#bdb3c

Kiyoshi wasn't really present at the trial. Not mentally or spiritually, anyway. They hadn't really been present at the investigation either. No, Kiyoshi Aoyama was physically here, slumped forward on the table and staring hollowly into space as the others around them talked, but otherwise gone.

And why should they have bothered being present? Nobody would be dying, right? No people had been killed, someone had just gone and smashed up a couple machines. Whatever. And with those gone, it didn't sound like anyone would benefit from killing each other anymore, so...

...with that in mind, it was difficult for Kiyoshi to care about any of the proceedings. And if Kiyoshi didn't care about something, they didn't have the energy for it. Hence their state at the moment. 

By the time Huang Yi came around, Kiyoshi was feeling their eyelids grow a bit heavy, and even after snapping to attention in order to let him carry through with their check (for... smell? Of course, right?), the temptation to drowse off was very, very strong. And when the results were reported, Kiyoshi raised their head and spoke for the first time since trial start.

"Mmm... alright, sure. That works."

Truth be told, Kiyoshi had almost forgotten about that machine in the mines. Maybe it was the fact that their earlier attempts at using it had borne little actually interesting fruit, outside of Buck the cactus, and... you know, that. Maybe it was the fact that their mind had been occupied by the matter of surviving while finding a way out of here, with a side detour into 'make everyone think I'm dead' territory (fat lot of good that did, huh), leaving them with little volition to spare on anything else. Maybe it was the fact that the mun kind of forgot to have them spend their currency on yon machine.

Whatever the case, Kiyoshi was certainly there now, because hey, maybe this time they'd get a weapon out of here. Or booze. Or booze that you could weaponize. It was foolish of someone like them to hope for anything beneficial to them to come out of the machine, but... 

...well, it wouldn't be the first time the small spark of the Kiyoshi that had been convinced them to chance things, and it wouldn't be the last. And thus, the machine received half of their current balance and out came...

Empty Capsule — It’s an empty capsule with a button on it. Looks like you can put anything in the capsule and it goes back into the mystery machine… or that’s at least what the directions say.

What.

Kiyoshi stared at the capsule, hollow-eyed (how appropos, that an empty person should get an empty capsule, the part of them that insisted on being Like That mused) for a few moments before scowling and stuffing it in their jacket pocket, because useless piece of junk or not, it was theirs now. Maybe they'd find a use for it later. Or not.

Anyway, onto the next capsule, which-

Velvet Funko Pop — Inside this capsule is…. Yikes. Yeeps. The soulless eyes of your classmate stare back, situated on a plastic Funko Pop body. With its oversized head and dull expression, it shoots right into the uncanny valley. Still, it looks remarkably like Velvet, with its undercut and 2000s jacket.

Was this fucking machine trolling them. Did it know that Kiyoshi Aoyama, hollow shell of a man and all-around loser was buying things from it? Is that why it was doing this? As some kind of cruel cosmic joke? Because they found it about as amusing as all of the other jokes fate had taken to playing on them as of late, which was to say-

-anyway, Kiyoshi was totally going to palm this... thing off on someone later. Or just hide it somewhere. They didn't want this thing watching them while they slept.

And then came the third capsule, which...

...oh. Well. That certainly drew a uncharactertistcally broad grin out of Kiyoshi, dark gray eyes sparkling ever so slightly as they gave it a further once-over before tucking it into another pocket of their jacket for safe-keeping. They weren't going to get their hopes up, and it did get points off for not being a weapon or booze, but...

...well, they were certainly feeling quite a bit more hopeful about that last item now, Kiyoshi mused as they opened the last capsule. If the machine was willing to give them something this precious, then surely...

"..."

Haha, of course not.

It was some time later when Kiyoshi registered the sound of approaching footsteps. They had been seated next to the machine for quite a while now, staring blankly at their hands and the... the thing that now laid on their lap. 

