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

[whimsicalism]

[Here Reika's voice comes through clearly. It starts out very authoritative:]

Yasu-chan, we'll discuss this later.

[And is now back to cheerful and friendly!]

We're in Kakuya's "hometown," so to speak, or a recreation of it. We've learned of two people who seem to be important figures from her past. One is an author named Yakumo Miroku, who wrote a horror version of the story of Princess Kaguya, but for children. She's described as doll-like. Someone seems to have read the story over and over, but also scratched out another story he wrote, and removed his picture from the cover.

The other is an idol named Momo Kuruse, whom she seems to have a grudge against. We don't know why.

There's more, but I'll let the others explain.

[violence_ensues]

[Transcribing... transcribing...]

[hashtagwoof]

[ Looks over Adorabat's shoulder... ]

Note to self, give Emma the Sparknotes version of this talk if she can't read any of that.

[spychic]

[Anya herself takes mental note of this. She glances at Adorabat's notes....then glances back at the others for a second. One of you older ones help transcribe, too, she seems to imply, but she hums to show she's listening.]

Alright.

Luz, you can go next. After Luz is Thomasin. Then Edward. Not all at the same time, take turns.

Everyone gets a chance to speak.

[canreallymove]

[You know what, he can do that. He thankfully has Nicole with him so he is typing furiously.]

[whimsicalism]

[Reika still:]

You're doing very well, Anya-chan.

[Luz, as indicated, chimes in next:]

So we're in Kakuya's hometown, Kakuriyo, like Reika said, and... apparently we're also still in the academy? Which is in Utsushiyo somehow. I don't know the specifics. But we always wind up in this one bathtub when we turn up here-

Also, my... feet hurt? Like, they have for a while. Hey, does... anyone else's feet sorta hurt?

[whimsicalism]

[This devolves into... Luz and Reika talking about shoes before someone grabs the phone from them.]

[violence_ensues]

Y'ALL STOP TALKING ABOUT SHOES!

[whimsicalism]

[They do not. Sorry, Adorabat. At last someone takes it away from them.]

[spychic]

Thank you, Reika.

Hm...a bathtub. Weird.

Okay...Thomasin?

[whimsicalism]

Ao was taken strangely from the first, by her who you call Kakuya. She knew not her name. Father never used it.

He threw Ao into the mirror that jailed Kakuya when she defied him, thinking she would eat of her. Instead, she was possessed. The spirit hath used her voice with you, but here, she had her body. 'Twas only in the last weeks Ao freed herself, when Kakuya was distracted... when she killed Yuta.

[ There's an awkward, tentative pause. ]

Pray pardon me, I've little to say next to the others. But first, I... I would tell thee — I was false with you all, to protect myself. I meant no harm in it, but it was still wrong... and I am sorry of it. Most to you, Carrie, and Yasu. That is all.

[spychic]

[noting this along...]

...You're forgiven, Thomasin. None of us are mad. You were scared.

Edward?
After that will be Valmont, then Yuta. Then Dylan, then Jeanne.

And then if Ao wants to add anything on, since we haven't actually met her yet here....

[whimsicalism]

[It's time for Edward!]

It's... possible that we're in a different time. Anything with a date that I've seen says 1999, and from what I've seen of the technology that holds up, though I'm less familiar with Japan in the late 90s than America. It's also possible that time is not advancing here. This place is nothing like how hell is described, certainly, and I doubt everyone here would deserve an eternity of punishment. It seems like...

[He pauses.]

It seems that those of us who are here may be able to return, if there is some way back that can be found. We can remember dying, but... None of this is what death is normally like. There's some stores, a train, houses and apartments... everything is very purple.

Beyond the realm of speculation, I can tell you that Kakuya cannot resist playing any games that are proposed to her. Perhaps it's some kind of compulsion.

[spychic]

....

Maybe we can make her play the float down a box in the river game.

[anya]

Thank you, Edward.

Moving on~

[whimsicalism]

[You asked for this, Anya.]

Get me out of here! This place is an absolute nightmare - there's nowhere to go, we've got these dinky little apartments, the company is atrocious, and don't get me started on the thread count of the sheets -

[Thankfully, Valmont is cut off as the next person takes the phone from him.]

[hashtagwoof]

[ In response to the yellywagger before someone takes the phone away from him: ]

Shut up, at least you're not totally dead!

