celestialchocolates

[celestialchocolates]

Kurofile 5

Victim - Sachiko Tsujiguchi Body location - Gay Baby Jail Time of death - 11:33 PM Cause of death - Blunt force Trauma Time of discovery - 9:47 AM Body discoverers - Francois, Matsuo, Nao, Yuki

#see you space sachi

[celestialchocolates]

Just Desserts

If past experience had taught you anything, it’s that Kurokuma unlocking a room like this was never a good sign. The air always feels different at times like these, as anticipation for a few terse moments clings to you like a harsh chill. The kind of chill that permeates your very being, cutting down to the bone - it is harsh, and it is unrelenting, and it is only ever worsened by mounting anticipation. The blood smears from the centre of the cell leading to whatever’s under the bloodstained black cloth, the faint saline smell hanging in the air, and the tension thick enough to cut with the very knife in the cell before you hardly did anything to make the situation look better.

There were many things that could have been under that bloody black cloth. A mannequin, a pile of glass shards that were mistaken for a playground, or perhaps a vampire who happened to be a particularly messy eater. Quite possibly, it was a set of blenders matching the one against the opposite wall of the cell. Many of those things would be preferable to what most of you already, intrinsically, knew was there. Despite how pointless it was to pretend, you almost wanted to believe that all your efforts had persuaded the would-be culprit to change their mind about committing a murder. Maybe if you held your breath, made a wish, and counted to three, it would come true. And yet, as the cloth was pulled back, the familiar announcement of a body being discovered rang out just as you feared it might.

Even when you knew what to expect, there was still an element of shock to these things. Perhaps it’s not who you expected it to be, perhaps it’s simply the last shreds of hope that nobody would act without a motive dissipating, or perhaps it’s even the state that the body before you lies in. For the most part, those in the past had looked almost normal, almost like they could have been roused from sleep. But such is never the case, and you already all knew that. We so often wish that the dead may rest in peace, but it’s evident from the sight before you that this one did not go peacefully into the night. If there was no savior of the waking world, there was certainly not one for the dreaming dead.

Of course, that would imply that the dead had anything left to dream about.

And that would be preposterous.

Sachiko Tsujiguchi’s damp, bloody body lies before you, the blood smear from the middle of the cell now clearly trailing towards her head. The condition she was in was nothing short of horrific, wounds littering her body almost haphazardly. Regardless of how you felt about her, it was hard to say that she truly deserved such an undignified death. But then again, perhaps it was fitting - Sachiko, who had once been so above it all, had fallen so far from grace and was now lying here, finally having hit rock bottom. A wretched fate for a wretched girl, to end up like this. And yet regardless of how you felt about her, it was hard to say that she deserved to leave the world like this.

Matsuo inspected a nearby blender, a bloodied cloak in his hands, as Fran seemed surprisingly up close and personal with the body. Nao focused his eyes on the ground, and Yuki? Yuki was just crying.

Even with all she’d been through, on some level, it was hard to imagine that she of all people would ever end up like this. It was almost pitiful that even now with the knife clutched in her hand, it was almost like she could still be dangerous. Like you might still get stabbed if you ventured too close. But there was no such threat, not anymore. She would never hurt anyone again, nor would she ever be hurt again. Perhaps once upon a time, in her time, her death would have signified some sort of great loss.

But that would imply there had been anything left for her to lose.

#byeonara

[celestialchocolates]

Fuck chocolate

#ooc #?

[celestialchocolates]

Sachiko…?

Whether or not she heard that was largely irrelevant. She gave no indication of having done so, seeming rather preoccupied with... whatever was holding her focus. It had been so long since the game started, since the threat of murder loomed over all of them. Sachiko hadn’t had any reason to worry. She wasn’t an ideal physical target as far as VR went. She wasn’t the sort of person who would let herself get put in a position like that so easily. She was useless and deserved to suffer through the motive for being so ungrateful.

She flinched when Shinri touched her hand but did not recoil, nor did she react in a favorable physical manner. Rather, she looked at Shinri as if she was not quite seeing her - like she hadn’t quite finished waking up after a particularly restless nap. Leaving... hm, leaving, leaving. Leaving sounded good. Removing herself from the situation would be nice. But, running away was showing weakness. It would do nothing but prove she was weak and afraid and showing weakness or fear meant that instead of maybe getting hurt she would definitely get hurt.

Given her terribly foggy state of mind, though, it was difficult to parse any of that other than leaving = good. She COULD leave. It wasn’t always a luxury that could be afforded.  Later, almost certainly, she would loathe herself for it. Sort of vaguely affirming with something that might be considered nodding if you considered a bobblehead figure in a light breeze to be nodding and... weakly reciprocating the hand holding, more like she was letting herself be held than anything. Like she was hesitating, unable to say anything she wanted to, uncharacteristically vulnerable and thanking the heavens that if anyone else was noticing the exchange, they weren’t saying anything about it.

“...yeah.”

She didn’t need to go for long. Just enough to get her head back on her shoulders. Rationalize it. They wanted people who would hurt more. Bleed more. They wanted gore, they wanted everyone to see the unfortunate victim of the day bleed and writhe and suffer. They didn't want her. She was not wanted. But what else was new? If she wasn’t so out of it, she might have tried to brush it off, make some flimsy excuse, play it off like she was totally fine. But nope. Shinri pls remove ur gf from this situation.

