未確認動物学

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The sound of the door creaking open did a good job of snapping her out of that worrisome trance she put herself in, and as instinct would have it, Sayuri ducked behind a workout bench she was already looking under for a little-girl sized vent. Whoever this idiot was, the person probably just wanted to come and use the room for its intended use maybe even grab a weight to commit the first crime. As luck would have it though, the idiot was Umiko, somebody Sayuri could stand to talk to a second time. She gingerly placed the pot onto the equipment, to not startle both Togemura and the other girl. Once she stood up, Sayuri called out to her in her more gentle voice.

She calmed down immediately, but there was still a note of anxiety in the air. She'd been incredibly lucky that the person she'd noticed was the gardener and not, say, that horrible boy from before. Because, if it had been... She tried to push that thought out of her mind as she slowly rose to greet Sayuri, making a mental note to be more observant. "Oh, hello Kawakamii-san. I... well, yes, but..." She stopped for a moment, wondering if there was a way to dance around the question, but dancing, physically or mentally, was not her forte. "I was actually looking to see if there were things I could use for, er, physical therapy." Though she wasn't particularly fond of talking about her disability with others, she [hoped] thought she could trust Sayuri.

Subaru had taken little time getting moving from the gym but something was on her mind. Umiko was so slow. And that had nothing to do with the cane, either. In fact, it wasn’t even really her physical pace that was bothering her - it was her mental speed. Umiko seemed like a pretty smart girl. She was smart enough to be a cryptozoo-whatever it was, after all. But then why was it that she spent so much time worrying over every little thing that entered her head? Subaru frowned at the thought. She really was gonna grey her hair early like that. "You know—" she began in an almost sing-song tone of voice. "If you keep worrying like this someone might think you’re planning something so they’ll try to beat you to it and next thing you know—" her voice suddenly sounded like a bang, "Thud! Slash! Kapooooooooow!" her arms went out wide. "You’re history!" Subaru briefly paused in leading the way as she turned to face Umiko before shrugging and laughing. "Hahaha, I’m just kidding of course but seriously, Onodera-nee, seriously! Relax a little. Let’s just see how it plays out." she waved a hand. Then it was time to get moving again.

"No one’s gonna come after me, anyway." Subaru prattled on, her eyes wandering as she tried to connect the corridors to the ones from the map she’d tried to memorize. For whatever reason she didn’t want to look at the map. It was kinda like… it ruined the challenge of it. Hey, it wasn’t much but you had to try and find something fun to do when you had the chance right? Otherwise you’d just get all weird and paranoid or something like the others were. Or just plain old bored. Neither was a particularly exciting prospect. "They’d know better than to target me! My courage will always keep my alive, you know?" she said it in such a matter-of-fact way that she made it hard for people to disagree despite it being such a ridiculous thing to say… let alone think in the first place.

Although it had seemed like she’d ignored it earlier, Subaru was still partially thinking about what Umiko had said about disliking water… or rather, not doing well with it. That… was really unfortunate. She wasn’t much of a swimmer, sure, but, it was pretty fun to like, just relax in a bath or at a beach or something. To think Umiko couldn’t do that… or was too uncomfortable to do that… somehow that gave Subaru a little chill. Negative things like that often did so she tried to push it to the back of her mind before tilting her head back and giving her yet another small smile. "Doing alright?"

Umi started up again, working back up to the pace she'd been at, and it wasn't long at all before Subaru spoke up again. "Oh?" While the thought that someone would come after herself had definitely popped into her mind, thinking about someone going after Subaru hadn't... but then it did, reminding her of her status as the other girl's protector. "I wouldn't be sure of that, Oshima-san. I think if someone were to kill, they would see us both as... prime targets, given I'm, ah, guarding you at the moment." All one would have to do to get at the mangaka was topple Umi over and take her cane. Hell, the cane could even be used as the murder weapon. "I hope you know what you're talking about," she sighed, trudging on through the long hallway.

