I've Created A Monster!

Whether you elected to try and search for clues or not, the hours since the discovery of Banbi’s body elapse until, all too soon, you find yourselves being gathered once again. The devils seek you out and guide or herd you up to the top deck, crowding you together, where the Smiling Devil herself stands waiting at the ramp.

“Well, I hope y’all used your time wisely. Follow me, we’ll soon get you sorted.” She turns, leading the way off of the ship… and down the quay, across the dock and up the ramp of the large, iron and brass steamship that belongs to the devils. You have little choice but to follow her. Even as you step on board you feel like the temperature has risen to tropic levels. Everything on board is surprisingly elegant, all red and brass, hard metal and colors like fire. But you aren’t given time to process or explore, you’re simply herded through a door and down a hall, then down steps, into the bowels of the ship. Everything smells like metal, coal, or- curiously- like roses and sugar.

At last you’re led through a door and shown into a large conference room. Like the rest of the ship, the decor is heavy on brass and features quite a bit of red in the lush carpeting and wallpaper, but the centerpiece is a long circular table. An odd horizontal tube runs the length of it, looking quite a bit like the pneumatic tubes you may have seen at a bank’s drive-thru. The room is uncomfortably warm, though not to the point you’re roasting or in danger of heat exhaustion.

“Do hurry and find your seats, they’ve all been labeled. Yours with braille, of course, Ms. Soprano… hm, we’ll have to come up with a new title for you though, won’t we?”

Way to add insult to literal injury.

“Someone will have to help our former Photographer though, point him in the right direction, won’t you? Wonderful.”

Once you’re all settled, the Devil takes her own seat in a large chair by the door leading into the room… which is soon covered by sliding panels, making it inaccessible. You’re effectively trapped.

“I’ll give you the same speech I gave the last class. To keep it simple… Discuss what you’ve found and your theories amongst yourselves. When you feel you’ve reached a decision, write the name of the person among you that you believe is the killer on the paper in front of you, and place it in the tube. Now to be certain you understand, you have only one chance to vote. If you write the name of anyone other than one of your classmates- me, for example- then your vote will be counted as a vote for yourself, so don’t get cute. And if the majority of the votes are incorrect…”

“Well, here’s a friendly suggestion: Don’t be wrong. And don’t throw your vote away. This is no time to debate morality, little darlin’s. Your lives are on the line. Go ahead and get started then… oh, and y’all have fun.”

With the situation and identity of the victim helpfully revealed by the doctor’s words to those of you unable to see it for yourselves, you’re all reeling to some extent or other by the discovery. And it’s while you’re still regaining your composure and, most likely, finishing the process of waking up fully that a familiar, unwelcome voice calls for your attention. You turn to see the Smiling Devil standing there in the hall, as casually as though she’d been there all along.

“Congratulations! One of you finally stepped up to the plate, about time. Of course, as pleased as I am, we can’t just have us a random murderer runnin’ loose. It’s been a while now, so I reckon y’all may not remember, but at the start of our little game I mentioned holdin’ a trial in the event of a murder. Now, a trial wouldn’t do much good without evidence, so I’m allowin’ a few hours to run around and collect some. Time to put your detective hats on, figuratively speakin’. Have yourselves a look around, be good and thorough now. And to help you out, all of your Cabins have been unlocked to allow for investigatin’. Have fun!”

It’s a lot of words to process so early in the morning, especially right after a nasty shock, but the gist of it gets through… it looks like you all have some work to do. Though before you can get started, the doctor woman is speaking up again, from where she’s made it to the bottom of the stairs and is examining Banbi’s body.

Roughly an hour after the body has been discovered, you’re approached during your investigations or whatever else you may be doing by the strange young man that had shown up on the ship after you first set sail.

He hands each of you an identical file with a black and white old-fashioned photo of the crime scene, including Banbi’s body, and a short autopsy report inside.

“Here’s your murder, hot off the presses.”

He jokes, but doesn’t exactly seem…happy, about the turn of events.

Victim Name: Banbi Anno Cause of Death: Blunt Force Trauma to the Head Time of Death: Approximately 8 hours prior to discovery. Somewhere between 9-10pm. Body Discovered: 5:13am Location: Bottom of Portside Staircase, Third Deck Injuries: -Multiple contusions and lacerations to the left side of the head, including cracked skull. -Bruising on limbs and torso, minor sprain of right ankle, broken right arm, consistent with fall down stairs.