"Whoever's behind this is gonna get a piece of my mind once I've clawed my way out of this hellhole, I swear."

Kiyoshi didn't even bother looking up to see who they were addressing. A sounding board was a sounding board, especially at a time like this.

"There's no excuse for this shit, okay? No excuse at all."

And what kind of shit was Kiyoshi referring to, exactly? Well, that was quite clear from a look at the item on their lap.

Kiyoshrek — It’s… It’s… a copy of the DVD for hit animated blockbuster Shrek, except the cover’s been photoshopped so— oh my god, is that one of your classmates? No, that’s a lot of your classmates, and the box lists the names of MiRAi, Kiyoshi Aoyama, Velvet Welch, and Hisoka Fukuda in lieu of the original actors for Fiona, Shrek, Donkey, and Farquaad, respectively. The back lists even more, with everyone’s faces shittily photoshopped over all of the images of the characters. You’re almost tempted to schedule a movie night to see if any changes were made to the DVD itself, or just the cover art. Either way, you should probably be concerned. 

[LOCATION: Veggie Garden]

It had been a...somewhat tense time, since the execution.

It wasn't that anything particularly troubling (...or, at least, nothing anymore troubling than what was swiftly becoming the usual around here, stars help them all) had occurred since then; on the contrary, it had, for the most part, been rather quiet. But perhaps that was why tension seemed to linger in the air so; with recent events, they all knew that forces fearful and events most sinister could come and knock any of them down in one fell swoop, and so the more relative peace continued, the more one ill at ease might find themself pondering exactly when things would once again...

...Well. For her own part, Yumemi had ultimately decided that she wasn't going to dwell on it. Greeting everyone with a soft voice and peaceful smile, that had always been her motto, of sorts, and she was not about to change her manner at a time when it was arguably most needed of all. No, for the sake of the others (and herself, she supposed, but mostly for others; her society did not tolerate the selfish nor the different, she'd learnt that a long time ago), Yumemi Tosaka appeared as she always had-- and, with any hope, as she always would.

At any rate, her curiosity had been piqued by the new areas that had been opened up for them, and so she'd spent the last while wandering through them, in quiet noted observation. On this particular day, in this particular hour, she found herself in the Vegetable Garden, under the artificial lighting that lit up the patches, a packet of seeds (she'd found them in her suitcase, and couldn't on Earth remember why she'd packed 'em in there; had she been planning to grow herself a window plant?) in her hand, and with a dreamy, distant look on her face.

She heard the footsteps as they came, but it took a minute or two for them to truly register-- and when she turned around, and it finally occurred to her who the peer joining her actually was, she greeted them with a small, dainty wave and a pleasant smile.

"...Ah, Aoyama-san, hello...! It's good to see you...how have you been faring...?"

As she finished speaking, another idea seemed to strike her, which she quickly (...well, quickly for Yumemi) voiced:

"...Ah, while we're both here, Aoyama-san, did I ever thank you for your immense help with the party...? Your contributions to the trial, too, as, ah...significantly more...tragic though that ultimate outcome was...it...really is a rather dreadful circumstance we've found ourselves in. Simply ghastly...but, nonetheless...I am grateful for your help thus far, personal and general alike. So...thank you, for that...!"

With hands clasped together, she gave the food stylist a polite bow! Nice stuff.

Turning back to face the vegetable patches, she surveyed the various plants sprouting in the room. When she spoke up again, her voice maintained its usual yoga instructor-esque calm dulcet tones, but with a more enquiring edge to it than usual.

Well, that whole thing had been an adventure. They could sort it all out later, for now they had a lot to sort through in the new areas. A potential escape route, at least an obvious one, was probably too much to hope for, but maybe…

Well, what were they even hoping for at this point? More clues as to what the hell was going on might be nice, but really it was just something for them to do so they didn’t have to think too hard about this entire mess. The possibility of finding a….something at least gave them a goal, abstract and impossible as it might have been.

