[ AUDIENCE: OTOME YANAGIYA ]

[dormheads]

Comments

[momming]

[ She smiles, as reassuringly as she can. ]

Thank you. I'll do what I can, no matter what.

[ cartwheels over to the voucher page. ]

[departea]

[ she will come back over with the tea i forgot she got up to make.

but she also pulls out a piece of paper, that has a front and back. same rules as before, only she can see it, and she can summarize it to other people. some direct quotes are fine since there isn't a lot of writing but don't direct quote the entire thing, etc. ]

Here.

[momming]

[ She... stares at it. And flips it over, and yikes. ]

... This has been more like a horror story than a school setting...

[departea]

It's... something.

Whose handwriting even is this?

[momming]

I was hoping you could tell me. It doesn't look familiar to you at all?

[ IT LOOKS A BIT UNHINGED HONESTLY ]

[departea]

It's been on other papers, but... no idea who it belongs to.

[momming]

... How many of the administrative higher-ups have you met, personally? Beyond, the. Er. Bear?

[ God, the bear. ]

[departea]

[ listen even un-aued, she fuckin loves that bear. he's so funny. anyway. ]

The vice principal? And like, random staff, but... they don't really seem that different from the students and shop workers. They don't really interact with anything unless you give them something to react to.

[momming]

... So what we should be trying to do is figure out the identity of the person writing these things.

[ ... somehow. ]

[departea]

Right.

If they're even able to write, it implies it has to be a person with a body, right?

[momming]

Yes, someone with actual appendages that could grasp a pen.

So not a bear.

[ Wow they've narrowed it down. ]

[departea]

He would never do anything wrong.

[ she remains a stan ]

[momming]

I don't want to really suspect any of the Dorm Heads, either. Are we even sure it's someone we might have met before?

[departea]

It might not be, though.

Honestly, with all of the other students and professors around, it might be easy for someone to just slip in without the rest of us noticing.

[momming]

Then maybe it's more likely that they'll show themselves closer to graduation? If they don't want this to end, then...

[departea]

That could be it... if we're all meant to leave when the school year ends, then you'd need to stop that, yeah.

[momming]

... I don't like the idea of having to bide our time, but aside from keeping an eye out, I think that might be all we can do.

[departea]

Maybe.

I mean, that's how stories work narratively, right? You spend the bulk of it trying to figure out what's happening, and then everything happens at the conclusion.

[momming]

[ She nods, sipping at her tea. ]

You're right. It's like a mystery novel, and then the culprit will be revealed and we'll all be shocked and horrified and have to fight them to end things.

[ Yeah. ]

[departea]

So I guess... we just have to figure out how to get the culprit to be revealed then.

[momming]

... Maybe it has to do with the Daycare? If they change their transcripts to no longer be failing, they'd be able to come back and graduate, so technically, there would be no one here left behind to continue.

If I were behind that, I'd want to stop it.

[departea]

If it's something like that...

[ hm. ]

Wouldn't it mean they're currently in the most danger? Even besides the whole-- you know. Dead thing.

[momming]

[ She nods. ]

Even if it's just a theory, I'm definitely concerned. But I also don't know what we can do for them from here.

[departea]

... well, I guess we can just make sure things don't get worse on this side for now.

week 6, monday

[departea]

[ after the invite, she will show up at the daycare. ]

Otome?