春川 魔姫

Okay Zeed….you are being threaten by a dangerous yet still rather cute girl. You have the martial arts skill of soft tofu and you just got a knife pointed toward you….what do you do?

“Okay i know i surprise you a little but do you have to pull a knife on me? You do this to every stranger who bump into you by accident?”

When safest bet just to play it casual. Zeed experience with conning people tell him nervousness or being WAYYY to friendly to this stranger do nothing but arouse suspicious from her. Best to play it cool as Zeed observe her a little….

Something about her remind him of a old friend.

“If i throw away my wooden sword can we at least slow down and talk a little? It’s a wooden knifes but in the right hands it can still kick my skinny ass. I’m not looking to get my ass kicked today.”

    “.. Whatever.” Maybe it was an accident and perhaps whipping out the knife wasn’t the best idea. She had confidence in her strength and skills as an assassin, but she couldn’t predict the true power of whoever she was facing. It was best not to make foolish actions she could regret later.

    “Fine. Sorry. I won’t throw this away, though.” With that, she retracted the knife and brought it back closer to her person. “It was instinct. I’m not foolish enough to wander around these streets empty handed. You never know what you might come across. That’s the reason you have that wooden sword too, right?” She wasn’t looking for a fight, but protection was a fine word to use.

“Harukawa-san…” Where did that suddenly come from? It really surprised Kaede, that this still was on Makis mind… Was she feeling guilty? There was absolutely no need to! She knew after all, that she did make mistakes back then. Really, she still feels horrible for starting the first murder attempt as well. Even if she wasn’t Rantaros true killer, as it seems for now, she still gave the true murderer the opportunity to get things rolling. 

“I… I guess I do want to believe in people. It can be a stupid decisions, but… I don’t regret it! I don’t regret trusting you either! We’re friends now after all, right? I’m happy we got to meet and hang out again.” Even though there was no need for Maki to apologize to her, it still made her somewhat happy. “You know, I think it’s a good thing we have a different way of thinking! You can stop me from doing something stupid, and I think I can help you with thinking a little more positive, too!”

There was still something bothering her about the others sudden approach though: “But when you’re saying that… does that mean you don’t think of the others as your friends?” It probably would be understandable, since Maki did see how her classmates did plot to get rid of each other and a lot of them even got murdered, as she heard… It was so horrible to imagine though…

    Back then, Maki’s words felt justified. In a way, to her, they still do. She’s been in Spirale for quite some time now, but she rarely found people she felt she could trust enough to open up with. To most, she was just another person. To some, she was the Ultimate Child Caregiver. To a select few, she was Maki Harukawa. True talent and all. After talking with Kaede for quite some time now, she realized she wasn’t a bad person. Maki never thought she was bad per-say, but more-so, their ideals clashed.

Sou wasn’t really sure what odds did bring him here, but visiting a school like that sure did bring back some memories. Of course, it’s been already a while since he himself visited one. And instead of drowning in some memories that would make him regret things even more, he decided to look around if there would be any computers to use and… maybe hack into. Just to know more about this place. 

Unfortunately, he walked into some girl, but she didn’t really look like she was working here. Was that concern, or was she just trying to be mean? Ah well, whatever it was, he could entertain her with some small talk. Maybe she did know this place better than he did too.

“Ahaha, do I look like that kind of troubling guy to you? Don’t worry, I don’t intend to mess anything up in here. What about you though? You’re going to high school or something?”

    He held an air of mystery to him-- Akin to someone else she knew. It was highly unlikely he had any relations to the other person she was thinking of, though. Still, he was smart enough to realize that she was of high school age. Nodding her head at his words, she crossed her arms and glared in his direction.

    “..” She didn’t make a remark about his comment on his demeanor. Her own stance alone showed her thoughts on the situation. Maki wasn’t very good with small-talk, either. “I am a high schooler. Why do you care?” Perhaps a bit blunt, albeit a straightforward question.

