the details of being human.

Okay, really he should have expected retaliation, maybe he was asking for it. He might’ve banked on Joshua being too lazy to exert the energy to retaliate but…

Head sticks out of pile of snow with a glare ( except you started this, you goddamn idiot ), but he’s nothing if not stupid and stubborn, and his pin hasn’t ran out of energy quite yet, so he’s just going to throw another decently sized pile of snow on top of Joshua. You two can be cold together now!

so it is! joshua’s taking the time neku’s under to brush his hair and clothes out of snow, annoyed by the way now it was everywhere-- neku, he now looks like a miserable dog and it’s all your fault.

... oof.

look at that. they’re snowmen together.... until joshua finally gains enough bearings to levitate his way out of the snow pile, floating as he shakes the residual snow free. 

Listen, he doesn’t want to hear it from you of all people, mister cannot be bothered to do anything. Still, being off the field means he can use his pins now, so—

Casually uses psychokinesis to lift up some of the snow on the ground and dumps it on Composer’s head.

.... brr. look at that. composer now has a pile of snow on his head. he’s so not amused, but really, whose fault is it? joshua, you were too busy being smug to dodge, after all. 

“Really, we should all be working together to get out of this place... what good is a divided community going to do? If one can’t combine their talents together, then there’s no way hope will be achieved... ”

“Souma-kun!” 

heya! just a late night ill timed note that i won’t be dropping empyrea threads or old threads on my end-- i know some people are but i can’t keep track of who they were i’m so sorry! i’m just out here replying to everything because writing is genuinely my passion. but if you DID drop and you get a reply from me please do not fret-- i just like replying and you can safely drop it on your end. i’m just like that. i’m sorry.

( if you do want to reply, however, please just volley that thing back to me, i’ll cry over your writing on any given day ) 

“Well, about that-“ He was about to make an explanation in a concrete format, but despite thinking he could reply without a tinge of emotion (the robot stereotype he wished for, for once), his voice seemed to not cooperate with him. “We had a class trial and… Kaede was the culprit.” Kibo voice, his tone breaking the slightest when he had mentioned Kaede’s name. He knew that Rantaro would obviously know the latter already, considering she had murdered him. That was something Kibo would prefer to forget though, even if it was fact. Kibo won’t even try to nudge and ask questions about how that was like! After all, he didn’t enjoy murder or violence of any kind.

“Saihara was broken after that revelation… We all were after her motivational speech about getting out of the academy…” He paused, searching around for the memories of the first trial in his motherboard. “Then we all had to vote for the culprit, before we knew it, Monokuma hit a button with his mallet and she was executed-”

He was going to describe how the execution went to Rantaro but the macabre imagery, even if it was fresh in his mind, he just couldn’t utter it out. The only thing he could say about it was one sentence and nothing else. “It was horrifying.”

kaede. every time he hears that name, it’s like a blow to the chest—he’s heard the gist of it from saihara-kun, of course. the whole fiasco. how things had truly went. the reality of the pain to the back of his head— he had no first hand proof of his death, but all the second hand accounts seemed to fit together as if they were rehearsed before hand—

or true.

it’s still a little hard to believe that he’d died. he’s in denial, almost.

“… that so.”

he hadn’t heard about how broken saihara was. that’s…had he been alright? of course, kaede had been a pretty stunning leader. amami had thought she had what it takes to get to the end.

… she’d shined too bright.

“… don’t need to say it. think i can guess.”

execution, a gruesome word. he doesn’t want kiibo to relieve it. the crack in his words are enough to see how much he’d cared for kaede— and he knew it must be tough to relay this.

( even if kiibo was a robot. )

“was wondering more about …”

tilting his head.

Snap. Words slice through the wire that holds her emotions together, and without missing a beat, her lips contort into a bared tooth scowl. Misguided anger rages forth. A longing to be with her teammates again, to do the job she was born to do. The sense of helplessness of being brought here with no apparent form of return. Vanishing islands. The dead coming back to life. It all gushes forth on someone who is only doing their best to help.

“ I don’t need you to tell me what’s alright and what isn’t! ” Ebene pauses, trying to rein herself in, but if there’s one thing she’s not good at, it’s hitting the breaks when the train has already started running.“ I should know something- anything- but I don’t! ”

haha, welp. he should have expected this. the scowl, the rage, he takes it all.

it’s not him the other’s angry at, after all. his smile does fall into a line, not entirely kind enough to take things that graciously. the person in front of him was a stranger that he never had to see again.

but a stranger was a person, and a person was a… person. everyone had a time when they were down. and when separated from comfort…

amami knows the pain of unwanted adventure.

the anger flows over him like water.

“hey, understand you’re frustrated.”

his arms cross habitually.