My Feelings (Variant) | Sachiko | Chapter 4 Motive Reaction

So, it was time for the motive again. Great. Lovely, even. Delightful. Sachiko had gone into it fully expecting to not give a shit. What could they possibly do now? Recycling motives would be unpalatable. With the secrets thing out of the way and who she really was already all but public knowledge, it was hard to think that anything would get to her. Gore? Viscera? Of course not. If one were to go back a couple chapters and a private thread, they would know that she had noted seeing worse than any of the murders up to that point. That much remained true. Frankly, she seemed about as unimpressed as usual. What were they going to do? Show them graphic murders? That would surely be an ineffective motive. They–

…

They…

… needed a volunteer?

Interesting. Lots of blood. Hm. Painful. Decidedly, most certainly painful. Didn’t doubt that it hurt. He’d been through it before? He’d been through it before. Poor dear, sweet, precious Seiichi. She didn’t really have much attachment to most of her classmates but she still didn’t want to see them hurt. Maybe? She didn’t know. Nothing… she couldn’t wrap her head around much of anything that was going on. It had been so long. She wanted to tell herself it had been so long she had forgotten about it and they couldn’t do anything to her. She wanted to do something. Anything. Anything but standing there, frozen, glassy-eyed and unresponsive. Stop it. Pull it together. He can’t hurt you. Yes he can. He just hurt Seiichi. Look at him. Look at that.

Do you want to end up like him?

Funny. Breathing doesn’t usually feel very hard. For once, she’s quiet, unassuming, and completely gone. Tense like her fight-or-flight response kicked in, she’s obviously chosen flight, but it can’t quite get her to panic enough to send her running. Would it hurt as badly now? So much of that was so long ago. Smaller and weaker. She wouldn’t be worth it. Haha. She wouldn’t be worth anything. She already wasn’t. Yes she was. No. Maybe. She didn’t have the mental energy to hold that struggle with her imagination. She couldn’t. She could just slowly try to shuffle away. Without being noticed. Yes. That was it. With everyone so focused on Seiichi it wouldn’t be hard. It would be easy to stay under the radar and come out unscathed. She’d gotten so good at that. If no one noticed then she would be able to go away until she was able to pretend nothing was wrong and if no one noticed anything was wrong it was like nothing was wrong. 

Right?

#chapter 4 #postmotive #Shinri

[celestialchocolates]

Well, it had been worth a try. Futile though it may have been, it became readily apparent that Michi was not going to let her get out of this one. Most everyone else had been content to let her retain the secrecy that so often surrounded her family’s name. Would… would she be able to get away with lying to Michi? Sachiko didn’t like how much it seemed like the idol was able to get into her head. The pursuit of knowledge for herself was coming at a steep price, but anything, anything at all that might give her a little bit more insight would surely have to be worth it. Especially in these circumstances. She didn’t like or trust Michi even a little bit. Why, then, of all people, was it going to end up being her who coaxed a straightforward answer out of her--

She’s not blind either.

“Gh- you-!” Glowering, clenching her legs together and making a motion like she was trying to pull her skirt down to properly cover her legs (to no avail) she simply fell silent. The smart thing to do would probably have been play it off nonchalant and had Michi only mentioned that, she may very well have been able to. But nope, it seemed more like she was pointedly trying to get into her head and then start digging around, playing off of things she’d noticed. Damn it. Having someone who could read her like a book was fine. Sachiko was perfectly straightforward most of the time, and if people wanted to find that predictable, then fine. It was having someone who could take that book and interpret it, read between the lines, that was the last thing she wanted in life. Killing game or no killing game.

She’d have to be open, or Michi would somehow make her. Even if, somehow, she truly didn’t mean anything malicious or harmful through making those inquiries and suggesting the things she did, the girl was in her head and they both likely damn well knew it. Huffing, sighing, and finally settling in the water at a reasonable level, she swallowed just a bit of her pride and resolved to take it one step at a time. Disclose only as much as she absolutely had to. One step at a time. While making a point to largely (at least try to) ignore the Perfection Question for the time being, if she could help it. “... One thing at a time. I’m not going to bother lying to you about it, because it’s pretty clear to me you’ll know. I hate that I can respect that about you. I’ll tell you about my family if you really want to know that badly, but I’m going to hold you to your promise before going anywhere near that second one. On top of that, you’re not going to breathe a word about this to another living soul. Got it?”

(CW under the readmore for some abuse ment n such)

Even if Michi didn’t ‘got it’, Sachiko spoke so forcefully it was pretty clear that she didn’t care either way and wasn’t going to give her a chance to reply.

Taking a deep breath like she was up in front of the class giving an oral presentation she wasn’t quite ready to start, she briefly thought of where to start. “They fucking sucked. My dad was always super pissed that I wasn’t the son he wanted, and I guess he refused to have another kid. Or maybe he couldn’t.” She trailed off for a moment, clearly looking uncomfortable. She did not want to tell Michi about this. She didn’t want to tell ANYONE about this. This was a weakness to be exploited, and Michi had dug her fingers into it. She hated it. Why was she saying anything? Why didn’t she just walk away and never speak to the idol again? “Whatever. My mom wasn’t in the picture for me much, but she must have had it pretty rough too. Point is, my dad was a real piece of shit, but I rose above that. I became better than anything he could do or hope to be. I didn’t think I’d inherit the title from him so quickly, but… yeah. After all that time, I guess my mom finally had enough or something. They got in this massive fight, she had a knife or something, and it really, really did not end well. For either of them." It went without saying, then, that Reina wasn’t exactly the first murder victim she’d seen in her life.

