#abnormal days

Rebuttal Loaded…

The Therapy Centre seems almost unfamiliar to him now. Outside of the one time he first experienced and grabbed a sword, he hasn’t... really returned. Not on his own, anyway. The Ryoka matter was... something of an anomaly. The soft comfort this whole building emanated wasn’t for him... it was if, no matter what, he hadn’t earned it and being here made him feel out of place. A thought would always cross his mind ‘what did you do to be here?’. It was an exhausting back and forth, wanting something and debating one’s right to it. One he’d rather not have, if he could help it. That sort of thinking did no one any good.

So why go through all the trouble in that case?

There was certainly no Ryoka to find nor any stuffed animal he wished to get comfort from, it was more of a... curiosity. His room had a variety of books, mostly fairytales, folklore, that sort of thing. Given the nature of the island, was there a possibility something was hidden in one of those volumes? Some sort of code, some sort of hidden page or cut-out... some sense of himself or who he was. It was honestly a long shot. He’d read through them when he first arrived but maybe he missed something. Maybe it was just worth trying harder. At the very least, he figured he wouldn’t lose anything.

Yet, on his way there... he couldn’t help but notice someone else was already here. Lotus. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to get in her way. Things were still... a little weird between them. Understandably, considering what he’d done.

“...”

Karoshi-kuma stared at the results on the board for a time. He removed, cleaned, and replaced his glasses a few times, as if it would change the results of what he was seeing on the screen. But the name remained there, clear as day.

“Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle...I guess a certain someone will want to have a word with you now.”

Looking back on her poem, she couldn’t believe how much she had focused on her talent first.  While she indeed adored the concept of hypnotism, was it really worth doing as a first poem to present?  People who didn’t interact with her will possibly think that she’s some sort of freak, who would absolutely love to take control of other people’s minds.  Did this change how she thought her writing was?  Not at all; she could admit that there was decency within her writing.

The simple concept of relaxation Begins with water flowing down the stream. It may take a bit of imagination, For relaxation can also start with a daydream. Gentle flutters of the monarch butterfly Are felt in the nature that surrounds you. Soon, you are able to open the mind’s eye, And your calamity will have only grew. Beautiful images flow through your mind; Ones that can adequately pull you in Will give you peace, and in kind Might make that head of yours spin. However, you somehow don’t become faint. That’s because you’ll soon snap back into reality, And you’ll find you don’t have a single complaint, For your success with rest will have truly set you free.

However, that was for others to judge, was it not?  After all, it was a club activity, even though it felt more like a club assignment than anything else.  Some diverse characters (good and bad) had poems that either pleased the hypnotherapis, or some that, well...

No time to think about that now.  Suzu was rereading over her poem, over and over, so she can learn what to improve on next time.  Maybe someone would give her critiques...?  

There are... seventeen seats here.

Each seat has a large, laminated card set in front of it on the table.  The card... is of... you?

A gorgeous illustration, done in loving detail. Large and impressive -- facing out towards the rest of the group.  All of them seem to evoke your codename in some way -- CANDY CANE’s is of her designing a special device to help Santa pull his sled, surrounded by candy canes; BULLET’s, a depiction of her designing an animatronic that spits out bullets from its side; OBAMA’s....

....

You forgot someone here was deadass named OBAMA.

....

To... whoever designed this’ credit... that one is just... a girl sat on the steps of the White House, laptop on her lap and a drink beside her.

You’re sure the 44th president is snuck in somewhere.  Somehow.

....

At any rate, you’re all duly represented, and Gambit nudges you all to sit in your appropriate seats.  They’re plush.  Comfortable.

The seating arrangement is circular, and goes as so:

CRISPIN > DUCK > MONGREL > CASSINO > BULLET > JACKAL > DOLLY > PAGALLIACI > CANDY CANE > VALET > CAESAR > OBAMA > TIME > PINCER > TYPE > LOYAL > TROY > CRISPIN

....

And each seat seems to have... a deck of cards to the right, as well.

But that’s a surprise tool that will help us later.

Tsukasa didn't think much as Usami had gathered everyone around, bouncing happily in place by the balls of her feet; her head bobbing up and down sometimes just to peek above the crowd. Surprisingly, the bear wasn't the weirdest thing she ever saw, and took it in stride (then again, she is a proclaimed paranormal investigator).

"Awww, what a cute bear--"

Tsukasa was suddenly cut off as she noticed Usami's outburst, the tense and defensive stance she took as the bear started to talk. Her look turned into a prideful one, with her chin up and looking dismissively at the bear. Then, the worst was about to come.

It was too fast for Tsukasa to properly register what had happened, it was like the choppy frames of an unfinished movie. The remote, Usami's disappearance and re-appearance, the roller coaster...

A crash, then a sickening crunch.

Tsukasa felt her whole body tense up, her neon green eyes scanning for that familiar mop of pink hair to move, to appear, to just be there; to confirm that this wasn't real and that maybe Tsukasa was just daydreaming or sleeping or anything besides the reality--

"U...USAMI-SENSEI!!"

Tsukasa fell to her knees, her hands covering her mouth as she stared at the last spot where their ex-teacher was just not too long ago in horror. Her green eyes that were usually so bright and jubilant had dulled and were wide with shock. The next words that the bear had said she couldn't even begin to register. It was only a couple of seconds did it sink in as she croaked out.

"K...Kill...?"

Tsukasa's throat felt dry as her eyes welled up with tears. This couldn't be happening, everything felt blurry around her as she felt her breathing rapidly pick up and her heart beating like a drum in an almost impossible to match tempo. A cold and prickly feeling creep up her spine, making her clutch her head as she tried steadying her breathing, but it only seemed to make things worse.

"No...no, no, no, no..."

Makoto simply nodded along to the others’ words, everyone more familiar with the happenings in this city than she was. After all, she was taken in by her charm, right? That girl had triggered just enough of her protective instincts at the time, and Makoto had thought she had her trust, to boot. But this… still boggled her mind, made her heart hurt. She genuinely trusted that girl.

But this was truly the worst betrayal, wasn’t it.

That’s why Makoto had prepared herself. After being tipped off, she showed up to the trial room with a diary in her pocket and a purple shawl around her shoulders. She could almost feel Hotaru’s arms around her as she stood at her podium. That’s right… even if she… wasn’t here… Hotaru was still watching out for her, wasn’t she. With this, then maybe…

She pulled the shawl around her shoulders just a little tighter, chiming in.

“Well… That’s about it, then, huh? There’s not much to talk about.”

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. Falling silent, she opened her eyes, before pointing square at MonokumAI.