match made in hell

KAGOME SETSUKO HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY… COMMENCING EXECUTION

When he mentioned death from falling over, Yasue kept silent. There was no reason to compare it to earlier, especially because of how silly it sounded when said out loud. “Do you think so?” She put a finger to her lips, thinking. “I think the number of apologies someone should give depends on the person. Now, if someone was rudely unapologetic, that would be a problem, yes?”

"Weeeeell. You never really know...how many apologies the other person wants...and...you're probably gonna accidentally do worse things to them...in the future. So you might as well get started, right?" Oddly well reasoned, at least for him. "Maybe if you're lucky...you can end your life with a sorry surplus...which is like...a requirement for...Zen-ness, I'm positive."

At this point, she didn’t want to get stuck in a boring loop of ‘right’ for eternity. How boring would that be? Wait, did he say he wanted to speak with her? Okay, he didn’t really say that exactly, but it was half implied. Manami just got awkward vibes from this guy, but it’s not like she hasn’t seen a million other people like that before. "How about we talk about…murder? What do you think of it? Killing…?"

"...I don't...think?" That seemed like an appropriate response to killing is kind of, even though he probably didn't mean to abort the sentence like that. Maybe he really didn't, and there was nothing in his head cavity but a slowly burning match.

After feeling like she had gotten the details of his position down, she approached him. As always, it took her a minute to actually say something. "Right?" Manami echoed questioningly, a look of rather mild confusion on her face.

...Oh, wait, there was somebody there. How long had she been there, anyway. "...Right?" They were going to get trapped in this questioning loop forever. "R...yeah, like. Uh. I don't know, I was just kinda, uhhh, talking to. Myself. But I could talk to you...too?"

With how long she kept her hand outstretched she was beginning to think he was kind of an airhead. It wasn’t bad, no, it was actually kind of endearing. It made her worry for him, though, almost in some sort of motherly way. Was that even possible for someone who could be older than her? Oh, that was besides the point! 

Yasue’s guess was correct - the boy was indeed Nagata Mizuki. She sighed inwardly, relieved, but was soon confused by his next statement. “The matchmaker who isn’t?” she echoed. Did he not like his talent? Pairing compatible people up with each other, she thought, was a noble cause. Or did he mean to have some air of dramatics, slyly keeping his talent on the down-low?

"The matchmaker who isn't," he repeated in his usual slow way. There was a very real possibility of her parroting him again, and then him parroting her again, and then them staying right there forever until the body discovery came up or something. "You, know, like...it's different. It's a different thing. It's...the actual...fwoosh...burning stuff...kind." This was coming from a person who had actively planned out how they were going to introduce their talent to people. In a lazier universe he might have just left it at that so everyone could languish in ignorance forever until someone asked him to set them up with the person across the hall.

"And no one can ever apologize too much. That's...a rule for me. I don't think...people apologize enough. And especially...when they get in the way. Like, someone could have fallen down and just died because...that's what happens sometimes when people fall down." If you live in a murder meme, maybe. Or possibly this game, because it was starting to look like none of these weenies were capable of killing something more struggly than a housefly.

Oh, wait, he was moving again. False alarm. She approached him, looking over his body as he was muttering. “Excuse me, are you all right?” she asked and offered a hand out for him to grab. If a person was down, it was only sensible to help them up. Otherwise the guy would serve to trip others, and then it would be an unfortunate pile of clumsy people, all falling over each other. (Or at least she hoped that not everyone here was a total klutz.) “I underestimated my ability to topple people over, huh? Here. Let me help you up, er…”

Now what was his name? She hadn’t gotten the chance to really get into introductions, but she was sure she’d seen him around even before Monogoose appeared. The name was on the tip of her tongue…! “Ah! Nagata-san, right?”

"A lot of people underestimate...that ability. We never really know our knocking over powers...until we knock someone over...and bad stuff happens." His smile slightly widened at the recognition of his own name, but it was a nervous smile because he still had no idea who this one was. Name recognition was the worst, especially when everyone had fancy cool talents and weird colored hair and it was hard to differentiate anyone on purpose.