She crossed her arms and looked like she was very, very unhappy about having just said any of that. “There. That ought to be more than satisfactory.” Sachiko still seemed decently upset, but was trying to collect herself and pass it off as nothing. Looking Michi in the face, she spoke with as much presence as she could muster given their situation. “We’re both reasonable people here. Thus, I believe it will be mutually beneficial to reaffirm that everything said here remains between us and only us.” Her voice said ‘mustering as much forceful presence as she could’ but her eyes said ‘if you tell someone about this you’ll be lucky if I only murder you.’ Not... actively threatening, but definitely trying to make a point. “I presume, then, that you are going to tell me more about yourself and your family now. I’m curious, Kishi-san. Enlighten me.”

Find a Heaven | Michi+Sachiko | Chapter 3 Motive

#long post #chapter 3 #michi #find a heaven #LORE LORE LORE LORE LORE

[celestialchocolates]

(CW: Implied self-harm)

While the self-correction was quick and not lingered on, which was admittedly nice, it was still a little annoying. So she’d taken the liberty of having some fun with the customization! That was all there was to it. Clearly. There didn’t need to be any reason for it or any logic to it. There were people who had taken it a little further than wanting to know what it was like to be tall, or have an appearance that matched her personality more closely, or… yeah. Moving on!

Talk of blood being thicker than water and family was… sure a topic, though. It wasn’t something she could really foresee herself wanting to talk about, but it was entirely possible that she could get away with saying as little as possible oh who was she kidding this was Michi and there was absolutely no way she would be able to do that. Making it clear that she was still paying attention, she shifted a bit to start submerging herself a little more again. While she moved carefully and deliberately, she also moved quickly, as if there was something she didn’t want someone to see.

Perhaps to someone who might not be familiar with that sort of thing, it would have worked. But, in all likelihood, Michi was probably astute enough to pick up on it. On her thighs, well above where her skirt would normally fall but not too far up, just on the inside where they would usually be well hidden, were some faint marks, little lines that it probably wouldn’t take a class trial to determine the origins of. But ah, there was barely any time worth noting which could have been spent on that little observation, surely. She manages to get herself about halfway in the water before stopping again, taking some time to adjust to the temperature and notice the cuts on Michi’s arm and realize, oh, fuck, what if she saw.

“Blood is certainly more viscous than water, as far as I recall,” she replied simply. “I assume you mean the proverb, though. I suppose while I can say they laid the groundwork for what I became, I’ve accomplished more and been, on the whole, more impressive in the few short years I’ve actually been in the business officially than they managed to accomplish in all the years they had before me. I fully intend to surpass them even further than I already have. I have more or less built a name for myself as Sachiko - not just the next Tsujiguchi. I did that by myself. I didn’t need friends or family, blood or water, to accomplish it. Is that sufficient to satisfy your curiosity?” Probably not, considering that’s more or less what she had already said, but Michi didn’t ask for specifics and she wasn’t going to voluntarily give them out that easily. But maybe, just maybe, the pull of wanting to have her own curiosity about Michi satisfied would be able to coax it out of her.

Find a Heaven | Michi+Sachiko | Chapter 3 Motive

#find a heaven #chapter 3 #michi #post motive #oh lore?

[celestialchocolates]

Agreeing to meet with Michi alone didn’t sound like like her idea of a good time, especially so soon after the motive.

Agreeing to meet with Michi alone in the Hot Tub of Despair really didn’t sound like her idea of a good time. There was something at stake for it though, something that she wanted. She wasn’t thrilled at the notion, but for all purposes it was an easily accessible public area. She didn’t know what to expect from Michi, and of course, that intrigued her. It felt like the swimsuit she’d dug out of her closet was meant as a mockery, although frankly just about anything that either covered or emphasized her now much smaller chest would have felt that way. It was a lose-lose situation, but it probably wasn’t going to be an actual issue or anything. Not like anyone else was going to care.

She just had to reassure herself that it would pay off in due time, that a debt promised was more than enough. It was not one she intended to cash right away, not in the slightest. It was one she would keep close to her, waiting for just the right moment, just the right thing to say. But promises were useless without a display of good faith, an assurance in turn. It’s only a few hours after the motive and her internal clock hasn’t gone awry yet, and... as much as she might not have been the most comfortable around Michi, Sachiko somehow suspected that if anyone was going to be stupid enough to attack her out in the open like that, it wasn’t going to be her.

Kind of crossing her arms over her chest nonchalantly-- yep, there was Michi, blowing bubbles. Somehow, that wasn’t altogether too shocking. Just an average, everyday idol, lurking in the water like some kind of swamp creature. Except in water instead of mud, and clearly visible, and probably not angling to kill her. Probably. She promptly acknowledged Michi with a nod and made her way over to the edge of the water.

Rather than submerge herself immediately, because that kind of temperature shock would probably shatter Sachiko’s cold heart and personality if she didn’t introduce herself to it gradually, she sort of just lingered on the edge as across from Michi as she could manage in order to be able to look at her more easily and dipped her legs in ow ok yeah good call not just cannonballing it hot water is hot. She reluctantly uncrossed her arms and used them to support herself on the edge of the floor, which would make it easier to both not fall and gradually get herself in there more. But all that’s kind of a waste of time when there are more pressing matters at hand. Two girls, chilling in a hot tub, five feet apart ‘cause they are gay (just not with each other.)