It’s painfully early when you find yourself being awoken, most people wouldn’t consider five in the morning a reasonable time to be up and about. The cabins are all fairly soundproof, but those of you closest the stairs can still hear the vague cries of a distressed Confectionary Decorator, and soon enough comes pounding on all the cabin doors, and word soon spreads to the Sick Bay as the doctor is roused and comes, grumbling, out into the hall.

“Nobody fucking touch it until I get there.” The severe looking woman makes her way down the hall towards the source of the screams, pausing to rap on the doors of anyone who isn’t up yet with her cane.

Whether you rush ahead of her- not a difficult feat- or follow behind, eventually you’ve all gathered with the shaken Higanbana and the rest of your class at the top of the Portside Stairs leading down to the Third Deck. And at the bottom of the steps…

[TW: Head Trauma]

Higanbana yawned as she shuffled out of her and Carla’s shared cabin. “Coffee…then breakfast,” she muttered sleepily as she tightened the bow she’d tied her apron into. Maybe she’d make pancakes today…she was feeling pancakes. With berries inside, if she could manage it.

And pancakes were easy to make an abundance of, she could make enough for her classmates too. She’d eat first, then cook for everyone else as it grew closer to the normal wake-up time. Not five in the morning, like it was now.

She slowed as she reached the stairs. Something was on the wood… Water? No, no it was a little too dark for that… Maybe it was juice, she thought.

“Yeah…fruit juice,” she murmured as she took the first steps down the stairs leading to the third deck. Someone had gotten up for a midnight drink, and had spilled some

thick

fruit

juice

Higanbana froze halfway down the stairs, her eyes finally spotting what was at the bottom. For a few seconds, she wasn’t sure it was real - she was dreaming, she was still half-asleep, it was the early hour playing tricks on her, she wasn’t seeing this–!

Her legs gave out and she fell right where she stood. Frantically she tried to scramble backwards and up the stairs, but her hands slipped from beneath her (she vaguely felt liquid under her palms) and made her fall further. Finally, she found her voice.

No matter what assurances or rationalizations you told yourself, as the regular time for the secret reveal comes around on the fourth day you feel a chilling, apprehensive dread in your gut. The events of the day before, the callous way Aka-san had been treated, left a heavy impression. Even those of you who are sure you have no terrible secrets may be feeling some concern over what will be said, and how.

It doesn’t take long for you all to be gathered on the deck this time, and the Devil looks no worse for the shots fired the day before. Although she is missing her suit jacket. Maybe it’s out for repairs.

“Looks like y’all’re eager to get started, let’s see what we got for today.” She withdraws the notebook from a pocket in her vest this time, idly flicking through the pages. “Hm… looks like Ashley Graves is luckier than most of you, she doesn’t have many secrets to speak of. It might have been better for her to seek treatment for that anxiety of hers, though. Anxiety attacks in a place like this can leave you awful vulnerable.” The Devil stares at the book thoughtfully for a moment, and sighs, though she never loses her smile, which is eerie in itself.

“Well that’s boring! Might be useful info for anyone lookin’ for a victim, but it’s hardly fun, is it? How about we try for a better one? Seems like none a’ you are in a hurry to kill anyway, and I ain’t too fond of the idea of doin’ this for fifteen more days straight, that’d get tedious, so let’s kick it up a notch. I’ll be releasin’ two secrets a day, startin’ right now.”

Wait, what? She’s already flipping to a new page in her little notebook.

“Here we go, this is much better! Bein’ affiliated with the Yakuza is pretty convenient for you, isn’t it Nao? It means the police turn a blind eye to all your illegal activities, though it probably helps that the two men you put in the hospital when you were sixteen were also criminals. One of them still ain’t regained full use of his arm, in case you hadn’t heard. I reckon once these facts circulate through the media you’ll find yourself brought up on charges after all- or at least sent back to the childcare facility, since legally speakin’ you should still be there.” The Devil finally closes the notebook with a snap and tucks it away again. She clicks her tongue once like a disapproving teacher, though if anything she looks quite pleased, “'Course we all got a chance to see how quick to violence you were yesterday, didn’t we? Such a bad boy. See y’all tomorrow!”

“Oh hell fucking no!” Nao’s voice cuts through the air and he stomps towards the Devil. “You can’t fucking do that!”

“I think you’ll find I just did.” She responds brightly, and promptly catches the fist that Nao throws in her direction. He looks stunned for a second, but then back to absolutely pissed, and tries to jerk his arm back out of her grip to throw another punch. It doesn’t budge. “Nice try. My turn.”

