SHSL Gamemaster

"Hey, whoa, what happened? Don’t brush it off, you lie and that’s a yellow card offense, got it? We’ve had enough of that shit go around anyway. If you ask me it’s about time we had some goddamn honesty…" a look of realization dawns in her eyes and she furrows her brows. If that guy is at it again lord have mercy…

"Is it Gacchiri? Because if he threatened you I’ll mow his fucking ass. I should kill him, honestly… I mean, not literally but ‘beat the ever living shit out of’ for sure. Or no, is that fucking sad excuse of a pot of pork jelly? Ohhh boy I’m gonna wreck his shit. I can’t believe that guy strung us along for so goddamn long, oh the things I’m gonna do when I get the chance… I have a few choice words in mind for both of those shitheads…" she thrusts one fist into an open palm as if to further indicate that she, in truth, has few words for the two of them but has plenty of wrestling moves she’d like to perform instead.

Well she has to let Kaoru answer for herself at some point so she huffs out a breath of air and looks back at the mortuary door. Right, Kaoru had asked about that, hadn’t she? She’d almost gotten so damn pissed about it she’d forgotten. Or barely heard in the first place, more accurately.

She shook her head as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "N-no Gacchiri-san hasn't done anything to me. I uh spoke to him in the library in fact... I think he wants to fight against Tsuji-san now." When she mentioned his name Kaoru glanced towards the lights, biting her lip.  "I-I don't know though maybe he's trying to trick us..."

She wrung her hands together. "I-it was Tsuji-san though... I... I mean he's been awful to me but he threatened you when he was speaking to Gacchiri-san and I in the library." She closed her eyes. "I'm glad you're okay...!" If Shinobu hadn't been okay Kaoru wasn't sure what she'd do.

Kaoru managed a kind smile, if it was a little strained. "Don't say bad things about yourself Shinobi-chan you're very clever I think." After all, being brash didn't mean Shinobu wasn't smart. She was just.. Action oriented. "Maybe we could work some stuff out together... I've found out some useful things..." 

And she’d been three seconds from defending him.

Oh the lords above had some stupid sense of goddamn humour. That corporate prick was going to kill not one person but two. And then the very person who’d convinced her to maybe try to forgive Yoshiro… had turned out to be a computer screen. And also evil. And a humongous dick.

What a fucking joke. Shinsuke Tsujii and Hayate Gacchiri were both lumps of trash and on top of that, Yoshiro Kimura had still killed Himeko. Whatever Valu did it wasn’t exactly legal and Fumiko had constantly skirted the line of the rules and had even been threatened. It was a hard thing, knowing how to treat people. Back on… well, back on Earth, back in those days it was different. She had friends, sure, but a lot of people found her annoying and egocentric. They were hardly wrong. But she could still kind of work with those people. These guys? Well… she had to but could she? Shinobu frowns. She’d have to make it work. Though she had no intention of going easy on Hayate if he had the poor sense to enter her line of vision.

Still standing around thinking of violent manuevers she’d like to perform on people would do her no good so she went off exploring. One place in partiular caught her eye despite it being rather grotesque in nature. The mortuary. She ad a feeling she just had to know what was in there. Better the truth than living in ignorance any longer.

She’d seen a lot of bodies at this point. Horrific bodies. Brain tissue missing, heads caved in, artificial limbs detached… honestly she’d always had a strong stomach from horror movies anyway and when shit needed to get done she was going to get it down. Shinobu enters the mortuary and glances around. The smell chokes her, fills her lungs with stale sickliness that makes her mouth tighten. She throws off the tarps and looks at the bodies which are god… riddled with bullets and then some. They’re all adults… who were these guys? The staff? Is this Shitsuke’s doing again? God, she can’t wait to wreck his ass. She cricks her neck to the side and gives the room one last once over before leaving. That ain’t any place for anybody with a pulse. It’s as she’s leaning on the wall outside the room she sees a passerby and lifts a hand in greeting. It’s hard to see who it is from here.