After staring at the hand vaguely for a few seconds, a metaphorical lightbulb finally appeared over his head and he grabbed the hand and he hauled himself to his feet in a really awkward flurry of stick limbs. Aha. Okay. Feet regained. That wasn't so bad.

It was probably a relief that Yasue’s neighbors couldn’t hear the noises she was making as she practiced, her mind shifting from the last beat of Downward Boulevard to Undo's starting drum segments. The motions were fluid, as always - and she was grateful for the chance to practice, even despite all that had occurred. In fact, it was drumming that Yasue threw herself into when they'd all been accosted by that troublesome snake. It was no arcade, and the set was no Densetsu no Taiko machine, but it would do.

Midway through Undo, however, she stopped abruptly, the cymbal’s noise fading back into silence. The song just wasn’t a song without the other instruments, and to say nothing about the vocals. She stood up, put her drumsticks on the table, and gave a passing glance to the framed picture as she sat back down on the bed. She really hadn’t given the idea much thought. Self-betterment through murder… it went against all she’d believed in! Was this really Hope’s Peak? No, she’d already decided it wasn’t. Such a prestigious school couldn’t get away with this. Now, the only question was who exactly had kidnapped them.

Yasue decided she’d go on a walk then, simply because she needed some fresh air and ample time to think. She gently opened the door and stepped out, closing it behind her. The pink velvet floors were still marvelous, she’d give them that… ah! That was another thought to keep her occupied. Why go through all the trouble to—

She bumped into someone. 

The clumsy as hell part was only forcibly remembered when Mizuki walked past on the way to his room at an angle, and promptly went sprawling on the carpet as if he'd never heard of background sound or peripheral vision. It could have been the tiniest bump in the world and still he was knocked bizarrely-off balance like a soccer player trying to get a penalty kick even though the other person hadn't even touched him. There he rested, like roadkill. Man down. Body has been discovered. Set up the klaxons, this time, it's YOUR fault.

He was not actually dead. After a second he rolled over onto his stomach and blinked a few times at the ceiling like he wasn't entirely sure how he'd gotten down there. "...Hnnn...? Oh, uh...fine...fine..."

And she did not like it. Stepping back a tiny bit, it didn’t seem like she was afraid of commenting about it. 

"You’re in my.. personal space."

After backing up, she fixed her collar and cleared her throat, all which took a good few moments. It was painfully obviously that Setsuko wasn’t one to rush around, even with the simplest of things. It will definitely be a few seconds before Mizuki gets an actual answer to that decent-sized line of questions. Of all people he could have asked, he picked the one with the worst attention span. 

Bad Decisions 1 / Mizuki 0.

"I’m.. not sure. I want to go home."

Well, that was probably the same for a lot of people there. Sure, the place was nice, but it was kind of a drag. Then again, it wasn’t like home was that nice either. What a shame, right? The way she talked was also slow, no, extremely slow. It was probably a bit annoying to follow along with, but like before, she didn’t seem to feel the need to make haste anytime soon.

”..I’m.. Kagome Setsuko. Super High School Level.. Lyricist.. I don’t know where.. I’m going.”

"...Uh. Sorry? I didn't mean it, uh." Okay, so apparently that distance was where the line was drawn. At least in this place. It was probably different for everybody. People were he lived had much closer boundaries, as far as he was concerned. And they all moved faster. At least that was more of a similarity between them...they could both be slow questionable turtle people together. Wink wink.

"...Kagome Kagome Kagome Setsuko. Oh!" He hadn't heard the name before, but at least it wasn't going to slide out of his head in the next thirty seconds, at the word Lyricist had piqued his interest. He liked lyrics, especially the incomprehensible ones that he could only flail several seconds after when he tried to sing along. She didn't seem like a kind of foreign person that did foreign songs, though. "That's okay...I don't know where I'm going either. I feel like I've passed the same statue...like...five times."

The floor was cool and kinda comfortable. Other than the whole, falling over thing this was nice. But he couldn’t lay here all day.

Tamashi sat up and faced Mizuki. “Oh! Hi! You’re um…” Tamashi thought for a moment. Did he know this guy? The voice sounded familiar but he couldn’t really see him without his glasses. “O-One sec…” Tamashi felt around on the floor for a bit, his hand touching the metal frame. “A-Ah!” Ghosty picked it up and place in on his face, pushing them into position on the bridge of his nose. Now he could see who he knocked over. 