“So, you wanted to talk.” It was less of a rhetorical question and more of a reaffirmation to herself, out loud, to confirm this was actually happening. “Alright, well, I’m here. So if there was something in particular you wanted, go ahead.”

Find a Heaven | Michi+Sachiko | Chapter 3 Motive

Michi wonders why its called the hot tub of “despair”. What’s so despairing about relaxa– HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HO

–ahh, that was… seething.

– 10 Minutes Later –

Michi wades neck deep in the hot tub clearly accessible in the real world. She’s found a slightly exposing bikini that she was supposed to wear for a future photo shoot in her wardrobe, and decided to make some use out of it. It might be motive time, a time where Kurokuma manufactures and unleashes a reason for her classmates to kill each other, but Michi is assuring herself nobody would commit something so horrible….only a few hours in. She, can, however, picture a later demise. But not now. Now, she still has time to work. To meet with the people she wishes to meet with, and produce results–successful results. She wants her friends to make it through all of this. To excel, rise from their experienced hardships, no matter what’s thrown at them. She thinks all of this while blowing bubbles, waiting for her guest to arrive.

Ah, and here she comes now!

#chapter 3 #post motive #find a heaven #michi #hoo boy

[celestialchocolates]

Bittersweet | Chapter 3 | Private

So... trials, huh? The whole Emiko ordeal was almost as good as forgotten to her, what with the only thing that had really been different being a vague, almost gratitude towards the culprit. It was definitely selfish, but still. Sachiko wasn’t going to complain that Emiko had killed before her secret had been revealed. She had somewhat liked Keiko before she had died, but, oh well. No use crying over spilt blood.

Even if it was a little embarrassing to be seen as… well, herself, the only one really making a big deal out of it was her. Not that she felt that way, but still. She couldn’t stand being cooped up for much longer, and did want to see what the real world held in store for them. It couldn’t hurt to look around a little bit, find what there was to find. As much as the kitchens probably seemed like the first place she’d look… nope. The allure of ‘place you can spend money at’ was powerful and compelling. Hence why she was here, intently going through the vending machine.

It wouldn’t have been that surprising for someone else to have the same idea, really. Someone around the same size as her, maybe. What with it being the first day of pseudofreedom and all, it’d be ridiculous to think you wouldn’t run into someone in the halls, or looking around the rooms. Although, for once, she wasn’t so occupied with the thought of murder that she was content to simply continue with her business until addressed.

#bittersweet #chapter 3 #i will face god and walk backwards into hell before i come up with a genuinely witty title

[celestialchocolates]

Sachiko rolled her eyes, huffing a little. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. You’re not the first, not gonna be the last. You’re at least pretending to be sorry about it, so that’s good enough for now.”

She relaxed her posture a little bit, seeming fairly indifferent to the idea of further discussion later. “Eh. We can talk about it later if you want to, I guess.” She offers a little nod when Barako’s all, ‘I fully intend to live’, even though it kind of goes without saying that everyone probably intends to live.

When Barako advised her to be careful, though, she just cracked a smile. Confidence in your ability to not die is key!

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I am very much alive, and I intend to stay that way. We’re both too important to die here, after all.”

Hey! A good-natured callback to that first thread where declaration of importance was a point of contention! Truly, life is full of little miracles.

“Yeah, I don’t really care for how everyone seems to be super sensitive about this. It’s fucked up and we just have to deal with that. Save for the literal child among us, I’d expect that people would be a little more receptive to objective bluntness given the severity of the circumstances.”

Again, she just shrugged a little. Maybe some of them just needed time to come to terms with reality. Four people dying just wasn’t enough sometimes, apparently.

“Yeah, though. Getting emotional about it is going to do nothing at best, and escalate the situation at worst. If crying about it would magically make all of it go away, we’d have been out of here ages ago. But we’re not, so all that manages to accomplish is make everyone feel tense and scared instead. Can’t imagine either of those things making this worse.” Sarcastic little shit today, aren’t you Sachiko. Emotions aren’t all bad but man she sure seems to think that way.

Comin’ out of My Cage | Barako | Chapter 3 | After Trial | OPEN for anyone

#comin out of my cage #barako #chapter 3

[celestialchocolates]

She didn’t really believe that Barako was actually sorry, not for a second. If they were in a telltale game, the translator would have just received a little notice in the corner of her screen denoting that Sachiko will remember that. Hearing the explanation caused her to tense up just a bit in the shoulders, clenching her fists at her sides. Was Barako hoping she would be different? Was there a problem with who she was? It was either making assumptions based on her appearance or that, and pursuing either path wouldn’t end well for her. Sachiko, then, decided to not acknowledge it as being either and divert the subject.

“Yeah, I know I was really pushing the idea that I wasn’t Sachiko and was just assigned to take her place after we assassinated her. You know, in order to seamlessly acquire her business as part of our plan for chocolate-based world domination. Super competitive industry which is very viable for taking over the world.  Alas, the facade has broken! It was really me the whole time. How terrible.”