As they made their way down the hallway at a fraction of the face Subaru probably would've normally been going at, Umi frowned at the growing soreness in her legs, and general fatigue. She'd done a good bit of walking today, more than she'd normally do, and she was feeling it, badly. As much as she hated to admit it, maybe soaking in a tub wouldn't be so bad... as long as the water wasn't too deep. At the very least, maybe she could stick her legs in and - Subaru's voice drew her away from these thoughts. "I'm fine," she replied curtly, struggling to speed up even a little.

a mothman and a mothwoman

She had just been about to storm out of this lousy gymnasium and find the cryptozoologist herself when, like magic, just as thought to do so she saw the girl’s head pop into the room. Hm. Perhaps her voice had been louder than she’d thought. Or no, no, perhaps it had just been destiny - right as Subaru had wanted to see her, she appeared! Yeah, that had a better ring to it, she found. Subaru skipped over to the black-haired girl as she entered and then blinked at her question. "TV head-tachi? Nooope, they weren’t here - never were. I wouldn’t be here if they were!" she paused here to laugh. "They really kill my creative buzz, y’know?" she then, for whatever reason, felt perhaps Umiko wasn’t listening and frowned. More than not listening she had that expression of fear on her face again - of anxiety and nervousness. "Onodera-saaan, were you spacing out? Geez! There’s that "I’ve seen a ghost" face again!" the smaller blonde laughed such a carefree laugh it was hard to imagine her even being in such a strange and grim situation. She gave the girl an almost wry smile as if to say she somewhat understood before it faded and she began tugging on her sleeve, pink eyes lighting up. Something had clearly sparked in her head. "What are you so worried about? Shouldn’t we have just like, a little tiiiny bit of confidence in our class mates?" Subaru gave a light shrug. She actually hadn’t bothered thinking about most of them herself but they weren’t exactly just gonna start killing each other over nothing were they? Or because little TV heads told them to, right? That would just be ridiculous. If they were so easily manipulated then they kinda deserved whatever came their way. Harsh, maybe, but that’s how it worked in shounen. There should be no place for evil in this world, after all.

"Oh, I know!" she began. After tugging on the taller’s sleeve, Subaru retracted her hand and stuck her arms behind her back again. A cheeky smile began to appear on her face."Let’s go take a relaxing bath, Onodera-san! Ah, ah, actually to christen our time together…" Subaru began to tap her cheeks rhythmically, her eyes wandering in thought before they lit up once more, like little pink fireworks, and her head whirled back to Umiko. "How about Onodera-nee? Haha, do you like it? It’s ‘cause you’re so realiable!" Perhaps it would seem insensitive, the word reliable given Umiko’s disability but really, the mangaka gave it little thought. She had always felt honesty was the best policy and well, wasn’t it reassuring to be told your were realible? She felt safe in Umiko’s company and well, she just wanted the worrying girl to realize that. Nothing bad was gonna happen - of course not! The good guys always came out on top, after all.

But Oshima-san spoke again, causing Umi to frown. If someone did decide to kill, she herself would likely end up as a ghost. The next words out of Subaru's mouth, however, caused her to pause. "I... suppose you do have a point, but... we can't know if the other groups are as peaceful as our own." She did trust most of them, or at least wanted to. However, at least one of them, the boy she'd had the confrontation with in the hallway... she could easily see him murdering. It wasn't hard for her mind to take that a step further. Would he kill her? She couldn't be 100% sure, but after his words and his actions, she thought it likely that he might at least try at one point. She gripped her cane tighter.

Again, Subaru drew her back out of her negative thoughts, this time with a jerk on her sleeve. She looked back to the mangaka, who'd perked up considerably. The idea that had caused her to do so however, caused Umi to freeze. "O-Oshima-san, I'm not sure that's the best idea, I don't do well around water..." Her grasp on the cane tightened even more, but Subaru seemed unaware. Onodera...-nee? Umi felt her face heat up slightly. "Oshima-san, if someone came after you, I don't think I would be able to protect you," she admitted, shifting slightly as Subaru rushed past her to the door. Perhaps she could talk some sense into the mangaka, and—

Yaoshikepu (ヤオシケプ) is a part-human-part-spider kami that haunts the town of Abuta Toyoura in Hokkaidō,

Japan. Yaoshikepu was eventually transformed into an octopus (Akkorokamui) and was cast into the sea. Since then, she has been sighted for many centuries.

The Legend

Ugh, this was so boring! Subaru’s eyebrows were knit in a kind of frustration and her entire face felt tight. Her fingers were itching for a pen to hold. Or at least, something fun to read. Being stuffed here with no good company and no access to anything of any interest was beginning to make her feel a little lightheaded somehow. Well, lightheaded and a little grumpy too, anyway. Suddenly, the sound system crackled with sound. Seems like TV head-tachi were back and up to no good again. What would it be this time?

