WEEK FIVE

[whimsicalism]

WEEK FIVE

There's one thing that belongs in Closetland: Monsters.

It was a monster that brought the students here to begin with, and it's a monster who controls their lives now. By now, some have even accused their classmates of turning into--or always being--monsters themselves.

The academy is just as cold as it was last week, autumn air seeping in through the unfriendly architecture and the artificial light seeming darker than before. The occasionally cloud of purple fog snakes through the hallways at ground level, a constant reminder of the new presence haunting the school and her role in the past five weeks of torment. Now that Kakuya is back in a body of her own making, the music room is silent, though the rooms and halls of the Academy themselves occasionally fill with a low, haunting flute melody. With the school's new overlord already wishing her ill, Nanami's already deflating power and free roam capabilities are more or less completely limited as well: She's just one more toy in the box.

The stairwell has opened into another new floor. Upon closer inspection, it seems to be the uppermost one. This is the top of Ira Academy, and while it likely bears some new answers and some new locations to try and find a solution to your plight, is there anything that can heal some of the rifts that formed from the accusations thrown at the last trial? Still, if you don't find answers, then you'll be here playing this eternal deadly game.

Is the devil you know better than the devil you don't?

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday
Regains | AC | IC Profiles | Locations | Mystery Information | Sheep Contact | Nanami Contact | Kakuya Contact

OOC NOTES

Welcome to Week 4! Nanami has joined the party! She no longer has office hours but still be contacted privately, as can Kakuya, who is no longer stuck in the music room. New locations are now open, and some minor adjustments have been made to the IC profiles and rules. Please hit the mods with a ping in Discord and put INVESTIGATE in your subject line if you're interested in exploring a new location. The SHEEP are still taggable, though you may find them in a...different mood.

You now have a week to make sure your AC in for last week and to start collecting AC for this week. Remember to submit your regains, and sign up for a spot exploring this week's mystery if you want to!

Comments

idt I'll make a top-level until later in the week so I think?? this is the best way to handle this

[copycut]

[ Kuro doesn't say anything else about it during the meeting. When dinner rolls around, though, it's obvious that she hasn't forgotten. Yasu will find her loitering around the entrance of the cafeteria, waiting to intercept her when she tries to leave. ]

Hi~ [ Her tone is cheerful, in a way that doesn't match her expressionless face. ] Do you want to head upstairs with me? I thought you might want to visit the butterfly room again.

[keyringwitness]

The garden, hm...? A good place as any to talk. Pity there aren't any roses, now that would be especially thematic.

[Flippant reference to the mystery that she once struggled to solve with Kuro (and eventually reached the solution of while refusing to give her any more hints than were already in the text), Yasu follows after her.

Once they reach the garden, Yasu stands amidst the illusory butterflies for a moment, perfectly still as they crawl across her and alight on her arms. It almost seems like she's the hologram, and that the butterflies are real.

The only motion that betrays her is the slight trembling in her hands.

Then, the moment passes, and she flicks a wax-sealed envelope (if nothing else, Beatrice's appreciation for dramatics is something that Yasu greatly admires) out of her sleeve and tosses it at Kuro.]

If anybody deserves to know my secrets, it's you. There always needs to be a piece that can counter even the strongest play, and there are none more suitable than you, partner.

[She's quiet. The bravado in her inflection is even more hollow than usual.]

Just know that once you open that, there's no going back.

[copycut]

[ Kuro catches the envelope, easy and casual. ]

Is that so? Well, I'm flattered you'd place so much faith in me. [ She turns the envelope around in her hands—but, she doesn't move to immediately break the seal. Idly, the presses the nail of her thumb beneath its lip. ] Don't worry. I think you know I'm not the type to move any direction but forward.

[ Still, she doesn't open it. ]

I asked to talk alone because I want to hear what you have to say, when you don't feel like you need to put on the face of a mean, scary monster for everyone. Is that what you gave me?

[keyringwitness]

...It's the truth. Of why I am a monster, not just wearing the face of one.

[Each word impacts with conviction, yet even her resolute attitude can't hide how fatigued Yasu sounds.]

I thought you should know. So that you understand what you're talking to before we make our gameplan.

[copycut]

Hm, is that so? [ Her voice is casual, or maybe even disinterested—but with the way her eyes lower toward the envelope, maybe that's a facade of her own. ] But, you know, even if that's true — you're still just you.

[ The sound of the envelope torn cuts through the final syllable. Kuro peels the wax seal back. For a long while, she's quiet, until she finally folds the letter back into its envelope and tucks it inside a pocket. ]

Let me ask you something, Yasu. Is Kakuya the miracle you hoped for?

[keyringwitness]

Yes.

[Yasu answers unhesitatingly, then pauses, shrinking back slightly as if trying to rewind and add a tactful, considerate silence before she blurted the monosyllable out.]

It's simple, when you get down to it, even when everything else... isn't. She understands me, knows that I'm not entirely lying when I talk about not being fully human and doesn't try to argue that I'm not, and... it feels better, somehow, than when everyone is making a desperate case that I'm a real girl. And I understand her, too. I understand the way she loves, how similar it is the way that I love her even if it's not exactly the same...

You can't call something like that anything but a miracle, right?

[She drifts off, somehow staring through Kuro, back through the story that they've shared together.]

But it's not just Kakuya. Everyone here has been so kind to me. I feel like I have human friends for the first time, even if... even if they all hate me now.

I meant what I said. If I have to choose, I'll choose Kakuya. [Yasu's voice trembles.] But I don't want to choose. I want everyone to be happy, even with all the people that she's hurt, and- and I know that's selfish, that it's too much, but if the universe gave me one miracle already... maybe I can find a way to get through this without...

Without having to choose between monster and human.

[copycut]

It's okay, Yasu. I've already told you, right? No matter what you say, I won't condemn you for your feelings. Maybe they're selfish, and maybe they're greedy... But, in a way, that might make them stronger than anyone's.

So— You'll never give up on your miracle, right? [ Kuro giggles a little, and waves a hand as if to cut Yasu off before she can answer. ] It's okay. You don't have to tell me. In fact, if you were to say that you would... I don't know if I could imagine a bigger insult!

[ Through that space between them, Kuro smiles. ]

Yasu-chan, do you want to hear a secret from me, too?