SHSL Librarian

Gather around, children,

It’s time for a little story.

There once was a boy who lived in a castle

A castle with walls made of bookshelves, of course!

He tended the castle like anyone would.

But one day, the boy went away

Into… a murder mystery?!

Oh no, oh no, skip ahead, skip ahead!

And he died happily never after…

[sᴛᴀʀʟɪɢʜᴛ | ᴀ sʜɪɴᴊɪ/ᴀʟᴘʜᴏɴsᴇ ᴍɪx]

1. run to you | pentatonix; 2. it hurts to say goodbye | vera lynn; 3. borrowed time | a fine frenzy; 4. when you love | sinead o’connor; 5. cosmic love | florence + the machine; 6. you are my sunshine | elizabeth mitchell; 7. yellow | coldplay; 8. lovers in japan | coldplay; 9. arms | christina perri; 10. counting stars | onerepublic

Trigger warning for very graphic visuals and descriptions; there’s a lot of blood, and a lot of gore, and implied torture. Again, think of Renee Petit from DA2W - it’s that level of gore.

so i got my best friend to look at Doubt Academy 3: Omega characters and tell me what she thinks. 

this is part three.

"I’m not drunk, dude. Just buzzed. I’m all set. C’mon, you saw how I fuckin’ steamrolled the other one. Let’s go."

For emphasis, she then tilted her shades down a bit, cocking and eyebrow at Shinji.

“‘Sides, does this look like the face of a girl who’s drunk? Didn’t think so. Keep walkin’, boy.”

Subconsciously, the librarian let his previously stern expression soften, and then turn amused when Ume peeked at him from over her shades. Shinji couldn't stop himself from grinning.

"Uh-huh. You just keep tellin' yourself that and then we'll see."

Eventually, they reached the portal. Shinji wasted no time in stepping onto it and setting it to the office block, and a few seconds later, once both of them had arrived, the librarian walked straight to the storage room.  

While he went inside, Shinji looked back at his companion.

She happened to look up after solving, seeing Fuyuu linger in the doorway before leaving. Ume shook her head slowly.

"Aye, boys. If I die? Daaamn good chance that fuckin’ psychopath did it, I swear to god. Bitch creeps me out.”

Ume shivered, illustrating the point, not quite grasping the fact that the situation could actually occur. One of the plus sides of alcohol. Shinji stood and addressed Ume, who glanced between Shinji and Naoki. She shrugged.

"Ain’t nothin’ better to do. Let’s go to that storage room, find the other puzzle, yeah? Prolly be a good idea."

She chuckled, stretching upward as she stood. She needed some coffee. But that would probably be the worst idea right now. Ume drank, yes, but not stupidly. She turned to Naoki.

"Sorry, man. Catch you some other time. I got puzzles to solve." She paused. "Wait, you like puns, right? I think you like puns. Hold up, I got one." She chuckled. "I’m about to solve some… buzzles. Like I’m buzzed?” She grinned broadly.

"That one prolly sucked ass. But whatever. I’m out."

By the time Ume was done speaking Shinji had long ago gotten tired of waiting, so he was already heading toward the exit of the bar when the girl finally turned to look at him, knowing the she would follow.

As they approached the portal that would transport them out of the entertainment block,  Shinji frowned again and gave her an inquisitve look upon realizing something.

"Y'sure you can handle solving a puzzle? Like... now? You're kinda drunk, man. Just sayin'."

"Yeah… I dunno how helpful Monomi will be, she hasn’t exactly proven herself yet, but… Eh."

She was a bit surprised when he spoke up next, looking a bit… Huh. Well, Ume supposed this guy was friendly enough. She smiled, but shook her head, pouring herself another drink and downing it.

"Nah, nah, I’m all good now, really. Better to get my mind off shit anyways, y’know? Shit, without this I’d probably already be cryin’ again." She chuckled, hints of bitterness tugging at her tone.

When there was trouble, he had always stood by and watched as he let everyone around him react, while he became a shadow in the background that nobody really noticed. And he was fine with that, really - he knew very well he was never meant to be someone sociable. It simply wasn't in his nature.

It was precisely because of this why Shinji chose to keep his head down and ignore the commotion happening by his side when Monomi showed up, then locked the cabinet containing the alcohol. He had been disappointed - and perhaps even angry, but he didn't think he could truly bother with any emotion that wasn't utter misery right at that moment - when they were denied access to the drinks, but luckily, Monomi had neglected to confiscate his own bottle of rum. Thank god for that...

Shinji capped the bottle while he watched Ume solve the puzzle, deciding not to drink it all in one go, and completely ignored the fact there was another boy currently exchanging words the record producer. He wasn't too interested in starting a conversation with someone who blatantly disliked him.

He now had nothing else to do at the bar (no, staring longingly at the locked cabinet didn't count), so Shinji stood up to leave, but not without turning to look at Ume and asking...

"Might as well before the alcohol hits me, right?" She chuckled.

She took some time to read it over. Ugh. Puzzles. Thinking. She looked away for a moment before downing another drink. She turned back to the puzzle.

"… You got a pencil and paper or something? Prolly just wanna write it out instead of just doing it in our heads. Least, I don’t wanna, ‘cuz it’s only a matter of time before I’m drunk."

Still, Ume scowled a bit. She didn’t want to do a puzzle now. She didn’t want to do anything. All Ume wanted to do was forget. Get blackout drunk, get Eli to take her to her room, and forget everything.