She slams her other hand into his chest, you think you can hear something snap, Nao chokes, and the Devil is grinning wide and sharp, very sharp, her teeth are fangs, you can see it for certain now, every one of them, like a wolf.

Before anything more can happen, however, a gunshot rings out, then another, deafeningly loud.  The air is filled with the smell of gunpowder and brimstone. The Devil seems to have some newfound holes in both arms, though they leak smoke instead of blood.  An unfamiliar bespectacled blond gentleman storms over, brown jacket billowing behind him, carrying a rifle in one hand and something that looks alarmingly like a grenade in the other.

And suddenly, he is standing between Nao and the Devil, the gun and the bomb in his hands both promising mayhem if the Devil tries to move past him.

“You court trouble, mademoiselle.”  The man’s voice is low, angry, and carries a faint hint of a French accent.

The shots themselves had caused the Devil to jerk back slightly, apparently instinctively letting go of Nao, who dropped to the deck, arms wrapping around himself. But he’s still glaring up at her and honestly, if the blond stranger hadn’t stepped between them, you get the impression he might have tried to go for her again despite the total no sell.

As for the Smiling Devil herself, her smile is still in place, though it’s once again normal and polite as she adjusts her damaged sleeves with no signs of pain. “Hello, Correspondent, lovely of you to make an appearance. I suppose it is only a first offense.” She lightly touches one of the smoking holes in her arm and sighs with something like exasperated amusement. “I was fond a’ this suit though, y’know.”

Without further fuss she turns and walks towards the ramp off of the ship, raising one hand in a little farewell wave, as if to further demonstrate that she wasn’t terribly hindered by the injuries. “I’ll see y’all back here tomorrow! And Correspondent, I’ll be sure ta tell your wife you’re doin’ well.” She vanishes into the crowds on the dock remarkably quickly for someone wearing such a vibrant suit.

Two secrets revealed, sixteen to go… and soon to be fifteen, if the Devil were true to her word. It may not have been long enough to form a pattern, but none of you are surprised when on the third day of the motive you’re once more summoned or corralled onto the deck of the Selkie. Just as before, the Devil is waiting for you, giving you an uneasy feeling of deja vu. You can imagine, if this continues on, that each announcement will start to blur together, made distinct only by the secret revealed. And whose will it be this time…?

“Y’all’ve caught onto the drill by now, I hope.” She says, already getting out the little black book and flicking through the pages. “So I’ll just get right to it… Akihito Akano hides behind his internet persona, Aka-san, but what is it he’s so desperate to conceal? His parents’ gamblin’ habit, which put them into so much debt he fears they’d take his savings if they knew he had any? Or maybe it’s the birthmark on his face that made him the target of bullies in his past? Hidin’ from your problems don’t make ‘em disappear, Akihito. Why don’t you take that mask off yourself? Might as well, everyone is goin’ to see your face anyhow.”

She tucks her notebook away, smile sickeningly sweet and cheerful, “Actually, why don’t I give you a hand with that?” Without even waiting for the sentence to process, before anything can be said, the Devil is suddenly standing beside Aka-san. She moved so fast, inhumanly fast, blink and you miss it fast. And quick as a striking snake she reaches up and snatches the stop sign mask right off Aka-san’s face, stepping back and holding it away from him.

“Now, why’d you ever wanna hide a face like that?” She says, her words dripping with sarcasm as she carelessly flicks Aka-san’s mask over the side of the ship like a frisbee.

Aka-san freezes the moment he hears his real name, and panic very quickly bubbles within him. Wait, wait, he– he was in the middle of preparing, he wasn’t– he wasn’t ready to–

….Ah? The devil is…

Before he could even register, his mask was gone, in the devil’s hand. He swayed, stumbling backwards as he stared at the devil, eyes wide. It took a few moments for him to register.

[Art by Cee]

“…A…Ah…” Underneath his mask, there’s a shockingly young-looking boy with heavily slanted eyes and… what appears to be a very large bruise over his face. His genius ass had stayed to the back row, meaning everyone was now turned to look at him. His vision was blurring. Everyone could see him. And then she spoke. A face like that… a face like that afacelikethatafacelikethatafacelikeyourparentssmashedawinebottleoveryourhead–

“S…stop… g..give that… give it… back…”, he tries to whimper out, voice so pathetically quiet it’s barely audible. Yet despite his plea, the mask still flies off the boat. Gone. He can feel his brain shut off when he loses sight of it. Everyone’s staring. Everyone’s judging. No… no, he can’t handle this… he can’t-

“S…stop… s-staring at me…!!”, he cries out, weak yet hysterical, and pulling his hood down as he rushes to stumble away, he feels a severe panic rise in his chest. No no no. He… he wanted to make friends. He can’t stop panicking, no matter how much he tries to tell himself they won’t judge.