"Hnn?" she perked her head up at the familiar voice… well voices. She had to admit, Teku-tan was easier to get fed up with given its choice of tempo but both had been speaking and honestly she supposed both bots were kind of evil. Oh well. If this was their best effort to get them to murder each other it was kiiinda lame. But, well, she supposed it would be kind of excited being with a member of the Hope team. It seemed like she actually hadn’t come across many… there was Katsumi and probably a couple of others but meeting new ones was always fun. And yet, she wasn’t meeting a new one - a familiar name greeted her ears from the TV heads - Onodera Umiko. She smiled to herself - out of all the people to draw! It was good fortune, she was sure she’d be in good company with Umiko. Subaru threw her arms behind her head looking the picture of relaxation.

The one with the less grating voice spoke first (she thought its name was Noro-dono, and a quick reminder of its voice pointing out her weakness was enough to confirm that thought), and the revelation that they hadn't been kidding about them having to murder each other caused her face to visibly pale. "I... I didn't... hear anyone say that..." Her words were meaningless to both the empty corridor and to the TV-headed twins, who continued on. 

Wait. Wait wait wait wait wait wait. She stared blankly up at the overhead speakers, brows furrowed almost angrily. Did they honestly expect her, in the condition she was in, to be able to protect anyone? Despite the severity of the situation, Umi laughed. The laugh was not the most stable sound, and it ended quickly after it started. Subaru? She was supposed to protect Oshima-san? The mangaka was shorter than her, yes, but that was the only disadvantage the girl had in comparison to herself. 

"Nine...?" There was a slight tone of trepidation to her voice, before she realized that whatever he meant, it wasn't the number. It was apparently some sort of negatory, though, because after that, he conceded the contest. Umi beamed widely, though that was hampered slightly by her hand being unsteady and she almost high fived him instead of giving a handshake. She was frowning intensely in concentration as she managed to finally shake his hand. 

“I’m sure it will,” Juzou said, still smiling thinly, “though I’ll admit you might have to educate me on why. This is— Christian, right? I was never any good at English, though the iconography seems familiar from, ah, experience.”

He stopped himself before he could allude too strongly to Christian funerals, still wary of inspiring the same reaction as he had the first time he’d mentioned his title. Conveniently, Umiko changed the topic for him before he could firmly place his foot in his mouth again.

“Not quite,” he admitted to her next question, hoping that wouldn’t draw attention to the fact that that firmly struck out any possibility of him examining the kitchen knives for culinary purposes. “But there’s… fourteen, fifteen… sixteen of us?” He frowned for a moment, his counting slowed by the fact he could only identify most of them by characteristics rather than names or faces. The exact number mattered little at this point, regardless — what was significant was the sheer numbers of them. If the ‘headmasters’ weren’t Hope’s Peak’s administration, they must still have been enjoying Hope’s Peak’s resources to be able to supply enough food and space for their entire class. “I imagine the kitchen is well-stocked, unless we’re meant to be dying of starvation.”

The sound of her stomach, though he observed it uncritically, gave him a idea.

The sheer amount of glee with which the mortuary-tech accepted the medal made Umiko's smile grow even more, and it was probably the most genuine smile she'd had during the short time since they'd woken up in here. Something that helped that along was not having to pin it on Juzou herself; she wasn't steady with pins herself, and considering she'd already pricked herself on one, she wasn't too eager to try again this soon, especially on someone else. She watched him try to read the fancy script on the medal with curiosity written on her face. She herself knew what they were called, even if she couldn't pronounce it very well, but not much beyond that. 

His words brought her back to the subject of the medal, and she nodded at his deduction. "Yes, it's the Catho... Catha... um." She stopped for a moment to try and sound it out mentally, but that must've not gone well either. "It's the part of, er, Christianity, with the man in white who wears the strange hat." The rest of the information he'd asked for, though, she could tell him. Some of it, at least. "It definitely brings luck to travelers. That's the main reason I have it. It... also is good for other things, but I'm not sure of them off the top of my head."

So he'd went straight to checking for dangerous things. If he truly had no intention to kill anyone, then his knowledge of the possible murder weapons could come in handy. She shifted awkwardly, nodding again to confirm his estimate (she'd checked the beds, and there were eight in the Hope dorm, so it made sense that Despair would have just as many). 

In honesty, she was somewhat worried about how he would react upon finding out about her link with the often fabled creatures. She still wasn't exactly sure how well Sakata-san had taken to it. She hoped that the singer would be a bit more open-minded. 

"How long? Well... when I was six, I fell overboard on the boat my dad works on. I... I almost drowned. But I saw a ningen, and I believe that it saved me. Once I was in the hospital... things changed. Schoolwork didn't seem particularly important anymore, but cryptids were very, very important." She fell silent for a moment before adding one more thing. "After that, I've had a link with cryptids ever since."