"O-Oh! It’s you! We met in the kitchen, right?" Did he even know this guys name? After consulting the MSPARP log, No. He didn’t. Infact, He didn’t know the others talent. It was probably cool. 

"...Mmhm, kitchen. I didn't really say a lot, though, so...uh...you know, introducing yourself is kind of hard sometimes. But then you get over it. ...Mizuki...Nagata. I'm a Matchmaker. It's...wait." He did an awkward, clumsy half-bow from his sitting position, practically headbutting his own crotch from how low he bent. Showing respect to all potential friends was important. Too bad he was so focused on not making an idiot of himself with his introduction that he forgot to repeat Tamashi's name and now it was lost to the aether forever. Maybe he'd just always be cool guy. It wasn't that bad of a nickname. Better than Spooky-scary-kun or something. Not only that, but he had been making such a big deal of correcting himself on the matchmaker thing before, and now he'd forgotten that too. He was just misrepresenting himself all over the place today.

That was… 

Uh…

How would Tamashi put it? It wasn’t necessarily troubling but it was more… worrying? Mostly due to the fact that he had none of his memories that Monogoose was so sure that they would have. By the looks of everyone else, Tamashi could say that everyone was in the same boat as he was. But why? Why was it all like this? Who knew.

On the other hand, Look at this castle. It’s amazing, really. Tamashi has never been to a castle but always wanted to go to one. Sadly, These aren’t ideal circumstances. But atleast Monogoose proved not to be a threat… For now, atleast. 

When Monogoose left, Tamashi made his way to the stairs, up to the second floor. On the second floor, The boy game across a group of rooms, Each one labeled a different name. Guess this was where they were gonna be staying? Tamashi located his own and pushed the door open. 

Wow.

It was all too much for Tamashi to take in. It was… It was amazing. Everything. The ghost whisperer walked over to his desk and pocketed the pen and paper. Never know when these would come in handy. He also pocketed a couple candies. Hell yeah. Next he made his way over to the bookcase and looked over it. Well, Atleast he won’t be bored. Tamashi pulled one out a skimmed through it before nodding, Deciding that it would work.

He'd been giving himself a little pep-talk all the way up the stairs, and by the time he'd reached the landing with all the rooms and started prowling around looking for his, his usual lazy smile had come back and he seemed ready to take any obstacle head-on. Or at least get knocked over by the obstacle and congratulate it for one-upping him, because we couldn't all be ninjas.

Since it was just reasonable to check out the names on the rooms in ascending order, even if some people had to end up getting the next-to-last room, he prowled closer to the doors than he probably should, reading the names out loud to himself as he went. ...Well, he assumed he was reading them right, there didn't seem to be anyone around to correct him or anyth--

..What on earth was that.

Self-betterment program?.. Did she ever sign up for such a thing? Sure, she had her problems.. but was something like this.. well, necessary? Who knows what her past-self has done. For all she knew, she could’ve signed up as some test subject in a lab and she wouldn’t remember it even today. Maybe that’s why she’s always zoned out.. she should find the antido-

Oh.

Blinking her dark eyes, that robot was gone.. Was this some game of hide-and-seek? How peculiar. What did she even make of all this? Even she didn’t know.. maybe later everything will kick in, but for now, she just stood there perfectly still. Of course, besides her picking at her sweater subconsciously. Maybe a nervous tick, even though she seemed perfectly calm, perhaps even.. asleep. 

Looking around, there still seemed to be quite a few people around.. she wondered what they were like. Instead of actually approaching them, she stood at the sidelines, watching. Waiting for someone to maybe strike up a conversation with her. Of course, there probably wasn’t much chance of that happening, with people either being too distracted to care or too nervous, which it was a good division between the two.

Since the mongoose was kind of creeping him out, though, and he didn't feel like sleepily trying to collect everyone's names only to lose them again, he shuffled as surreptitiously as possible away from the group (while his jacket made loud skkkrtch sounds whenever he moved) and off in that same direction he'd seen the other girl go. That meant...up to the stairs! Ridiculously huge stairs, but fancy--he almost felt like whatever he touched would get dirty.