Someone always does, his mind whispers. Someone always thinks, ‘oh how gross’. Someone always thinks he’s worth less, but of course they’d never say it. Why, that’d be socially unacceptable. But he knows they think it. Everyone does.

None of you are quite sure what to expect on the following day. The Smiling Devil said she’d be revealing secrets once a day, which meant someone else’s was likely about to be announced. And sure enough, sometime around noon, each of you is suddenly approached by strange people with glowing eyes much like hers, who inform you to assemble on the deck. Most of you are unnerved enough to simply follow this instruction, but anyone who attempts to ignore or disobey it will find themselves patiently herded in that direction anyway by the creepy devils. Maybe it’s better to just get it over with.

And once again the Smiling Devil is waiting for you, perched on one of the sides of the boat, winsome smile firmly in place. It’s only when your entire class has crowded onto the deck that she gets on with it.

[TW: Suicide Mention]

“I’m sure none of you wants to linger, so I’ll come right out with it.” She once again withdraws the small black notebook from her coat pocket, although it’s likely only a matter of theatricality when she flips through the pages and stops on one. “Poor Akira Shimeji thinks his biggest secrets are the spots he finds the best mushrooms, and it’s sure his talent’ll be less special once those are revealed. But maybe he’d also care to know that he’s the reason his mother killed herself. She just couldn’t bear the sight of him anymore, or what he reminded her of.”

The Devil snaps the notebook closed once more, never losing her smile, and tucks it away.

“Such a shame. She really hated you, y’know.” The Devil’s eyes are fixed on Akira as she says this, but then leave him as though she’d instantly lost interest, instead moving to pass over the rest of you. “I reckon it goes to show, some of you may think you have nothin’ to hide, but there’s things in your past that even you may not know about which I’m sure you’d prefer stayed that way. Ignorance is bliss, ain’t that how the sayin’ goes? Well, y’all seem like clever kids, I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that all ya gotta do to stop this is kill someone. Spare yourselves some sufferin’, why don’t you?”

Ash really didn’t think much about the note in her room. She was too tired to question it. Just go to the upper deck? Cool, she’ll get to that eventually. If it was something urgent, they wouldn’t have just left a note. She figured she had time to put on makeup. By now, Ash was beginning to accept what was going on. No one was dead yet, and from what she heard only three people from the original death game were actually killed, along with that one girl, so maybe she didn’t need to worry much. Or at least that’s what she thought until the Devil revealed there would be motives.  Wait, what? Now they’re just gonna fucking reveal their secrets until someone decided to kill? How the fuck did they even know this stuff? Well, at least Ash didn’t have too much to hide. Besides, these are just a bunch of high schooler’s secrets, how bad can it be? …PRETTY BAD, ACTUALLY. What the fuck? They were talking about another Jun, right? Not the Jun who was Nao’s sibling. The same Jun that was at movie night with all them? This couldn’t be right. But then… they confirmed it, and there was context for this? She sighed. Nothing made sense anymore.

“…This is gonna be hell, isn’t it?”

On the fourth morning since your arrival in the ‘Neath, you each discover a peculiar note posted on the inside of your cabin door, which may be especially alarming for those of you who hadn’t been sleeping much. Who had put it there? And when? Your roommate seems as clueless as you are.

Regardless of your feelings upon discovering it, you do get the impression it would be best to follow the brief instruction. At the very least it should satisfy the curiosity it evokes. Besides unless you were planning on staying inside the ship all day, you would likely have made a trip to the top deck at some point anyway.

Upon your arrival into the slightly chilly, salty air, you see the Smiling Devil waiting for you, standing at the bow of the ship. She stays there patiently until the last of you has filed out, and then takes a step forward and begins to speak.

“I can tell y’all’re wonderin’ what this is about, so I’ll cut to the chase. Obviously none of you has gotten around to committin’ a murder yet, and that’s just fine, an adjustment period is t’be expected… but in the event that goin’ home just ain’t temptin’ enough, I figured I oughta provide a little extra motivation. So! Startin’ out once a day, until one of you is dead, I’m gonna be revealin’ secrets. Your secrets, to be specific. And not just to your classmates here, either. Your secrets will be released to the public and the media back home, everyone’s gonna know. Now I’m sure some a’ you are thinkin’ that won’t be so bad, not everyone has secrets worth killin’ over, ah, but some of you do. And do ya really wanna risk fallin’ victim to that? Still, I reckon you might be reasonin’ with yourselves right now, imaginin’ there’s no way I could possibly know this or that about you- but I’ll tell you right now, we know everything. We have ways of findin’ out.”

