as long as we’re talking, I may as well ask your opinion of everything that’s been going on. Not that I expect you to know more than anyone else, but it never hurts to ask. So, any information or insights?”

Shinri didn’t seem at all stunned or fussed by the height difference and simply held herself with relaxed pride. Her stance was certainly bold, but she had one hand shoved in her pocket and an unshakable underlying of joy in her words.

Shinri, first and foremost, replied to Suu’s avatar design question with a lazy shrug,

“I’m not that creative. I’m pleased by the simplest of things. Seeing a design like yours nearly makes me envious. So thought out and graceful. In a hellish kind of way.”

After quickly losing interest in the talk of design, Shinri turns and glances at the sofas before looking back at Suu.

“That’s… nice of you,” She says, her voice increasing in pitch with her increase of uncertainty. “I have my fair share of theories Suu-San, and quite frankly I don’t know what to make of them. The situation seems fuckin’ stupid at best.” The psychologist continues with a sigh, loitering over to the sofas.

“I think whatever or whoever is doing this is curious or furious. They’re the two main reasons for someone to make such… stupid ideas. It’s the saying that it isn’t a stupid idea if you have science behind it.”  Shinri sits down on the sofa and turns to Suu.

“Yes, that was my greeting.” He confirms evenly. It’s a shame she didn’t throw the stress ball, it would’ve been a nice throwback to one of their encounters with a different classmate… Anyway, Suu meets her incredulous expression with a neutral dead-eyed stare, still and serene as a statue. His hand has already lowered to hang at his side again.

Naturally, Suu’s folder is missing, since he’d taken it himself, oh, two days ago now? He didn’t like the idea of a psychologist having a file on him, even a practically empty one.

“Rude. There are people who are this tall in reality, you know. Granted they’re rare, and it’s usually a result of some kind of medical condition. But anyway there’s no need to criticize my avatar. You don’t hear me complaining that you look boring.” This is all said in the same flat, disaffected monotone. The kind you might use to read a section out of a textbook when the teacher calls on you in class.

“Anyway, I’m Suu. And I took my folder because I’m not interested in being a client or a test subject. Really I think it was presumptuous and borderline invasive that the school would have provided you with files for us as though we were automatically available to you for study.”

While Suu spoke, Shinri looked in inquisitively, arching an eyebrow as they went on. When they finished, Shinri simply shrugged and got out of her chair to start walking over.

“I’m actually rather fond of what you did with your avatar. I know I’m phenomenally boring in comparison to you.” She rambles all rather nonchalantly before stopping a decent distance away from Suu to hold a hand out for them to shake.

“Nice to meet you Suu, I’ve gotta agree on your views. I don’t really know why the folders were programmed in myself. I didn’t ask for them, and they’re kinda pointless unless someone wants to talk to me. I had no ill intent- hell, I had no intentions or expectations to do anything in particular here. I was honestly just using them to remember names, so you screwed me up in that sense pal.”

Shinri through this seems pretty jovial, chuckling towards the end,

After having lunch with Ochako, there was only one classmate left for Suu to meet. Not bad considering they’d all been here for less than a week. But then, getting to know people had always been one of their strongest talents. One can never have too many contacts. Although at the moment Suu was driven more by a desire to gain some insight about those they were trapped here with than out of their usual tendency to build a web of connections.

Who were these people? How would they be affected by these circumstances? If anyone was equipped to answer such questions, you’d think it would be the Behavioral Psychologist, and yet she was the last of the other students that Suu went looking for. Perhaps it was simply a matter of luck or fate that they hadn’t encountered her sooner, or perhaps they’d been deliberately avoiding her? Only Suu themself could say for sure. But whatever the case they were looking now.

And now that they were, it didn’t take long.

Finding Shinri in the Behavioral Psychology room almost seemed too easy. Of course she’d be there. That room had obviously been designed for her, so naturally she’d spend a lot of time in it. And here Suu is, standing in her room staring at her, a seven foot tall behemoth.

Slowly, Suu raises one giant hand… and gives her a little wave.

“Really? That’s your greeting---” Shinri pauses for a moment, swinging her legs off the desk and leaning to sift through the folders that I assume are still there on all the students,

Sulking? Sachiko was not sulking. She was voicing a perfectly reasonable complaint for someone in their position, and not screaming her head off while doing so unlike some others. But then the other shoe dropped - the apparent total dismissal of her feelings being written off, and rather rudely at that. She raised her eyebrows and tilted her head back almost imperceptibly, narrowing her eyes at Shinri as if trying to intimidate her through force of will alone. “Did you just tell me to suck it up?”

Sachiko held her icy, scornful expression for a few moments dropping it in favour of a small smile and a soft chuckle. Try as she might, she couldn’t even stay fake angry - especially not after that ‘pretty girl’ comment. “I can respect someone with the nerve to say that to my face, Kenmeina-san. Especially when it really is over something as small as this.” She set her hat back on her head, finding it a little odd how it seemed to reassert its position a little bit more naturally than she’d expected.

Keeping one arm folded firmly across her chest, Sachiko uncrossed her arms and held one out in proper greeting towards Shinri. Do the handshakey thing. “Consider this my official hello, then. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kenmeina-san. As appropriate as it might be to return the sentiment regarding appearances, I doubt that I’ll be forgetting your name any time soon.”

Shinri eyed the hand presented to her for a moment before chuckling slightly and pulling a hand out her pocket to do the handshakey thing while she combed her fingers through her hair idly with the other. Shinri has like. A Very firm and strong handshake, so you know it’s a Proper Thing.