Crooked Kingdom Ask Meme

    “Do you want me to chase you away?” She knew Kaede’s words were true, though. When they first met, Maki didn’t trust her. More-so, she wasn’t fond of the pianist’s way of thinking. She understood the optimism in those moments, but Maki was more of a realist compared to her. She closed people off because she didn’t want to let anyone in. She didn’t see a need to invite others into her life. Things would just get complicated. Additionally, she had seen no need to blindly trust Kaede. Now, things were different.

Crooked Kingdom Ask Meme

    “No. I don’t.” She wouldn’t say she thought she did, but prior to both Spirale and the academy, she thought her future seemed cemented. As an assassin, she was to do her work and kill. Once she wasn’t of use anymore, she would likely have been disposed of. Maki had already seen that happen– It was part of the reason she pushed her own thoughts aside. She couldn’t let herself think about those things or her work would never get done.

Crooked Kingdom Ask Meme

    “I know that.” Her line of work had never been something she saw as a game. It was work, and that alone. Not something she enjoyed, not something she tried to beat anyone else in. No. With the killing game she and the others had become trapped it, the whole premise was made to be like a game. Maki didn’t care about becoming a victor. Rather, it was the simple act of ending it.

Crooked Kingdom Ask Meme

Development Questions-- Not Accepting

35:

I think one of the most important rules she lives by is to not so easily trust other people. In DRV3, that’s one of the first things the player notices about her. Part of the reason she says that is because she didn’t think she was trustworthy herself, but another aspect is that she didn’t know anyone’s true intentions. Maki is a more closed-off person and it takes a while for her to open up to someone. It takes a lot to earn her trust-- She won’t hand it out very easily.

59:

Development Questions-- Not Accepting!

008. What is their favorite fairy tale?

I’ve already seen people come up with the idea of Little Red Riding Hood Maki, but listen, it’s a good idea. The concept of walking through the woods holds an eerie feel to it, kind of like what Maki does when she has to do her work. There’s dangers in the forest and the story also shows that you shouldn’t always believe everything you see.

034. What’s their view of lying?

    Compared to other people here, Maki’s weaponry wasn’t very extensive at the moment. She was able to acquire a real knife unlike the wooden one she was initially given, but she didn’t have a wide array of weapons at her disposal like she once used to. It was both a good and bad thing-- There were plenty of people in Spirale she didn’t trust and she knew how to keep up her guard. In that sense, she could tell whether or not someone would pose to be an enemy or have strength of their own. This situation posed no different for that aspect.

    There were plenty of rumors that circulated around the red light district-- Bells, fog, strange encounters.. She’d heard it all. The fog was undeniable, though. Maki wasn’t particularly afraid of it. She wasn’t concerned enough to investigate the mysteries as much as others might be, but perhaps she did hold some simple curiosity. Given it was late at night, she didn’t expect to find anyone else in the vicinity. She trusted herself enough to be able to recognize when danger was nearby-- It was a trait she felt she had developed over the years.

    Maki never considered herself the type to go out and socialize. In fact, she rather thought that her demeanor held the opposite effect. It tended to chase people away when they heard her blunt way of speaking. Still, Kaede was never like this. Ever since they began talking more in Spirale, Maki had come to learn more about the pianist. Even if she thought some of her actions in the killing game were foolish, the blonde didn’t have bad intentions. She never really did acknowledge this to the girl, did she? Thus, when the two met up at the boardwalk, she figured she could at least address it.

    Maki didn’t have any intentions on enrolling in the university. It wasn’t because she thought she was unfit for academics-- Rather, she didn’t see the benefit of pursuing it at the moment. She was an assassin. She didn’t want to be, but it was the nature of her reality. Even if she had been in Spirale for quite some time now, she could never erase the hardships of her past. Her actions ran through her head frequently, but it wasn’t like she’d vocalize this. However, her feet did end up taking her to the front of Spirale University. Why? Perhaps mere curiosity, or maybe. No. That was a thought for another day.