“Just to really drive the point home, though, let’s start out with an example…” The Devil pulls a small notebook from an inside pocket on her jacket and theatrically flips through the pages. “Here we are! Oh, this is a fun one. Stalking, gaslighting, and inflicting psychological torture on a boy until he suffered a nervous breakdown and was forced to transfer schools is pretty extreme. Y’all might not want to get on Jun Fujiwara’s bad side, just sayin’. Pretty vicious for someone with such a cute face, I approve.”

She closes the notebook again and tucks it away, beaming out at you all.

“Not a bad start, is it? Though there’s a lot more to come. If any of you are feelin’ particularly concerned then feel free to call on me for a chat, there’s always a chance we can work somethin’ out.” She gives you all a jaunty little wave, and turns to leave, walking casually off the ship.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE MAPS PAGE!

Please note that maps are highly illegal in Fallen London– these images are for OOC reference only.

Room Assignments:

Cabin #1 - Nao and Banbi

Cabin #2 - Carla and Higanbana

Cabin #3 - Seraphina and Chase

Cabin #4 - Torahiko and Akira

Cabin #5 - Hiromi and Aka-san

Cabin #6 - Atumemhet and Kaguya

Cabin #7 - Kimiko and Anaki

Cabin #8 - Jun and Jasper

This woman- the Smiling Devil, apparently- is right about one thing: this is all a lot to process, in a very small amount of time, no less. So far you’ve woken up in an unknown, eerie place, noticed things that are different about yourself and others that strongly imply more than a single night has passed, and been told by a stranger that you have to kill each other. None of these developments are easy to swallow.

“Here now, don’t y’all fret too much, you’re gonna get a chance to settle in. I think I hear the good Captain comin’ now, and she’ll have a few words to share I shouldn’t wonder. Take some time to adjust, really let it all sink in, an’ then… well, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. But I reckon y’all will get the hang of it real quick, after all…”

“The other class did.”

Without waiting for a reaction, the Devil turns on her heel and steps right back into the shadows. The timing of her disappearance coincides almost perfectly with the arrival of a second woman, this one red-haired and, much to your relief, fully human in appearance.

The red-haired woman storms out from the interior of the ship, right towards the place where the Devil had been standing, a pistol in hand and her face alight with rage.

“Who the hell gave you the right to hijack my ship, you cursed, feckin’–”

The woman’s Irish brogue rings out loud and clear as she shouts after the no-longer-present Devil.  What was sure to be a lengthy tirade is now cut short due to the absence of its target.  So with the target of her ire gone, the woman turns her attention to you, the gathered students.  The frown doesn’t leave her face, but at least she puts the gun away.

“Looks like I’m stuck with you.”  Clearly, she’s as delighted about the situation as you are.  “You can call me the Flippant Zee-Captain.  This is my ship you’re on, not hers.  And I regret to inform you that you’re not in Tokyo anymore.  You’re in the Neath.  If you want to get specific, you’re off the coast of what used to be London.”

Wait, what.  There are so many weird things in that sentence.  The Captain, however, gives you no time to process that before she continues.

“You’re free to explore the city, but don’t wander off too far.  If Japanese is all you can speak, though, then you’re out of luck.  And fair warnin’: the area around the docks is pretty damn rough.”

“I’ll be givin’ what help I can.  The Devil might be runnin’ the game, but I’m the one runnin’ the ship.  There’s a doctor aboard if you need one, and if you need somethin’ else, come talk to me.  Or the engineer, if you can drag him out of his hole.

“In the meantime, you’ll be stayin’ in the crew’s quarters.  I’ve got keys with your names on them.”  That is an invitation to step right up and take the key to your new and hopefully temporary home, though it’s not quite a figure of speech.  The keys do have labels tied to them, stating which student they belong to and which door they open.

After the room keys have been handed out, the Captain steps back towards the gangplank.  “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got matters to attend to.”  And with that, she too departs.

Once the Captain has finished, it seems you’re all to be left to your own devices. Perhaps… you really should take that chance to process? Or maybe just jump right to exploring? At the very least you may want to speak to some of your classmates, seeing as how you’re all quite literally in the same boat at the moment.