And so off they went to the new areas. The names were certainly intriguing, they could stand with some nonhuman company. Or any company, really. But, better than that…

“....!!!!!!”

There was a real, actual pool. Sure, that tiny little manmade pond was okay, but this? This was another story entirely. Room to spread their legs and arms! Nothing was the same as the beach, but hoping for that was probably a bit much. Well, maybe if they could find a couple hundred sandbags and some fake plants and…

...No. Time to stop that train of thought before it got too far. Besides, business before pleasure, or something, an adage they had never made a point to live up to ever, at any point in time in their life. They paused, looking at their NOXbook. The Zen Garden seemed like a fine enough place to start, so off they went. And when they got there….

“Oooooh my gosh, Vulture! Fancy meeting you here!”

{ ♫♪♫♪♫ }

Since the trial, Mirai’s main goal was to not think about the trial. Nothing good could come from ruminating on the result or what other paths it could have gone down, so they would not even provide themselves the chance to do so. As such, they were spending much of the day trying to occupy themselves.

First, a proper change of clothes. They didn’t want to be wandering in pajamas all day.

Next, a Mystery Machine visit, to make use of these coins they kept getting. Three coins went in, three capsules came out, and they checked the paper tag for each capsule to see what was in them.

A Full Refund

You open the capsule and a your NOXbook chimes. Seems like your coin has been refunded.

...

“...”

Y’know it was really hard to come up with a response to this.

They--okay, they’re just gonna re-spend that. After reading the tag for this one and confirming it wasn’t also a prank item, they decided they’d take these to their room and open them there. If this was the kinda stuff in the machine, though, they should probably keep that in mind for the future.

Normally something like this would get a chuckle, but instead they felt like a tired mother whose kid just did a psyche!!! on them. Yes, great sweetie, I love you, now give mommy a break right now, okay? Thanks, honey.

As they opened the capsules in their room (with very mixed reactions for each item), they decided they would properly deal with these later, and instead would take the time to begin exploring the new area that had been unlocked for them. Grabbing their phone and earbuds, they stepped back out of their room, turning on their shuffle while heading for the elevator.

It was later into their exploration that they noticed a new notification on their NOXbook and took a quick glance at it. Huh... the mines opened? That might be worth checking out. After all, they needed more things to keep themselves occupied, and this seemed interesting enough!

Returning to the mining lobby once more, the first thing they noticed was, indeed, the mines were opened. The next thing they noticed was a blonde girl who wasn’t here before. Oh, hey, it was--! ...Who now? She seemed vaguely familiar, but they couldn’t recall from when or where.

Hey, they’d heard of worse excuses to talk to someone.

“Ah, hey, you! Uh, did we meet? If not, you’ll be probably be glad to meet me! And I’d be glad to meet you! So, uh, who’re you?”

{cw: impalement, blood}

“I’ve called you here today to inform you: Your time is up.”

His voice became deathly flat as he spoke his last line, his expression changing to one of disappointment briefly as he looked over the class before smiling again.

“But before I get to that, I would just like to remind you all of something.”

Jin pulled out his NOXbook and began messing with the menu before holding it up to the NOXmachine, allowing it to dispense a capsule.

“This machine isn’t just for show. As some of you may be aware, we’ve preloaded it with weapons and tools for you to make use of at your convenience. Of course, you can’t just say “I want a weapon” and get one, but that’s not the point.”

Jin takes the capsule, tossing it up and down in his hand as he turns back to face the class.

“Everything you’ve been provided is yours to use as you see fit… The more you look for a means to escape, the more you’ll be rewarded. It’s that simple. When provided with an incentive, people learn to work towards a certain goal. And now, before I get too far off topic… It’s time to follow through with the motive!”

With that, Jin began walking amongst the class. Glancing over at each one of you before.

“Hm. I think it’d be pretty hard for you to perform your talent without a functioning heart.”