She had never once said that to anyone, and in fact had just made it up on the fly. She really didn’t like to improv and wasn’t usually so much one for sarcasm as she was for being outright scathing, but desperate times (such as not getting upset over perceived insults) called for desperate measures. Despite the fact that I have very suddenly realized that timeline-wise it’s entirely viable for her great-grandparents to have been influenced by this ‘OneCar’, Sachiko either doesn’t realize it or chooses to ignore it in favour of shooting Barako a dark look for suggesting she could use more whimsy in her life.

“...”

It was probably better for the both of them to focus on the more pressing matter of ‘where, pray tell, the fuck are we.’ Shifting her weight slightly to rest on the other foot and crossing her arms, she looked anywhere but directly meeting Barako’s eyes as she pondered on the matter herself for a moment. “Doesn’t really matter if we know where ‘here’ is for now. It’s a bit more of an issue if the people who are allegedly rescuing us don’t know where ‘here’ is, assuming they even exist in the first place.” 

She didn’t seem particularly convinced that anyone was going to show up, but equally didn’t seem to be too bothered by the notion. Hm. “If you want to find out that badly, I’d just suggest making sure you stay alive long enough to get answers. Just because we can talk face to face now doesn’t mean that whole ‘kill each other’ thing is necessarily over. We’re still stuck here, after all. I don’t think that the tangible evidence of permanent death  is going to dissuade people.”

Sachiko just shrugged, seeming almost a little bit smug for being so cynical about the situation. “Oh well. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised by our class for once.” With how dismissively she said it, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say she wasn’t expecting whatever surprised the future held to be pleasant.

Comin’ out of My Cage | Barako | Chapter 3 | After Trial | OPEN for anyone

#comin out of my cage #barako #chapter 3

[celestialchocolates]

Well, this was already going almost exactly how she hadn’t wanted it to.

It was readily apparent to her that this was going to sour quickly, and she could only hope that their conversation about appearances wouldn’t be brought back up. Boy, this... definitely had been a pretty massive mistake on her part. But as with all things in life, she would simply have to own it! ‘Own it’, in this context, meaning growing clearly more annoyed by the second. That comment about the jacket, though, that one stung. Same shit as always. Not a single thing she’d said or done up to that point had mattered after all. She glanced down briefly, unconsciously, down to herself - same skirt, same shoes, same socks, same self. Nothing wrong. Nothing wrong. Why was this bothering her so much, then?

“Yeah, well, I like my clothes too! It’s how my dad, and his dad, and his dad dressed too, so I guess being formal just runs in the family. It’s a whole appearance thing you probably wouldn’t get unless you knew any of them like I did.”

Her dad. Mister Bucket. That one stung too, but the fact that Barako was laughing at her couldn’t have been anything good. It meant she hadn’t said that for the reason she immediately thought - Barako had no way of knowing anything about her family - but still, was laughing at her nonetheless. There wasn’t anything wrong. She hadn’t told any jokes. It probably would have relieved her annoyance a lot more to clench her fists without her gloves, but oh well. She would not show weakness. Even if she felt how much it hurt, if she just ignored that, pretended she was still in the simulation--

“Is something funny, Sekisei-san? Did I tell a joke and just forget about it or something? Really, I’m curious as to what you’re laughing at, Sekisei-san.”

Her cold tone seemingly faltered just a little bit for a moment there, but she collected herself just enough to drop back into that familiar iciness right at the end. Despite how clearly not composed she was, it was equally clear that she was trying to act like she was. Sachiko had been ready for it to be awkward, or for people to be surprised, and she thought she had been ready for people to laugh at her. She had, apparently, thought wrong. This was exactly why she’d crafted that appearance for herself - to avoid this exact kind of shit.

Comin’ out of My Cage | Barako | Chapter 3 | After Trial | OPEN for anyone

#comin out of my cage #barako #chapter 3 #her feelings DO exist and they ARE being hurt

[celestialchocolates]

Well, as much as she’d hoped that she would finally be able to get out of her one room in the real world, it was still somewhat… uncomfortable to think that she could. It wasn’t like they were even being rescued or anything. If anything, it was a mockery of that - a small taste of freedom, one that just might be enough to make someone think it would be worth killing again to escape. But things were… different, in VR. Surely, none of them would actually kill in the real world, right? Granted, some of the secrets that had unceremoniously been revealed might make someone more paranoid think otherwise. But it wasn’t like she had anything to worry about! This was different. These were her classmates, who she’d gotten to know and who had gotten to know her. Appearances probably wouldn’t make them think any less of her, but spending time hiding would likely either worry them or make them think she was scared.

There were a lot of things that Sachiko was, and scared was not one of them.

That being said, ‘mentally prepared to meet her classmates face to face’ was also not one of them. But they didn’t have to know that. They already knew who Sachiko was, the kind of person that she was. If they hadn’t changed their opinions of Keiko (rest in peace) after they discovered her real appearance, they probably wouldn’t change their opinions of her! Or, if they had, they would still be… intimidated by her or something? And wouldn’t say it? Ugh, the more she thought about it the less she wanted to leave, but the more she waited the less likely it was that she’d be able to keep the same composure that she had in VR when she finally did. One, two, and before she could get to three she straightened her back and walked through that door with her head held high and the same resting expression of vague displeasure that she always wore.

Sort of.