 People like the bullies in school with awful names and hair pulling. People like her father with his scathing words and terrifying punishments. People like Shinsuke who had locked them all in this nightmare. 

They were all awful people who hurt others. They were bad guys, villains.

So what did it say about Kaoru now that she had threatened Shinsuke?

 Kaoru wandered the halls of the station lost in her own thoughts. She wasn't even aware really of where she was going. She just kept going over the situation in her head again and again and again.

Yes, Shinsuke had threatened someone very important to her. He had threatened Shinobu. Amazing brash Shinobu. Kaoru had felt her panic turn to seething anger and she shouted something she really wished she hadn't. She didn't want to be like the bad people in her life.

But she had said it hadn't she?

But she had been defending Shinobu...

But Shinobu hadn't been there and the threat wasn't physically made, just said. 

But Shinsuke controlled the whole station now so who knew what he could do?

So lost in thought was she that Kaoru only noticed Shinobu after she had finished speaking.

The Gamemaster looked up as she was pulled out of her thoughts. "Shinobu-chan..." And suddenly Kaoru had locked Shinobu in a tight hug, eyes shut tight. She was safe, she was okay...

Kaoru frowned. She hadn't thought about what could have happened to her family. Mika had been kidnapped, supposedly, for that one motive but...

"Communitie Corp. is what? Bankrupt? Disbanded?" he scoffs, "I’ve… Been prepared for such an inevitability." he closes his eyes, having hesitated for just a moment, "But I am Gacchiri Hayate. If there is anyone capable of reviving it, it is I."

In a way that he thinks is sneaky even though it definitely isn’t, he dims the lights. Just a little. Only enough for her to notice.

"Nuh uh, Gacchiri. My lips are sealed. You’re gettin’ nothin’ else outta me!" He plays a soundclip of a zipper over the speaker for added effect, because he’s hilarious like that. 

"I'd find a way..." She muttered, taking a breath. Honestly though it was likely a threat that would remain unfulfilled. How exactly could she put a consciousness back in a dead body? "... I'll delete you forever and ever at the very least if you hurt Shinobu-chan." That threat lacked the same... Oomph but it was also less violent and took away some of the bad taste in her mouth.

He would find something else. Of course he would. He was fucking smart, excellent at countless things. “Yeah, no shit,” he replies flippantly at her tiny retort. Wow, it was as if he could not glean that information himself. Thank you for the obvious, Kaoru. 

"A LIKELY FUCKIN’ STORY!!" he thunders, intentionally being loud, almost loud enough to shake the walls of the hallway. Though… that’s a bit cheap too, really. He knows she’ll flinch if he raises his voice. Let’s switch gears.

She did indeed flinch when his voice raised, bringing her hands up towards her face, muttering sorry a few times. She almost didn't register the words escaping from her lips. 

When his voice lowers her hands lower too revealing large eyes as she stared at the nearest  speaker. 

What did she think was going on? She had a few ideas...

"... You weren't supposed to be here." She answers in case he'll turn the lights off again. "You and at least two others... You were sick and they were researching a cure here.." At least she's fairly certain that's why Shinsuke came.

He shakes his head at Kaoru’s suggestion slightly, “Oh, there’s no point in that. He’s certainly well aware that each and every one of us are less than thrilled by his actions…” he notes, flipping his notebook to a fresh page and placing a bookmark in the textbook he’d been reading.

"That said, I assure you, this is no laughing matter. I am quite serious. A businessman keeps his word, and my skill as such is far superior to that of subterfuge. I’d been aware you’d hear, but allow me to demonstrate my resolve."

But with Kaoru’s reactions becoming stale, he turns his attention to Hayate now, he of the big ol not so humble brag. Good fuckin’ god, was this guy serious? Hayate proceeds to then say that he’s very serious, and it’s all Shinsuke can do to stop himself from lapsing back into peals of laughter. 

But threaten a soccer loving girl that she immensely cared about? Kaoru drew the line there.