And then the capsule opened, and with a spear in hand he thrust forward into the chest of none other than Chifuyu Tachibana, the SHSL Numismatist. 

The unfortunate man is taken by surprise, looking forward with a shocked expression and uttering a small, “H-Huh..?” It's strained, all he can really manage to say like this. 

I was supposed to do this earlier and only remembered now. Whoops. Thanks to absent-mindedness Sayuri finally realizes they have a bunch of NYX burning a hole in their pocket and decides to spend it-- partially in the mines, and partially to buy things. To the gacha they went! They paused thoughtfully, and then decided to make three purchases. Their first few draws had definitely been eventful, so they weren’t entirely sure what to expect.

Novelty Roomba 

You open the capsule. Inside is a roomba. But not just any roomba. A novelty roomba. But what’s so novel about it? Well, on the top side there’s a decal of a knife with a chicken riding on it. Depending on your experience with roombas, this one may actually seem… Familiar… For some bizarre reason. 

….It wasn’t that though. This was definitely…interesting? Where was this sense of deja vu coming from? They scratched the side of their face, then put down the roomba, watching it shuffle about the floor. Well, it was kind of cute, they supposed. What to name it, though? They’d have to work that out soon. Encouraged, they went onto the next.

Empty Capsule 

It’s an empty capsule with a button on it. Looks like you can put anything in the capusule and it goes back into the monomachine… or that’s at least what the directions say. 

What the fuck. They shook out the capsule. Nothing. What the fuck. Apparently they could put it back in, but why?

Seriously. What. Anyways, third.

Three-Ring Binder 

You got handed a metaphorical brick. There’s no labeling or any clue as to what might be inside just looking at this…open it? 

“....?”

Huh. Well, it looked awfully nondescript. They flipped open the cover to look through the pages. Then, their movements slowed. Their hand started to tremble. The binder hit the ground with a soft rustle of pages..

“You…”

Little tears of rage dampened their bandanna. They considered leaving it there-- that was the last thing they wanted to face right now. They turned on their heel, ready to walk off, before the fact they were very much not alone in this facility penetrated through the red haze of fury in their mind. They swallowed thickly. They had to do something, hide it or destroy it or make sure nobody else could see it again. They knelt down, still shaking, to pick it up with one hand, brushing away their tears with another, then half-jogged-half-walked off to their room.

The past couple days had been peaceful. A bloodbath hadn’t broken out in spite of what had happened, which was probably a testament to the human spirit or something of that nature. Not much of one, if it really was nobody would be dead in the first place, but that was neither here nor there.

And then, as they’d feared, they heard the voices of some of their “hosts.” Right. This was still a “game.” To some people, apparently. They let out a small sigh, pinching the bridge of their nose, and off they went.

“....”

...Something to do with their talent, huh? Specifically their talent, if they were hearing right? That was...surprisingly reassuring. No, of course, it wasn’t a good thing, and certainly other people here would be tempted because talents were important and getting hurt was bad, but….for them?

Comics had always been a means to an end, really. If they had the community, that was what mattered. And if they had….that as well, they’d be fine. They could get by. Maybe. It was probably a moot point, they thought-- they had to think about their other...talented friends, how much they’d worked for their skills, what they’d do to preserve that…

Yeah, this was a problem. Part of them wanted to go to their room and lie down for a long while, but what good was that going to do?

Okay, well, it’d help them feel better. Maybe like, they could lie down for five minutes or five hours or--

Ugh. They couldn’t think like this. They needed to get out of here and away from those two, first off. And there was more they had to say, so to their room it was after all.

A few moments of notetaking and they were immediately restless again. Their hand fidgeted towards their NOXbook, then they hesitated. How to go about this? They didn’t want to seem too eager, that might be creepy or like, make someone think they were going to murder them, which was basically the opposite of what they wanted.

heeeeey mirai!!! this motive is like a total drag [droops ears]