Aaand oh man someone else was already out and about, huh. It almost felt weird to not be looking down on just about everyone again, and if she had been less determined she might have just quietly crept back into her room right then and there, praying that she had gone unnoticed. But this was like, a second first impression, almost! She could not fuck this up. Especially not now when she really, really did not have the same sort of physical presence anymore. It’d have to be all personality now. You can do this, Sachiko. Even if it’s Barako, who is super pretty in real life. It’d almost be nice getting to talk to her as not-a-robot, were it not for the whole ‘oh shit I’m shorter than her now’ thing. Just start with a good ol’ neutral testing of the waters. Mmmhm. Safe bet.

“I guess I’m not the only one who couldn’t wait to get out of there, hm?”

The crossed arms weren’t really as disdainful-looking out in the real world. Dammit. Oh well. She’d been trying to seem at least a little more approachable. Maybe this mild disaster being able to talk to people face to face like… that, would help?

Comin’ out of My Cage | Barako | Chapter 3 | After Trial | OPEN for anyone

When the door opened up, Barako exited from her pod and wandered into the hallway almost instantly. It took her a mere second to get her bearings straight but she had to confirm a few things first. She tried Keiko’s room’s door… it was locked. She sulked a bit. Maybe they really were dead? As she looked around it still seemed clear there was no exit point. Still… it was good to be able to stretch her actual limbs.

“I suppose that’s it then,” she sighed. Barako stood there, lost in thought for a good minute as her hands gently squeezed the tablet she still carried with her.

#comin out of my cage #barako #chapter 3

[celestialchocolates]

It’s a fortunate thing, then, that there are no such outsiders, Legulus. A killing game is a tragic thing to have happen, not an occurrence that should ever be thought of as laughable. Were there any third-party observations underway, I’m sure that they would not be laughing, rather, they would be equally devastated. Fictional deaths could yank someone’s heartstrings out as things stood. But this wasn’t just fiction anymore, no, they were real people experiencing… virtual death? She didn’t have any way to confirm if they were really dead or not. It was still entirely possible that their avatars perishing would only lead to them not being able to remain in the virtual reality. Likewise, it was still possible that they had died in the game AND died in real life. Considering that her ventmates consisted of Hoshimi and Nao and she’d made no attempt to speak to either of them in that manner, it wasn’t like she could holler in and check to see if Reina or Katsumi was alive. And even if she could, there was no guarantee that they would answer even if they were alive. There would only be one way to find out - when they were no longer confined to a single room in reality. Until then, why worry? It wasn’t any of her concern as long as she remained alive within the simulation.

Being open to new experiences sounded super fake, though. She’d been open to a considerably small number of new experiences, the most recent of which led to the current situation they all found themselves in. A few of the others had been satisfying, one in particular being quite rewarding, but the rest were also not too swell. None of them could hold a candle to this, though. A killing game-kidnapping combo was pretty difficult to top in terms of severity, but at least she seemed to be avoiding the worst of it. Getting murdered. Getting executed. Getting emotional. Any of those three things would best be avoided, if she had any say in the matter. It was for reasons like that that she never quite let her guard down. It could easily be the ones you least expected who would turn out to be killers. Apparently, some had even killed before the game. What an... unnerving thought, or at least it would be if any of that affected her trust level with any of these people. Ah, but liking someone and trusting someone don’t necessarily have to go hand in hand.

Anyways, two paragraphs of introspection later, the actual important questions are getting asked and answered. What brought her here? Other than the obvious answer which was ‘so we could get this show on the road’, she had mostly come looking to kill some time. And not to kill some one. Sachiko might be rude, but even she’s not rude enough to inconvenience someone by murdering them like that. Getting killed can be a real pain in the ass, apparently, which is why she hadn’t bothered bringing a knife to the library. Or anywhere. Considering recent events, it wasn’t fair to say that knives were for cooking and not for murder, but she didn’t feel threatened enough to worry about something like that. Not even in the face of the SHSL Nagito Komaeda. Learning how to draw manga wasn’t that high on her bucket list. Or anywhere on it, really, but an opportunity was an opportunity. You know how it is with killing games. You don’t talk to someone, you think, ‘I’ll just do it later’ and next thing you know? DEAD. Super dead.

But man, learning how to draw manga... If just about anyone else had asked, it would have probably been an immediate no.

“I came looking for something interesting to do.” She shrugged slightly, nonchalantly, returning a small smile of her own. “If you’re offering that as an invitation to join you, then I suppose it would only be polite to accept.” You know that tone when someone’s partially joking but also trying to convey they’re totally down to do something? This is done in that tone which I’m not skilled enough to describe in some other way. Don’t look at me. I’m playing a chocolatier, not a poet, I don’t have to be eloquent. Of course, it could be the setup to one or both of them getting murdered. Since this is happening pre-sleepover event, which they both attended, it’s not. But they don’t know that yet! But as it stands, Sachiko has no intention of doing a hit, and she chooses to believe that if Nao were intending to harm anyone, he’d have hidden in wait somewhere else. Some might argue that he’d already harmed quite a few people, but those people were just emotional weenies with ‘feelings.’