It doesn’t have to stay that way, though. Now that you have a chance to look, you can see the ship is moored at a dock, and there’s a ramp on the port side leading down to it. Beyond that are the dim lights of a city, dark buildings huddled together, figures going about various business on the docks and beyond. Perhaps you could seek help there…? Assuming no one stops you from disembarking.

One thing is for sure though, that city looks nothing like Tokyo. Whether you believe everything you’ve just heard or not, you’re undeniably a long way from home. And if this is a nightmare, it’s one you can’t seem to wake up from.

Gained 1x Route: The Selkie

Gained 1x Route: Wolfstack Docks

Lost 1x Route: Hope’s Peak Academy.

“So y’all’re finally awake! Glad to see it, was beginnin’ to wonder if we’d be waitin’ here all day.” A cheerful voice, decidedly American in accent and carrying a heavy Southern twang, calls out to you all from the aft of the deck, and a pair of glowing green and yellow eyes appear in the shadows. They move forward, into the light, and prove to be attached to a young woman. Or something that looks like a young woman.

“I’m sure you’re just full a’ questions that’re itchin’ to be asked, but let me save us some time by layin’ out the basics right away. No, you aren’t dreaming, yes, this is really happenin’. Where you happen to be right now is a lovely ship, name of The Selkie, and I’m sure the Flippant Zee-Captain will be along in a moment to welcome you aboard. As for myself, you can call me the Smiling Devil, an’ I’m here to run a little game that y’all have been recruited for.”

She lets out a soft laugh, brief and sweet, completely at odds with the inhuman aspects of her eyes. For a moment you think, perhaps, that you see fangs in her mouth- but no, she’s smiling in complete accordance with her namesake, and her teeth are straight and white and perfectly normal.

Without a doubt your first week at Hope’s Peak Academy has been an eventful one. For some of you perhaps those events have been quiet or less noteworthy than expected, but you’ve all still had ample opportunity to get to know the campus and your new classmates. While the days haven’t always been smooth sailing, the future still holds plenty of promise.

On Sunday night, at some time or other, you end up in bed, ready to catch some sleep- whether it be a full night’s rest or a few snatched hours- before the start of the second week. Whatever the next day has to throw at you, you’re certain, as you drift off into dreamland, that you’ll be able to handle it.

You dream of light, shifting and ethereal. You dream of flowers, the heady scent of roses in a humid climate. You dream of water, the soft ebb and flow of the tides, and then a rhythmic slap and splash, as of waves against the hull of a ship.

Slowly at first, and then all at once, you realize that things are Wrong. You are laying on a hard, flat, unyielding surface. The sound of the water doesn’t fade as your awareness sharpens and your eyes open, you feel awake but this is not your bed, not your room, not any room.

You’re laying on a deck, which sways so gently beneath you as to be almost imperceptible. The air is open above you but it’s dark, the sky is dark, is it still night? Something doesn’t feel right… the stars look wrong, distant but not as much as they should be, and too neatly spaced, and- oh god, are they moving? Did those two just blink…? 

He nods. That’s good. 

At her guess, he just shrugs. “And you’d be right”, he confirms. “I’m the SHSL Illustrator. Take that how you will”, he just says, not feeling like it’s the most miraculous thing in the world but also he’s in HPA holy fuck???

Ash laughs. While she had been thinking more along the lines of graffiti or someone who did those weird performance art pieces no one can make sense of, looks like she was at least in the right field. 

“Illustrating, huh? That’s pretty cool. Must be really good to have been accepted here.” 

Alright, they’re probably pretty close to the dorms by now. She glances back at the map. Okay, right turn here and then it’s just straight ahead the rest of the way. Continuing to lead the way, she keeps trying to make a little conversation. Akasan may not be talking much, but she still wants to try getting to know her classmates.

Nope, that’s about right.  Jun is casually reading a grimoire.  Or, well, they were.  They look up from the book when they hear the sound of someone approaching.  They keep their stare mostly on Ash.  Though when she asks her question, Jun looks down at the book, as if to check and see what she’s talking about, before looking back up at her.

“That depends.  On what you think it is.  We just met.  I don’t want to destroy your perception of reality yet.”

That’s bad manners, Jun thinks.  They’re supposed to make nice with their classmates.  For now.

Well that’s a little scary. Ash never had a good history with this kind of stuff. Honestly, it kind of scared her. Her. The one who’s usually making the scares. But there was just something about the paranormal and the supernatural that made her a bit anxious.