At Shinsuke's threat Kaoru stood up so violently that her chair fall backwards with a loud clatter. "Don't you DARE!" She yelled, slamming her hands down on the table in front of her. Fear was still in her eyes but it mixed with anger now. "Don't you dare hurt Shinobu-chan! I don't care what you do to me but if you hurt Shinobu-chan I'll I'll..." She took a breath. "I'll stick you back in your body and shove you out the airlock." She hissed, hands tightening into fists.

Still, as angry as she was, as awful as Shinsuke was, Kaoru was shaking like a leaf over her outburst. Not in fear of Shinsuke's reaction but just from her own outburst. She didn't often respond in anger and it left a bad taste in her mouth.

But this was the person who had caused them all so much misery. This was the person who had backed them into corners again and again until someone snapped and people lay dead. This was the person who had killed Kaoru's friends.

He was her friend.

"... I think lots of people got very sick." She shuffled uncomfortably. "But I'm not sure... I have to read more and put my thoughts on paper..." She waved at the air around her head. "Right now it's all just a jumble. I'm surprised I could tell up from down well enough to get into the tree house..." 

"Holy shit, I didn’t think you’d actually say it. What a nice surprise. Thanks! I’ll remember that if I ever decide to tear the rest of you SHITTY FLESHBOMBS limb from limb! Maybe I’ll let you go first, even!" The smirk in his voice is almost palpable. 

But she didn't feel like she was trapped anymore or like she couldn't breath. She wasn't quite sure if she could stand up just yet however... 

Kaoru flinched when he yelled, closing her eyes again. "I-I needed the lights back on..." She whimpered in weak protest. She had to have the lights on...

She blinked. What had she been doing again? She couldn't quite remember...

"Holy fuck, you…" There’s a pause, and then a muffled "oh goddamnit" as the speaker buzzes slightly. Then another sentence that sounds almost like "okay better" before he clears his throat, still a little winded from laughing at how stupid the two of them are and totally not embarrassed that he just laughed loudly all over the entire space station.

"But yeah, Gacchiri, you got me good, man! With jokes like that, you should’ve been the Super High School Level Comedian! Oh Christ, what a kneeslapper that was!" He plays a recording of, sure enough, someone slapping their knee. He’s hilarious, he knows, you don’t have to tell him. "Hoo boy, wow… really, though, buddy, I’d work on that comedy act a bit more, since your career as a mole didn’t quite work out. Super shitty scapegoat, bro." 

Both the suddenness of it and the that it was Shinsuke made Kaoru flinch horribly and clench her hands, She half expected the lights to go out.  

…. He speaks volumes about the…. volumes… Quite a bit, for the first time since the trial, and with no apparent provocation other than Kaoru’s query. He reaches to the side of one of the stacks of books, revealing a glass of water from which he takes a long drink. “… And anything relevant that I’ve been able to find regarding the station itself.”

"You're researching the station then...?" Kaoru asked, glancing back at her own papers. Did she trust Hayate?

Aaaaaaaaaaand there it is! Oh man, oh gods, this is great. C’mon, that little, admittedly decidedly not cool, giggle was totally enough warning for what happened next! Jeez, Kaoru, get your shit together! 

He watches, with his special eyes, as panic begins to set in for the DM, and though he doesn’t broadcast it (yet), his snickers have turned into straight up guffaws aimed directly at Kaoru. Shinsuke, you prick. He’s so absorbed in laughing that her words take him by surprise. 

Her eyes tightly shut, as if that somehow kept the darkness away, Kaoru chewed at her lip as her heart pounded in her chest. Was she really going to respond like that hell yeah she was it was dark and it was scary and she needed those lights on now. Everything was pressing in on her tighter and tighter and she couldn't breath!

"P-pretty please w-with sugar on t-t-top Tsujii-s-sama...!" Kaoru called out, voice trembling as she sloooowly slid down the wall. "J-just turn the l-lights on I'm sorry...!" The apology was practically a reflex from childhood.