"Um--um!" He called out, the second time much louder--he had to act like he was purposely trying to get her attention, after all, and only switch to some kind of clearing-his-throat maneuver if she flat-out ignored him. Which...could happen, and happened pretty often, he probably just wasn't loud enough, it was fine.

Next, he calls Kazeno’s hair a fluffy mushroom and… oh. How does he respond? Is his hair really a mushroom? Is it?? It’s fluffy, and like a messy mushroom… maybe?? He makes some kind of weird distressed face and the only thing that he can add to that is a “Oh, ha ha. Yeah, I guess.”

His face looks even more distressed when Mizuki runs his hand through Kazeno’s hair. Ah… this was like an invasion of his personal space. But whatever, he just decides to say nothing because… fine, he can run his hand through Kazeno’s hair. Whatever.

"Thanks? and yeah, I guess I can see why it might feel like a rug.

But do you mean that… someone would fall asleep on my hair?”

"No, I mean like...I...well, it's not that big, so...unless you laid down and someone else curled up really, really tiny..." He made a vague gesture with one hand to demonstrate really really tiny-ness, because it was such an alien concept, of course. "...Eventually, maybe...sleeping on...but the texture would...okay, uh, ignore that."

He was really trying his best to make friends, okay. His dad had given him this whole talk about not being weird but he could barely remember the particulars anymore. There was the whole 'don't be weird' thing, but that was terrible advice just by itself! How could one stop, the weirdness was infinite and inevitable and that was horribly vague anyway. He had a feeling he was doing the whole thing wrong.

"Uh… thanks…"

He didn’t know how to respond to this. Was he thanking him for tying the balloon on his wrist..? He guessed so… it’s not like he really wanted the beaver-looking balloon in the first place.

Now that his Mizuki’s hair is sticking up, Kazeno just decides to not tell him about it.

"Yeah, I feel. I like havin’ my hair long… I mean, it’s not as long as yours…”

"No hair is as long as mine," he says with a slow grin, tugging at a strand that was dividing his face in half. "...Okay, well, that's...that's an exaggeration, but it's still pretty long. Maybe one day...I will get the world record for longness...but...that day is not today." You keep telling yourself that, Mizuki. As if someone cares. "Your hair just kind of makes you look like...a fluffy mushroom."

Showcasing the kind of overwhelming tact that he was known for, he stretches out a hand and runs his fingers through Kazeno's hair too, because god damn that did look fluffy. Mizuki's hair couldn't be rightfully called fluffy unless it was humid and it practically turned into an afro, it was just too heavy, and he was so jealous.

Well anyway, he awkwardly takes the balloon and stares at the string in his hand… and then at the balloon.

"Dunno. Looks like a dog or somethin’, I mean… maybe it’s a cat? A beaver..?"

Well, he’s probably not going to be guessing what it looks like anytime soon, given that it’s a really obscure animal.

Next, he looks at the balloons and sees that Mizuki’s hair gets caught in it, so he simply just points to it and says something.

"Your… hair is caught on one of the balloons, pal."

"Beaver...?" Mizuki stared at the balloon for a second before shrugging and knotting the string around the other dude's wrist, just so the balloon couldn't get away. Obviously volunteering his stupid animal guess meant he was all about this helium-filled life. "Okay, well, it's definitely not a bird...wh...huh?"

"Yeah, yeah, it’s cool. Whatever. No proooblem… You can stop apologizing.”

Geez, this guy apologized a lot. Whatever. It was all cool.

He arches his eyebrow when Mizuki reaches for the balloon, and then lowers it when he holds it out towards him. He stares at it with a blank face and then points to himself like he’s saying ‘are you giving this to me?’

"Uhhh…"

Luckily neither of them lived in a world like that, right. "Okay, okay, I'll stop, I already stopped. ...But just so you know...if you tell people that, then...the first thing they're gonna wanna do is...apologize, again." He nodded solemnly and flipped his hair out of his face for the umpteenth time, only succeeding in getting one lock to static cling to one of the balloons hovering behind him. He looked fucking ridiculous.