“I’m glad I’ve earned your respect, and enough so for you to remember my name.” She teases lightly, “In that case, I’ll make double the effort to remember and save my compliments for situational circumstances.”

Dropping the handshake, Shinri starts glancing around their surroundings.More importantly the people and Shinri internally agreed that despite Sachiko’s little princess fit, Her reaction was probably Shinri’s favourite to think about. 

Apparently she was not as alone with her vocal thoughts as she’d expected. Sparing Shinri a glance as well, she found herself vaguely annoyed by the notion that her expectations for the day had been too high. It wasn’t like she had expected to be treated like a princess (though that would have been lovely!). But maybe the shorter woman had a point. She shouldn’t have expected that they wouldn’t get kidnapped and talked at by some teddy bear. She shouldn’t have expected that things wouldn’t get knocked off course the way they had. She really shouldn’t have expected that the entrance ceremony wouldn’t be as normal as possible. But with all the things she apparently shouldn’t be annoyed about, the one she wasn’t immediately expecting was to be called ‘hat girl’. Without taking her eyes off of Shinri, Sachiko smoothly swiped the hat off of her own head and recrossed her arms, holding its edge pinched firmly between two fingers.

“Do forgive my egregious mistake of expecting that things would have gone more smoothly today.”

 Hm, it almost sounded like she didn’t exactly mean any of that! And seriously, hat girl?! Keiko had a WAY more hatty hat than her own hat. Sighing softly, her expression softened a little bit to be like, less aggressive, which is kind of what the situation called for instead. Remember, trust your classmates, or whatever. If they were going to be stuck, it didn’t make much sense to get all abrasive with them like that. (Yet.) (Although if Shinri kept going down the path of Hat Girl that was probably gonna go out the window REAL fast.)

“Sorry. Guess this whole ordeal is just throwing me for a bit of a loop. I’m Sachiko Tsujiguchi, not ‘hat girl’.” And you might be?”

Shinri was awestruck with the swiftness of the passive-aggressive action of the other. It wasn’t well displayed other than Shinri’s eyes widening ever so slightly before her expression fell to a casual smirk. 

“Heh, I’m just saying sulking isn’t getting you anywhere. Suck it up and talk about.” Shinri rolls her shoulders and idly shifts her weight. 

To say it had been a bit of a whirlwind day would be sort of like saying that a tornado was just a strong wind. Technically not incorrect, but goodness only knows it’d be a lot more accurate to say something else. Like, perhaps, one could say it had been a disappointment. Sachiko had been expecting much more… professional than what she’d gotten out of the experience thus far. It was a little odd how easy it was to take what was clearly a joke like this so seriously. Really, the morning had started about as normally as it could, all things considered. And then, the whole, ‘very strongly prompted to log out urgently’ thing happened which she complied with, she ‘woke up’ to find she wasn’t where she’d started, she’d kind of been like ‘yeah sure why not I guess this is happening’ and logged back in, her demeanor not having changed much except for perhaps seeming just a bit more skeptical. The same bear - Shirokuma - had kept talking at her, or rather at them. The part about not trusting the man they would meet ‘soon enough’ was the icing on the cake.

Really, the whole ordeal just felt unprofessional.

Regardless, none of this would even begin to shake such an immaculate businesswoman as Sachiko Tsujiguchi. Someone of her caliber was completely unshakable, even by the most turbulent of events such as these. There was no doubt about it. The words of a virtual talking teddy bear and what was probably either a really shitty orientation prank or a kidnapping didn’t mean anything. The whole situation was weird, sure, and more than a little uncomfortable, yeah, but the best businesswoman is able to keep her head in any situation. She’d been more stressed by particularly hectic work days, and that wasn’t saying much. Even with the vague threat of possibly going through hell, the part about having to trust each other seemed a little… unnecessary. Classmates tolerating each other and cooperating when absolutely necessary was kind of a given. So that was sort of whatever, she reckoned. After a bit, Sachiko finally found the time to stop simply observing the general reactions and air her own grievances with the state of things, to no one in particular.

“This is not the first day I was expecting.”

But Shinri relished in it. She was still rather happy with her appearance and had no problems with trying to trust people or getting people to trust her at the very least. Having spent some time just wondering around and observing people, she overheard the taller lady’s concerns. 

“Uh, Hat Girl-” Shinri announce rather loudly with a nonchalant glance, “it could be worse you know? Maybe you should have not had any expectations for this day and you woulda spared yourself the disappointment.” 

Art is a little bit delayed, so for now we are releasing a text version of the roster until later tonight!!

Lucian Ravenholme, SHSL Vampire Scholar

Yuki Aisaka, SHSL Actress

Osamu Kokkaku, SHSL Waiter

François Dupuis, SHSL Tailor

Suu, SHSL Fixer

Keiko Nanako, SHSL Hematologist

Emiko Sato, SHSL Theatrical Makeup Artist

Ochako Senchamoto, SHSL Human Resources Agent

Sasaki, SHSL Informant

Michi Kishi, SHSL Super Idol

Seiichi Sasaki, SHSL Zoologist

Nao Morita, SHSL Poet

Reina Kotohiki, SHSL Violinist

Sachiko Tsujiguchi, SHSL Chocolatier

Matsuo Krupin, SHSL Foilist

Hoshimi Abe, SHSL Debunker

Yoshiro Watanabe, SHSL Emergency First Aid Expert

Shinri Kenmeina, SHSL Behavioural Psychologist

Barako Sekisei, SHSL Translator