Shin Megami Tensei Persona: Dissonant Strain (Private RP)

[PresqueVu]

Yamada walked right after Eber, needing to see her just as badly. He had no idea what to say as his mind raced, trying to piece everything together. How had he gotten to his room? How was Seiya alive? Where was Kuroda?

None of this was right. He wondered if the others were having the same thoughts and decided to voice them. "...Do you remember what happened last night? How did we return to campus?"

 

[ShadowFolk]

Kumiko looked at Yamada as if she were thinking the exact same thing. "I have NO idea. I thought one of you took my back or something. I just woke up in my bed, same clothes and all." She looked dumbfounded. If it wasn't the guys, then how did she make it back? I remembered a bright light and that was about it. She had lost consciousness right after. "Same this with you too, huh Eber?"

----

Akinari looked very displeased at his seat in class. Being ditched did not sit well with him. He was so upset he gave away the boxed lunch he had set aside for Eber. 'He's going hungry today.' Though part of him thought he would regret that the moment the German decided to go to class...

 

[PresqueVu]

Yamada nodded, eyes sort of wide. "Yes. It was exactly the same for me. I saw the light and tried to run fr Seiya-sempai, but then I just woke up in my bed, sore all over."

 

[Cinnonym]

"Yes--the very same. I had asked Ishikawa-senpai and it was the same for him as well."

He sat on one of the empty desks in the room and waited; he had speculations over how they'd returned to their room, but decided not to voice them. Surely Hikaru would not deny them their answers after last night...

It took a solid hour of waiting after class had begun before the door finally slid open. She looked surprised to see the group there, but closed the door behind herself and stood quietly with her hands clasped in front of her.

"...I'm glad I got to see you all." she fidgeted slightly and watched the floor, "I'm sorry."

 

[ShadowFolk]

"We're glad to see that you're alright." at least Kumiko assumed that was the general consensus of the group. "But, I don't think there's much need to apologize. I think I can understand why you were trying to keep all this from us."

'Think.'

"Seiya-senpai, I think as a whole we've earned the right to some answers."

 

[Cinnonym]

"I know." Hikaru chewed on her lower lip for a moment in thought, and then nodded to herself, "Let's meet after school... The entire group, I mean. We can use the archery room--they don't meet on Wednesdays. I'll answer everyone's questions then, I swear."

The Secretary gathered a few files from the cabinets. She seemed anxious to get to her homeroom.

"Will you tell the others...?"

Eber nodded, still somewhat suspicious. It would be better to have the entire party together at once for this, though. No matter their stake in the game, everyone would have questions: about Kurado, about the equipment, about Persona.

"We will gather the rest and meet you then."

Hikaru nodded again and quickly stepped out. Eber sighed, "I do not know what I will do until then... I think I shall hide out here until the lunch break. Technically, I am still under suspension..."

 

[ShadowFolk]

Despite the seriousness of the mood Kumiko chortled at Eber's comment. "Good luck with that." She pat him on the shoulder. What would she ask Seiya first? It would probably be wise of her to thin of something that didn't involve firing off every question she could think of at once. "I guess I should head to class too..."

Kumiko waved to the Freshman of the group and left the room, clearly focused on something.

 

[Cinnonym]

Eber lay back and watched the clock. He didn't want to be caught causing "mischief" on a day that the faculty was already frazzled.

The teacher is surprised by Kumiko's tardiness, but quickly asks her to take her seat. Hikaru receives similar treatment in her own homeroom when she finally joins the class. She sits without looking at Mori.

------

The lunch period is eventful in so far as gossip goes. Hardly anyone wastes their breath to eat while they chatter about news reports and murders and Seiya's supposed involvement to the two.

Eber wound his way through the throngs in the halls to come to 1-D. He was a bit surprised to see Akinari sitting alone. Hadn't he been making friends while he was gone?

"Aki-kun," the German leaned on the smaller boy's desk, "All this excitement, no one has noticed me slip in. I thought we could have lunch together..."

 

[ShadowFolk]

Kumiko heads right over to Yamada, "Have you figured out what you wanna ask her yet? I've got so many! But I don't want to overwhelm her. She's been through a lot. 'Coming back from the dead' being a pretty big something." She glanced back at the trio of friends, they probably had all of the same questions. Except for maybe Yoshida...he was probably disappointed and that worried Kumiko.

----

Akinari peered at Eber, his arms crossed and his cheeks puffed. What would appear to him as being upset might be more of comical to others. Nevertheless, the boy was still angry with him. He opened his box and started to eat, "That's going to be pretty hard since I gave you lunch away already."

 

[PresqueVu]

Yamada had walked rather dazedly out of the room having no idea what he could even ask first. He sat through class and lunch just staring at his desk, trying to sort out his thoughts. All of this was getting to be so much and something in him just wanted to sleep. His body hurt, his mind was muddled and he wasn't sure what to even do next.

When Kumiko addressed him his head shot up, startled, not having expected anyone too approach him. He cleared his throat and fixed his glasses, having sat idle for too long. "I-I'm not sure. Mostly I just want to be sure that she's alright. And know how to keep whatever it was that happened last night from happening to us. Everything else aside I think the safety of each of us is the most important matter t hand."

 

[Cinnonym]

Eber blinked, genuinely surprised by the news. He paused awkwardly, glancing around as though to find a hint of how to respond, then smiled and ruffled Akinari's hair affectionately.

"I do not mind. I will see you later, all right, Akinari-kun?"

The German excused himself, spoke briefly with his teammates, then left to return to the dorms.