“was a lot to go through. but don’t think beating yourself over not knowing things will get you anywhere.”

voice sharp, cutting in. it’s not a tone he tends to like using. but to stop a running train, some outside force could help— though in the end, she had to hit the brakes on her own.

a sky island. while she imagined it was a lot less expansive than the ‘sea of clouds’ her brother told her stories of, it was certainly breathtaking to see a floating island in person. even more so to tread foot upon its soil. she was no stranger to airships, and quite frankly had been happy to get off the island which had held her captive from her own world for several weeks. the cold air upon her face felt nice, and the exciting buzz that filled the atmosphere reminded her at least somewhat of home.

all in all, she was enjoying her time in this place. alisaie had always been the adventurous sort — much more comfortable dashing around and exploring than sitting in a stuffy library like her twin. while she explored, alisaie mulled over the sites she had seen on empyrea thus far. the ruins were not so much of a new sight to her as some of the people she had encountered, considering she spent most of her life adventuring through ruins or watching as others studied them (while attempting not to doze off from boredom).

alisaie was fueled by a desire to learn more of this world, though. perhaps that was why she felt so invested in exploring everything this island had to offer. maybe she could find clues about how to get home? a long shot, but one she was willing to take all the same.

currently, her gaze was fixated on a large clock tower that was beautifully built. despite the obvious wear of time on it, the structure was still intact and quite impressive. as she investigated the tower, alisaie had come to the top floor and stopped with a small sigh. the tower itself was breathtaking in itself, but hadn’t given her any more answers to the questions she was asking. alisaie had spot a coffin of sorts, but she hadn’t dared try to open it, feeling uncomfortable with the idea. 

soon, alisaie had heard footsteps approaching. with a hand hovering over the rapier at her side, the elezen turned to look at the approaching figure as they neared the top of the stairs. seeing how this figure turned out to be just a boy, albeit an unarmed one, alisaie moved her hand away from her weapon as she let her guard fall for the moment.

“isn’t everyone?” she replied curtly, raising an eyebrow in silent questioning. 

was the other someone from koi, or perhaps one of the residents of the floating island? 

she couldn’t be sure, but at least she seemed to have the upper hand if combat came to pass. alisaie folded her arms over her chest, gaze focused on the young male, “who are you? and did you arrive on one of the airships?”

the hand hovering at the rapier before it falls isn’t something amami’s eye misses— it’s taken in stride, and he laughs a little awkwardly, hand going to rub at the back of his neck. the clock tower, the clock tower. of course other people would come to explore it. it was perhaps one of the most defining traits of this area.

“you’re right. might have asked too obvious of a question. ”

c’mon, amami. stay on your toes. you’re not the only one exploring here. he’s glad that he’s met another explorer though! the other sentient humans he’d met had made it rather clear he was not welcome.

he’s easygoing, almost too much so. he takes stock of the area before his eyes rest on the girl in front of him— still close to the stairs, ready to bolt should he need to. amami was not a fighter— if he had to put his skills in rpg terms, he’d probably be more of a scout.

didn’t mean he’d let his guard down, though.

“guess you’re a little wary of me. well, that’s fine. the name’s rantaro amami, yeah?”

steady gaze meets the stranger’s, though he’s a little reassured that the stranger herself seemed to not want to attack him right now. that could change in an instant, however. life was like that, wasn’t it? situations could change second by second. amami was rather used to it’s whiplash by now.

especially on an island that he’d reached by rather fantastical means— who knew what would happen here? he keeps an open mind, but also is wary of danger— an adventurer to the core.

     She hadn’t really been paying much attention to the announcements, but she had heard enough of them to be well…pissed would be what she felt in the moment, but now her anger is just simmering. She’s annoyed, but she’s fueled to figure out more about what’s going on here, not just for herself but for the others that are here as well.

     Entering the research facility again is still unsettling, but it’s something she has to do. She wants to be able to trust this place, trust the mayor, despite all the secrets being hidden from them. She doesn’t want like what happened at the academy to happen again. She doesn’t want to doubt what’s real and what’s fiction.

     …Even if she’s supposed to just be fiction herself.

     She walks through the halls, this time checking all that she can, but all she ends up finding torn and half-shredded papers, which tells her nothing. She sighs, and keeps walking. This is something she’s admittedly doing as a last minute check, but it’s better than nothing.

     She hears someone call out to her and turns around, only to be greeted by someone that she knows should be dead…but considering what she’s seen already, she shouldn’t be surprised.

     “Yeah. I…felt like I needed to come back here after those announcements.”

     It’s somewhat unsettling how casual this conversation is, but that’s what Amami was like after all. It’s almost comforting.

     “I could say the same to you, you know. I really didn’t expect to see you either.”

the girl in front of him he hadn’t seen in a while. a child caretaker isn’t quite the talent he’d expect to encounter when exploring— but he’d always thought that it’d rang dissonant with the girl in front of him. but haha, who was he kidding? he was an ultimate ??? doubling as an ultimate survivor— the hypocrisy of judging others by their perceived talent isn’t lost on him. 

the research facility holds tales now lost to time. it’s only apt that amami finds himself gravitating towards the tomb of forgotten secrets, when the cloud of his own forgotten history fogged his mind. it was suffocating.

“looks like i wasn’t the only one, huh?”

he’d expected some alone time, this time around. some time to gather his thoughts after those announcements… being known so intimately isn’t something he likes. 

“haha. guess i can be a little unpredictable. just wanted to recheck some things. ”

the last time he’d been here was with momota-kun, after all. the amount of exploring he’d been able to do had been ... questionable.

secret holder to secret holder— what other place would he be? harukawa doesn’t seem very surprised to see him— so he supposes she’s been around some other dead classmates. 

from the killing game he’d started.