[whimsicalism]

[And almost on the tail of Valmont the person who took the phone, Yuta, adds:]

I still stand by what I said. No one's more useful dead than alive. But we're still making ourselves useful over here, too. Don't forget about us, okay? We're doing our best.

[spychic]

...

Anya's glad Valmont is still the same.

Okay...Dylan, then Jeanne? Anything else?

And then anything from Miss Ao?

[whimsicalism]

[Dylan first:]

I...don't really have much to say, after the...masks and doll stuff. Haven't found much else yet. But-I promise, if there's anything else we can do to help, I'll get it done!

Everyone, please try to be safe. I know it's redundant at this point, but bad things happen on Thursday nights, just...stay inside your rooms, or if you really, really want to go on patrol...make plans to do it with people instead of going it alone.

And...

[There's a noise that sounds like a gulp on the other end of the phone line.]

And...Dewey, Sonic, Adorabat? Please...please stay alive. I...I can't do anything from here, but...

I don't want anything else hurting my family.

[whimsicalism]

[Jeanne has clearly had a fair bit of time to prepare this entire speech. Was she fuming in a corner for some reason? Perish the thought! She does have a French accent now though because of the multilingual rush.]

I believed at first that we had been rendered spirits the same as Kakuya that could pass freely with enough energy. Ao's testimony and other events have dissuaded me of this notion; I am working hard as I promised Emma, but Kakuya's possession and manifestation abilities are on an entirely different level from ours. We are little pieces in Kakuya's game, just as when we were alive. Everything that appears here is tied to her whims and feelings.

The only thing that she cannot control is our hearts. And her own. From the start she has designed this as a game, when her monsters could have made light work of us on Mondays if released all at once. While there might be lies and illusions, and brutality that might be beyond your ability to understand or forgive, do not disregard the emotions of anyone around you. In the artifacts, there has been plenty of practice seeing the world through another's eyes. Follow the laws and make them your own. Win.

[Jeanne swallows.]

I am no saint kneeling before a throne in heaven, but I will pray.

[lets_dewey_it]

Edward? Before you go...

I'm protecting Anya with my life. Just like you told me to keep on doing in your letter. I promise I won't let her get hurt.

And... Thanks for keeping my keytaur safe.

[keyringwitness]

...well, um... that part about Miroku fills in some gaps, at least.

[Apparently mortal embarrassment has negated Yasu's false bravado, so she's talking slightly more normally now.]

Based on the visions and everything that we've heard, and, um, our encounter with that poor girl in this very room... Miroku was responsible for sealing Kakuya—w- which I maintain is not the best solution for dealing with her! Ahem. As part of that process, he occasionally sent "dolls" through the mirror to her, which were... mutilated young girls, if... that poor bird was...

[She shakes her head rapidly.]

That's all in the past, anyhow. Keep going.

CW: Harm to children, mentions of possible mutilation

[whimsicalism]

[Dylan responds, he doesn't sound happy at all.]

Yeah, he...kidnapped kids. Four of them. Over the span of thirty years. The last one in 1999, a...Girl T, according to the newspaper.

And he...did things. Wanted to make one a crane, and...if the masks what else he wrote mean anything, he...made...the others. Into a dog, a monkey, and pheasant. Including masks he made them wear.

And also...we might've found the doll she was sealed in.

since the comment elsewhere said to head to the speakerphone thread

[panglici]

I don't really understand what's going on - you have a flute? How is a flute supposed to help stop this!?

[whimsicalism]

[Whenever it gets to Yuta's turn, he'll speak to Carrie's question:]

Remember how Kakuya called us over with the sound of a flute? She was using her own flute - one that only plays that song.

Ao never died, she was pushed through the mirror to Kakuya who possessed her. Like Nanami said, this place is more of a holding place than the afterlife. But even though she was possessed, she was aware of everything Kakuya did using her body. She's the one who showed us Miroku's house.

The flute reacts to things by giving off... feelings. I think it's probably what Kakuya would have felt if she was there. When we were exploring Miroku's house, we found a doll head that Ao said is Kakuya's. And when I was touching the doll's head, the flute wouldn't make a sound. I think we might be able to stop her power with it.

Also, Kuruse had silver hair. Remember that wig braid that gave us a vision? I think that was hers.