"Yeah, you're right. Trying to solve this shit without writing it down isn't gonna take us anywhere. I don't have a pen or anything, though... Maybe we could ask Monomi-san...?"

He paused to glance back at Ume, suddenly looking a little sympathetic.

"Ume Mori, SHSL Record Producer."

She exhaled slowly, adjusting her bangs before swishing the drink around in its glass.

"…Kinda hard to make smalltalk right now, huh?"

She almost showed a bitter, defeated grin, but tried to keep her face as straight as possible. Sure, the entire situation and everything about it was as shitty as can be. The ways it could get worse were limited at best. Was there hope left? Ume wasn’t sure. Maybe. She certainly hadn’t heard of any new and interesting ways to get out. She sighed before standing up and moving to the back of the bar to try to find some other sort of drink. Maybe another maui martini would be too much? She frowned.

"…The fuck is this?"

She stared at it - a puzzle? She placed it on the bar so both she and Shinji could read it, but not before grabbing another bottle of whatever he had (he looked like he was enjoying it!) and sitting back down. She left it, pausing for a second in silence before shrugging and mumbling a bit to herself.

...Whatever, he thought, abstentmindedly reading the label on the bottle (40% alcohol, the consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car, may cause health problems, blah, blah, blah), it's a little too late to start being responsible for once, isn't it...?

Her words were then followed by silence, during which he contemplated the possibility of continuing the conversation to get those grim thoughts out of his head, but as it turned out, Ume already had such thing in mind.

The librarian let out a soft snort, the corners of his lips twisting upwards into a bleak smile as he glanced at the girl.

"I think that's a bit of an understatement, Mori-san..."

When Ume returned with the puzzle, Shinji raised an eyebrow and focused his gaze upon it, examining the instructions for a minute before turning back to the record producer. 

Surf's up...? 

It was called a maui martini. Usually, at parties or things like that, she’d just end up having a few beers, or maybe even a glass of wine, something simple. The record producer, being underage, wasn’t a big partaker in mixed drinks. But when she did… Maui martinis. They gave the impression that you were on a wonderful, relaxing beach, unlike the beach in the animus, which had become a place of terror. No, Ume was relaxing on a lounge chair at sunset, vacationing in Hawaii after a long, successful tour.

Who was she kidding. She downed it and moved onto another.

Another boy walked in as Ume sipped on her current one. She moved her gaze from being fixed solidly at the bar to him. Looks like he had the same idea she did, evidenced by him immediately taking a big old drink. Ume turned back to the bar.

 He stared down at the bottle within the firm grasp of one of his bandaged hands, unsure of what to say. It wasn't until after he'd taken one more long sip of his drink and completely given up the idea of getting a proper glass that Shinji finally spoke.

"I'm..."

It was clear the librarian wasn't all that eager to talk when there was a bottle of alcohol waiting to be emptied, but it was true talking to someone could serve as an additional distraction, so he'd have to try welcoming the conversation with open arms.

By the time Asuka Tsukamoto had been reduced to a bloody corpse, Shinji was already long gone -  another death was perhaps the last thing the librarian needed to witness.

Indeed, he most certainly did not have a reason to stay any longer than it was strictly necessary. He hadn’t known either of the girls, and even if he wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about the fact two more classmates had been killed, remaining in his podium and mourning the deaths of people he had no ties to would be a waste of time. Shinji concluded dwelling on it would do him far more harm than good. 

He’d slept quite splendidly prior to the dreaded murder announcement, as Alphonse company had been… pleasant, he supposed, but Shinji still found himself feeling as if he’d never had even a wink of sleep in his entire life. And honestly, he didn’t think he would be able to do so with a billion thoughts plaguing his mind all at once: what if I’m next? Is someone planning to kill me right now? Could the next few days be my last ones…?

NO! Just… stop thinking about that, goddammit! 

Almost on auto-pilot, Shinji hurriedly made his way through the portal block and checked the maps in a desperate attempt to distract himself. He had a hard time reading anything - he felt nauseous and his hands were trembling, as they’d always been, from the moment Eikichi had turned into the first victim of Monobear’s game -, but eventually, he spotted something in particular that he didn’t remember being there before.

Right there, just by the restaurant… A library? No, he didn’t need it, not now…

Ah, yes. There it was…

Once at the bar, Shinji went behind the counter and reached for the first bottle he laid his eyes upon after briefly acknowledging the girl already in there with a glance. Turning his attention back to the drink, he eyed the label uneasily, as if hesitating…

"Get me out of here!"

…Nope. Old habits die hard.

MAPS HAVE BEEN UPDATED!

Note: Due to some confusion during the previous week, all of the Office Block and Entertainment Block room descriptions have changed. Please be sure to read those for the correct ones!

TARTARUS - PORTAL BLOCK view larger map here

It seems that more of the portraits on the columns have marks through them… How sad.

TARTARUS - OFFICE BLOCK view larger map here

Welcome to the Office Block. Though Tartarus is your eternal paradise, you are still expected to work and earn your keep. It is here that you may assist the others in maintaining the mainframe in order to keep Tartarus functional.

Click HERE to view detailed map descriptions.

TARTARUS - ENTERTAINMENT BLOCK view larger map here

Welcome to the Entertainment Block. Everything in this area is connected - a nod to the way various types of arts and entertainment intertwine, creating the stars that shine bright for us all.