With that, a cup of coffee that was now cold as ice (or the room’s ambient temperature, to be exact), was carefully moved aside to create space for the game master… While the gesture was that he wouldn’t be bothered by her presence, he’d apparently been paying so little attention that he hadn’t realized she’d already chosen a seat.

Call her paranoid, but after what happened to Pandora, Kaoru wasn't sure she wanted Shinsuke to know everything she was up to...

She glanced at Hayate's books, almost in awe of them. They didn't seem like easy reads.

"Irrelevant."

A single word had escaped his lips, with no tone in particular to back it besides a slight matter-of-fact-ness. It was rather cold, though speaken with no harshness… It was certainly as an answer to her question.

That was a good sign, right?

Kaoru tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She felt a little like a deer caught in the headlights. What did she do now?

Heck did she even need  to do anything? Hayate had been no friend of hers and after everything...

But maybe there was a side to this she didn't know. That none of them did,

Since the night of the trial, Gacchiri Hayate had become completely silent. To be specific, it had been the moment that those words had met his ears…

All is forgiven.

He’d looked almost shocked for a moment, his countenance growing blank quickly thereafter… Even the death and resurrection of Tsujii Shinsuke had scarce caught his attention, and even then only the corpse had drawn his interest. He’d spoken to none, and left the trial the moment he was given the chance.

Now he sat in the library, surrounded by a pile of textbooks and coffee that had long since cooled. The former was turned away from any cameras in the area, and he’d long lost interest in the latter. There was a strangely composed expression on his face, different from the professionalism he’d always wore before… Finding a word to describe it would be difficult apart from, perhaps, “intense”.

But today was not a time for leisurely reading. Kaoru just needed a space to look over the notes she had been gathering about the station and she was starting to feel cooped up in her room. Not to mention she felt like she was bothering Toshi...

However as she walked into the library, notes and folders clutched against her chest, Kaoru came to an abrupt stop as Hayate came into her view. 

"Oh..!" She squeaked softly, having not seen him since the trial. Instantly the story she had been told of what he had done, or tried to do, to Pandora and Yoshiro came to mind and Kaoru tightened her grip on her papers. 

Hayate had betrayed them. And had been willing to kill. 

What risk did he pose to them now?

"G-Gacchiri-san..." Kaoru spoke softly, slowly. Like she was walking on eggshells. "Um... Hello." Determined to be polite, even to him, she asked "How are you...?"

The place smelled musty and familiar, but he didnt focus on that. He had become astoundingly good at not remembering things when he didnt want to. This time, he didnt break the now repaired ladder. Nice!

Sitting up on the floor of the treehouse once he was up, he looked over at her carefully.

At various points since his earthly (spacely?) demise, he’s watched each of them in the aftermath, ranging anywhere from seconds to minutes to even hours, sometimes but rarely. And right now, he has his attention on Hayashi Kaoru. He’d only talked to her briefly outside of trials, but even with that little interaction, he had gleaned things about her, various tidbits of information.

As Kaoru stops in the hallway, hemming and hawing over which way to go, a short, clipped sound plays over the speakers, and in fact, Kaoru might even wonder if she’d imagined it. If she had heard it, it would have sounded almost like a giggle. 

But with the lights going out any coherent thought went with it.

"N-no..!" Panic bubbled in her chest as the dark pressed in around her making it hard to breath. With darkness came fear, panic, pain. 

But he had to be here. He needed to explore every last inch of this ship if he ever wanted to actually do something about their situation, and now of all times was driving him to do so. He was emotional, angry, all sorts of things, and he didnt like sitting alone in his room anymore now that he’d trashed it. 

The treehouse wasn’t where he planned on going at all.  The last time he’d been there, Yoshi had kicked him out  (literally) and then died that same night. When he passed it, though, he couldnt help but notice Kaoru’s presence. Stopping just under the entrance hole to look up at who was inside, his brows furrowed a bit. 

 "I was just..." Kaoru trailed off, chewing at her lip. She didn't quite like admitting she was hiding at a time like this. "Taking a break from my notes... I think I'm starting to understand why we were here but it's a little taxing right now..."