#setsuga

I legit thought Setsuga was the Rubble mastermind at one point.

[FATE] : ``I desire to view the program of... NOT THIS at the present. Should you value your life, I would recommend passing me the wand of box-changing."

[BAMBI] : ``Just... wait..."

[FATE] : ``. . ."

♪♪♪

The first thing you notice when the freezer door is unlocked is the welcoming blast of frigid air. The second thing you notice, when you actually enter the freezer, is just how uncomfortably low the temperature of the room really is. Your skin, still damp with sweat from the stifling heat of the castle, rapidly begins to cool and sting even as you file in one by one after your classmates. The dull whirring and stiff breeze from inside tells you that the fans are working at full capacity.

Only the dim, minimalist lighting of a single vapor-proof fixture serves to illuminate the freezer, and for a moment, it seems that the most anyone can do is wander near the entrance, waiting for their eyes to adjust. There's something ominous about the shadows, as if something is waiting in the very back of the room to pop out at you -- like a dead body, for example. But then someone pushes the door open to shed more light on the scene and it bumps into something that was hidden from view. Or someone, as the case may be.

Setsuga Igarashi is propped up against the wall on a mat made of empty cardboard boxes, his legs half-drawn up to his chest, one arm draped across his chest. It would be easy enough to say that the snowboarder looks like he just fell asleep, but aside from the fact that his eyes are closed there's nothing peaceful about his expression -- more than anything else, it seems exhausted.

There isn't an ounce of warmth left in him, unsurprisingly. His limbs are stiff and almost waxy to the touch, but it's Setsuga's extremities that seem to have fared the worst. His nose, cheeks and barefoot feet have taken on an ugly blue-black hue consistent with tissue death. Fortunately for you, the only other gore at the crime scene is a set of bloody knuckles on his right hand and a small trickle of red that marks his chin. It's all long frozen, of course, just like the rest of him.

Beside him rests a washbasket containing a large, heavy chunk of ice. There are more just like it scattered around the room, but it seems as though it would be too cumbersome to carry more than one at a time.

This didn't bode well for the future. The students that died in the past were killed through no fault of your own, after all, but that was before the motive had been introduced. Before people had reasons to start murdering one another.

And if it wasn't Monobear who was responsible, then that could only mean that it was one of you.

It was easy enough to forget that anything even remotely unsettling had happened when there was so much around to distract yourself with -- out of sight, out of mind, after all. After Setsuga wrapped up his conversation with his new acquaintances, Kickflip McTwist and Nollie Bigspin (or Megumi and Chiyoko respectively, but who needed regular names when you had rad skater ones?), he wandered off in the direction of the capsule machine. The coins in his pocket that he'd only rediscovered a few moments ago seemed to beckon him to spend, and Setsuga was more than happy to oblige.

Stuffing them into the slot and cranking the handle, the snowboarder picked up his handfuls of capsules and grinned like a child on Christmas morning. And behind lid number one, we haaave -- 

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle

A fighting game, based on the famous manga! Punch, kick and pose to your heart’s content, while playing as your favorite JoJo characters.

What was this? A video game? Opening the case with a satisfying 'snap', Setsuga studied the disc and popped it out, spinning it on his finger for a moment before sticking it back in. He hadn't seen a television, let alone a console for anyone to play it on... ho hum. Next capsule.

Pin-On Hair Drill

It’s… Technically a hair ext |ension. This single hair drill is pin-on, and comes in a happy shade of blonde! Sure to up your cuteness factor. (Tomiko Kawasaki, DA2W)

Not what he'd been expecting, but beggars couldn't be choosers! Taking the hair drill in his hands (it was unexpectedly heavy, but then again it was pretty large), Setsuga fiddled around with it for a moment before managing to attach it. This was most definitely meant for people with longer hair. Longer, blonde hair. Oh, well.

And the last capsule held -- what? What? Fumbling slightly, the snowboarder accidentally dropped the item, which bounced slightly before coming to a rest a few feet away.

...

Even though he'd exited the court room with a grin on his face and a bounce to his step, the ride on the elevator left him feeling a bit queasy. Of course, it was the elevator's fault -- but nothing a bit of R&R wouldn't cure! Shaking off the jitters, Setsuga took the stairs back to his room two at a time, his feet echoing loudly against the floor as he power walked to his door. Come to think of it, it was probably best to get rid of the swim trunks he'd been carrying around with him, too. Tossing them onto his bed next to his recovered 'baby' (the former cleanly state of the room was already beginning to deteriorate), Setsuga took immediately to rummaging through the rest of his belongings where he'd left off.

Having cleared his drawers out, and most of his clothes with them, Setsuga quickly turned his attention to his closet. Coats, coats, scarves, a suit. His parents insisted that he brought a suit. For 'formal events', of course. What caught his eye, however, was none of that -- it was the case leaning inconspicuously against the back of the wardrobe, half-concealed by the hanging garments.

Unzipping it, Setsuga held the object of his affections aloft to check it for damage, and when he failed to find any he smiled broadly. 

"Honey, I'm home!"

Not only was his snowboard still in one piece, his skateboard was looking as good as ever as well. Even the sticker on the deck was still there! There was only one course of logical action to take in celebration of their tearful reunion, and that was hurtling down the stairs at mach one with no protective gear.

The stair banisters which he'd all but ignored seemed to be full of endless possibilities now. Could he still grind? Of course he could! It was just like riding a bike, only this was a board and it had four wheels and wasn't really like a bike at all. Come to think of it, maybe knee pads at least would have been a good idea. 

Someone was lingering by the bottom of the landing, however, and Setsuga waved to them to catch their attention.

"Heyyy! Down there! Watch it, sick tricks coming through!"

The new radio announcement seemed to take Setsuga in much the same way as the first (that is to say, by surprise). When the voices blared out of thin air, he spent several seconds looking for the hidden intruder in his room before remembering the existence of the handy invention known as 'a PA system'. Rats. He'd only just started checking his belongings, too. Leaving the room with pineapple-patterned swim trunks in hand, he took his place with the others, craning his neck to see what was happening from behind a sea of heads. 

There was another stuffed animal waddling around now (a bear?) on its hind legs making a fuss about 'mutual killing' -- and then the curtain was pulled back to reveal a set of unfamiliar faces. More students! Setsuga waved to them from across the transparent barrier, only lowering his hand when someone from their group ran up to meet a tall girl on the opposite side of the wall. Now that didn't look like a good idea, banging on the glass like that. Someone could get hurt.

(Speaking of getting hurt -- ?)

The nameless boy was dragged off quite suddenly, as was the other girl -- there was little Setsuga could do besides follow the others to the elevator to find out what had become of them. Seeing no explanation for the sudden change in atmosphere forthcoming from the crowd, Setsuga could only fix his eyes on the screen and watch the execution with the rest of them, in all of its horrifying entirety.

"... ... ...?"

Something seemed to have shorted out in the snowboarder's brain, and he stared into space, looking through the darkened screen instead of at it, mouth slightly agape -- a low buzzing or a dial tone wouldn't have been out of place in the silence that filled his the space between his ears. After several moments, the blank expression faded and was instead replaced by a bright smile.

"...Heh!"

"Fuheheh! S-so that's h-how it is, huh? Well, you scared the boots offa me for a sec, but tricks like that only work once!"

"Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice -- no, wait. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I'm no rube!"