 

[ShadowFolk]

"Yeah, I know what you mean." She was anxious to get school over with and meet up with Seiya. At least Seiya finally offered an explanation. Kumiko hoped Seiya wasn't just saying that to then run away.


---

Akinari looked at Eber's back as he walked away. He wasn't quite expecting for him to simply accept not getting fed. He opened his mouth to speak, but he had nothing to say. He 'fixed' his hair and left his chopsticks on top of the bento. His guilt kept him from eating further.

Akinari took out his phone and texted Eber: Don't run out on me again, okay? I don't need you going hungry.

But he still wanted to me mad, he just could not.

 

[Cinnonym]

After a time, class resumed.

Eber had a long stretch of empty time to fill between lunch and the end of the school day. His stomach grumbled and he poked at it in annoyance; he had mixed feelings over Akinari's punishment of him. One of them was the thought that he ought not to rely on his classmate to behave like his mother would. He gazed blankly at the television in the lobby for twenty minutes before he suddenly shot to his feet.

Eber had an idea.

It took some smuggling and finagling, but eventually he was ready to set to work.

------

After hours of awkward lectures to which no one truly paid attention, the bell rang and ended the final period.

 

[PresqueVu]

Yamada nodded to her. "I'm glad. I only hope the others won't be harsh with her. Whatever it was that happened she's been through a lot." His face showed that he wasn't going to have any of anyone being rude to Seiya today more than any other. He'd been so worried that she was dead he never wanted to take her for granted now. She was going to give them what they wanted so the least they could do is listen to her, but he was sure it wouldn't go as smoothly as that. "Thank you for asking though." He gave her a nod as the bell for class rung.

He sat through the rest of the lessons, able to pay a bit more attention just from being able to get some of that off his chest.

 

[ShadowFolk]

"Alright, let's get this done." Kumiko was talking more to herself than Yamada or anyone else. Immediately after the bell rang she headed out to their meeting spot, not wasting any time on idle chit-chat or gossip.

---

Akinari check the last known 'meet up' place for Eber, the Kendo room to see if he had gone there after school. As there was no sign on him, he went back to his dorm room to study and do his class work.

He needed more friends. If Eber was going to disappear, he'd need someone else to take care of and keep him company.

 

[Cinnonym]

In front of Akinari's door was a little bento. It was pink with stars, as he'd had to borrow it from a female student, but it had a note on it declaring that it was Aki-kun's dinner and that if it didn't remain in front of this door for its intended party, that there was going to be fisticuffs. The small lunch is clumsy and half-burnt, but Eber worked through the rest of his free afternoon to make it. He had even attempted to make cute faces, though they had turned out quite creepy and disturbing.

Meanwhile, he was on the floor above attempting to rouse Kojiro and Isoroku by banging a fist on each door at once.

 

[Rosen2012]

By the time class ended, Kojiro decided he'd leave his room. He figured he may as well go see what had happened last night. Isoroku never returned, Rin hadn't bothered to call him...so either they hadn't met up yet, or they were still talking. He could call Fridmund to figure out what was going on- but then again he could also jam a stick in his eye.

But alas, the German had come to him. He opened his door and nodded. "So, I take it she's ready to talk now?" He skipped questions or wanting to know the plan, he just wanted the point at this point. "Because so help me god, if you're here to tell me she's not, I'm going to beat it out of her..."


He stepped out into the hall and closed his door. "Have you gotten Isoroku yet?"


------

Though he hadn't spoken to her yet, Takuya had been following Seiya all day. Following her from one room to the next. Contemplating what she was up to. He had no great desire to talk to her at this point- just to know the truth.

Where was she? What was she doing? And with whom was she doing it?

Whatever was changing the behavior of his near perfect secretary had to be something worth looking into, in order for her to sit back and let everyone think she was dead for hours. So he followed her. He left class first, as if he was trying to avoid her, then waited. And followed behind her again, just out of ear shot.

His guest seemed to like this course of action. She felt it was in accordance with how it should be handled. For once they agreed on something. And that something was picking apart Seiya Hikaru's secret.

 

[ShadowFolk]

Akinari noticed the box from down the hall, pink seemed to stand out a lot in the boy's dormitories. He picked it up, seeing a note with Eber's hand writing. 'Where did he get this?' it definitely did not seem like Eber's type at all.

The boy entered his room and set it down on his desk. He took a peek inside and instantly started to laugh. Akinari was crying from how hard he was laughing. After he was quite finished he tried a bit of Eber's hard work. It left much to be desired, but Akinari still smiled and toughed through it, burnt bits and all.

He sent another message to his friend: Thank you!

 

[Daren58]

Rin returned to her room briefly after class. She hadn't gotten a a chance to talk any of the others all day much to her displeasure. She quickly entered her dorm room and dropped her books off before heading back out. She quickly dialed Kojiro's number hoping he knew something. 'I really need to get the others numbers.'

 

[Cinnonym]

Eber decided not to answer the preceding statements. "I have knocked, but he is not answering. I missed his call earlier, so he must at the least be conscious."

------

Not that Hikaru didn't know he was there.

It was impossible to miss--the ominous oppression of his aura was suffocating the entire hallway. She had to keep herself as relaxed as possible as she walked, so that she could deflect his knowledge of her awareness when she...

Disappeared.

A student had tripped down the stairs just as she was rounding the bend, and by the time Mori had gotten there she was nowhere to be found.

She waited silently, hidden in a nook in the corner made by the wall, lockers, and doors leading into the hall, for him to pass. Then she'd backtrack up to the archery room and hope the others would be prompt.