“Of course, I’ve never particularly been the type for drawing. A normal conversation while we’re both here would be just fine as well.” Or she could just go get a book or something and be on her way. /thread

Sugarcoated Words || Nao || Chapter 2 || CLOSED for Sachiko

To think that Nao would be able to read a guide on how to draw manga under these conditions… It was surreal. Being stuck in a virtual reality with his classmates being forced to kill each other by some bear, while still being able to live luxuriously with all of the services and products available to him? The beauty of the virtual world conflicted so heavily with the situation that, to an outsider, it might’ve been laughable. Nao couldn’t complain, though. It was nice having such potent distractions. Without them, his mind would’ve been stuck on the killing game, and anyone that was focused on that for too long would’ve surely fallen to insanity eventually. Haha, jokes, Nao’s already insane, clearly, Ross. Not long into his reading session, he was hit by a wave of boredom, and he found himself absentmindedly flipping through his book’s pages, failing to fully digest the material. Nao was left in this state for, well, he didn’t know how long, but it should’ve only been a few minutes, until he heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps from the first floor. Brought back to (virtual) reality, Nao looked up from his book, and stared at the stairs leading up to his floor. Would the newcomer be passing by?

After a momentary wait, someone, indeed, arrived at his floor. Sachiko. Much like how Nao piqued Sachiko’s interest, Sachiko was an item of interest to Nao. The chocolatier didn’t seem to be highly emotional like some of the other members of their class, and with that absence of emotion came a sharp mind. That was something that Nao could respect. 

Nao chuckled softly at Sachiko’s comment. “Interested is one way to describe it, yes. Honestly, I’m not a big consumer of this kind of stuff, but it was here, so I thought I might as well give it a try. Being open to new experiences isn’t harmful in itself.”

With a smile, he asked, “So what brings you here? Were you planning on learning how to draw manga yourself?”

#chapter 2 #nao #sugarcoated words

[celestialchocolates]

There was nothing to gain from ruminating on the emotional impact of the trial once it was over. All that did was raise tensions even higher, and would only ever result in the next one being that much sooner. Sure, it might have been inevitable either way. But perhaps it was better like this, sparing the more emotionally inclined the pain of healing from the loss and regaining faith that it wouldn’t happen again, only for it to be snatched away once more. If the trial procedures remained fresh in their minds, they ought to be better prepared to deal with it again sooner. Or maybe all of that was baseless conjecture and meant approximately nothing to just about anyone. Kind of a coin flip, really. Regardless, as much as Sachiko obviously loved socializing with the more energetic among them, sometimes it was just as nice to step away from all the hype and give herself some time to recuperate. Much nicer, in fact.

Even if she couldn’t mask the sound of her steps, it would be a lot easier to pretend she was distracted if anyone she didn’t want to talk to happened to be there as well. There were a handful of people she’d been looking to talk to, some of who she’d already had the chance to talk to and some she hadn’t. Despite her general insistence on not reflecting on the trial too much, there were some things that had been said which intrigued her to say the very least. Having had the opportunity to somehow, miraculously smooth things over with Barako took care of some of that already. Seiichi turning out to have a mean bone somewhere in his body was a bit of a pleasant surprise too, but nothing particularly worth following up on. Nao, though, had piqued her interest even further. Frankly, if she’d been in that position, she felt as if she’d have done the same. Hell, it pretty much guaranteed a conviction in the same way that a reliable key witness could. Normally, they didn’t know beforehand and let it happen, true, but this virtual reality was anything but normal. It wasn’t as if she knew much about how murder cases worked in the real world anyways.

That said, speak of the devil and he shall appear. Or vaguely think of the devil and he’ll sort of just be in the same place that you were already going reading a… guide on how to illustrate manga? Not really what she would have expected, but that in itself implied that it was wise to expect anything around here. The precedent of murder set in place made quite sure of that. Anyone could be out to get anyone, and wariness would be wise. Frankly, she felt that any ire she might have drawn through expressing her own views on the matter was undermined by the knowledge that someone had known and not acted to prevent a murder, as opposed to simply expressing that it was bound to happen. Gold star for not being as terrible as you could have been, Sachiko. Her presence couldn’t have been much of a surprise, but it wasn’t as if there was any sort of attempt to conceal it in the first place. Heels on marble isn’t the quietest sound ever invented, that’s for sure. Rather than offer a normal greeting like a reasonable person, she opted instead to comment on his choice in doki doki literature. Nice, non-confrontational, and not quite generic.

“I didn’t expect you to be interested in that kind of thing, Morita-san.”

Nice.

Sugarcoated Words || Nao || Chapter 2 || CLOSED for Sachiko

How long has it been since the trial? Three days? By this point, things have settled down somewhat, at least on the surface. The dreadful reality of everyone’s situation still loomed over them, and the memories of the trial certainly haven’t left them. Those events would probably never be forgotten. At the very least, the ripples of Nao’s actions would always be felt, for as long as everyone was trapped in this virtual reality. That was just a fact of life. Nao would just have to deal with that, as difficult as it was being the outsider of the group. It wasn’t like there wasn’t a reason he’d been estranged.

Thanks to the library’s seemingly endless collection of literature, the room had become a bit of a hotspot for Nao to frequent. Reading was a good pastime he could indulge in whenever he had free time. And, due to his lack of positive relationships, he had plenty of time available to him. So, most of the time, he carried a book with him wherever he went, reading as much of it as he could before he lost interest, returned the book to the library, and withdrew a new book. Sadly, none of the novels he’d  tried reading thus far have secured his interest all the way through. Maybe he should try reading a work of nonfiction instead. If he was going to be kept within a place like this, he could at least learn a few things.

That was why Nao had taken the time to warp to the library today. After getting there, he climbed the steps up to the third floor. From there, the array of nonfictional works was displayed. Nao wandered around the floor, noting the categories of books available to him. Chemistry, history… Huh. Even some guides on how to draw manga. Interesting.

Nao approached the collection of manga illustration guides, picked out a random book, and sat himself at one of the available desks. Rather than face the desk, however, he pushed the desk to one end of the room, and turned the chair away from the desk so he could get a good look of the entire room. He doubted that anyone would try to attack him, but he didn’t want to take any chances. He couldn’t afford to take chances with the way he was viewed now. He opened the guide up, and began reading through it.

#chapter 2 #nao #sugarcoated words #no knife this time? it's like i don't even know you

[celestialchocolates]

Fuck chocolate

#NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #ooc #i'm sorry i couldn't resist putting this here

[celestialchocolates]

It didn’t seem prudent to allow herself to impulsively lash out with a snide comment about how with their confinement outside of the VR program and their situation inside of it left them with all the time in the world to do nothing but suffer through it. She didn’t really feel bad for doing so already, but there didn’t seem to be any reason to take it further than it had already gone, and so Sachiko bit her tongue.

It wasn’t terribly surprising to hear someone finally vocalise something so negative, about someone dying for sure, but it wasn’t something Sachiko herself had given much thought to. Sure, she was rather miffed that she’d been yanked away from her business, and the idea of such a long-time operation going under because some sick jerkass kidnapped her wasn’t exactly her idea of fun. But there were people ‘out there’ - not ones she’d ever trust to take it over full-time, but ones who she knew could keep it comfortably running until she was back.

It certainly wasn’t something as critical as having to get out for the WORLD’S sake. If she was being perfectly honest, she thought that Barako might have been exaggerating just a little bit. Of course it was important that they all get out - she couldn’t disagree there. There was no arguing that their class winding up in the predicament they were in was pretty dire. The stress must have just been getting to other people more than it was to her.

Sighing, trying to let go of some of the tension she was clearly still holding, she tried to at least smooth things over a little bit with a civil introduction. “Sachiko Tsujiguchi, Super Highschool Level Chocolatier.” she responded, evidently trying to let go of the previous hostility. That being said, though, she had no clue what to say to Barako after that.

“I don’t know, Sekisei-san. But I also don’t think stressing yourself out over it like this is gonna be any help either.” She shrugged, in an attempt to indicate that she didn’t really mean anything nasty by it. “Regardless of what you can do right now, we stand a better chance of getting out of here if we can at least tolerate each other long enough to cooperate. You certainly seem capable and determined, and I’m personally willing to agree to work with you however I can for the sake of escape. Would that be alright with you?”

She didn’t apologize for snapping at Barako, but seemed at least a little bit less on edge than she had been.

Choocolate | Barako | Chapter 1 | Post Motive | Sachiko

#chapter 1 #barako #chocolate #sorry for no images but my sprites have gotten a little fucky so yeah

[celestialchocolates]

EVERYBODY KNOWS SHIT'S FUCKED| Sachiko | Chapter 1 (Post Motive) | Nao

To say the last couple of days had been devastating for Sachiko would have been an overstatement. Sure, it hadn’t been fun, and sure, it hadn’t gotten any easier to handle during the actual hallucinations. But as unpleasant as it was, it was nothing that she couldn’t handle - more or less. That being said, she had taken the liberty of getting herself a warm drink, because even if it was still in VR, sixteen minutes of hellish hallucinations weren’t much fun. At least she was among those who seemed to be capable of gathering their wits more quickly after it was all over and done with. But 44 minutes until she was permitted to log out was still a fair amount of time to wait, and she’d quite prefer to spend it somewhere nice. Isolating herself to her room would have been entirely viable, but it really wasn’t her style to do something like that.

The level of activity was about what she’d expected, given the past reactions of the others. Those would surely only intensify over time as the duration of the hallucinations increased, and it didn’t seem all too likely that they’d recover as quickly as she had. The last thing they probably needed was to come back here, somewhere public, where the ‘group therapy’ session had sort of happened and sort of failed. If she were to venture a guess, most would likely be recuperating in their rooms. It didn’t really matter to her, personally, what everyone else was doing - as long as she wasn’t put in the position of having to deal with someone else’s deeply upsetting experiences on top of her own frustration with the ordeal, it would be fine, it was going to be fine, everything was super duper totally one-hundred percent fine.

And then, of course, because this is an actual thread and not just writing words for the sake of not shutting the fuck up ever, things are happening! Shockingly, in a decently small space for sixteen people to share, two people are occupying the same room at once. This completely unprecedented and unforeseeable happenstance brought her right out of the vaguely deep thoughts she was having about what, exactly, she would actually ‘make’ to ‘drink’. Having not spoken to him a great deal prior, it was really anyone’s guess how it would actually play out. Some might have been mildly concerned that being alone with… anyone, really (especially at night which is super spooky) would have been a one-way ticket to murderville. At least it wasn’t the literal actual murder room for murdering colloquially known as the wedding chapel, but who even hangs out in a place like that casually anyways? Maybe it’s because she’s tired, or maybe it’s because she could totally take this dude if he tried anything, but whatever makes you not be immediately 200% skeptical of someone.

“Hey. What brings you here at this hour?”

Kind of like when you’re out doing something at three in the morning and you see someone else who’s also out there. Like, you know why YOU’RE there, but what is this other person doing? Ominous business? Shady dealings? God, maybe Nao was here to try and sell her some weed. That would be the True End out of any outcomes the inevitable conversation would have, probably.

#chapter 1 #nao