Week 4.

[trustharder]

WEEK 4 And as the third week in the Vault comes to a close and the fourth week begins, the Survivors are once again down by two. Mion Sonozaki died on her own terms, and Yato died fulfilling his duty as God of Fortune in the best way that he knew how; the shrine built in the game room on Saturday stands in their memory. Saturday is given to regrouping and sleep; there aren't any bodies to be found on Sunday morning. But that doesn't mean the night was uneventful - it seems something else may have brought you some newfound clarity. Or perhaps not... Once again, that spiral staircase leads farther than you remember, clear up to a previously inaccessible fourth floor. Go ahead and explore as much as you like; even if the Kingmaker sounded a bit unhappy with you last weekend, the fact remains that you're still doing what you seem to have been brought here to do. SURVIVORS REMAINING: 21 SURVIVORS REMAINING: 20

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY
[OOC: Welcome to week two of Trustfell! Save your threads for coins and the coming week's activity check; don't forget to check in to this week's activity check and submit your memory regains!

The text and calling posts are still active, for the sake of contacting the jerk who's keeping you here, to be used at your leisure!]

Comments

[devastation]

[Her reaction timing to Cherryblod's presence is a little slow due to her attention being elsewhere, but once he does speak up, she focuses properly on him.]

Ah, of course. [She moves her book aside so that it's not a distraction for now and busy herself with the kettle.] I think it should only be a few minutes before it'll be ready, Cherryblod-san.

[cherryblooded]

Thank you very much.

[He doesn't know if he should bring up the motive, but - probably not. It was bad enough for him. Better to talk about anything else.]

What's that you're reading?

[devastation]

... It's a book I got out of the vending machine recently.

[She doesn't make to try to move the book over so that Cherryblod can flip through it himself, but it is currently open on a page where he can clearly see what appears to be the layout of a school, with instructions guiding how to reach a "shelter" in the basement of the building.]

It's a manual that they instructed the teachers of our school to keep a copy of in our desks, but we were forbidden to look at it except in the event of an emergency. Now that I found it here, though...

[...Well, there is definitely an emergency situation happening back home and here, so she figures that now is a good a time as any to look at it.]

[cherryblooded]

Certainly is an emergency.

[He raises an eyebrow as a thought comes to him.]

Wonder why you weren't allowed to look at it. In an emergency, it's better to be prepared ahead of time, isn't it? That's why we have earthquake drills.

[You know what schools don't have fire drills? Schools that are underwater.]

[devastation]

I would think so, too... it doesn't make any sense why they wouldn't allow us to look at sooner.

... It would have made the situation back home less disastrous if we had known what to do before then.

[And that's what really bothers her the most about it: only now does she have the opportunity to look at it (or even remember looking at it) and she's not even there at the school right now to put this information to good use.]

[cherryblooded]

Maybe they thought you would panic if you knew those kinds of emergencies were even possibilities?

[That's his best guess. Sometimes people are better off not knowing what could go wrong, as long as it doesn't actually go wrong.]

[devastation]

Perhaps, but... something about it still doesn't feel right.

[There's a bit of a pause as she considers for a moment, before--]

Do you remember a week or so ago when I told you that I had a strange dream here? [She hadn't given too many details about it at the time, but Cherryblod might remember that she was pretty upset nonetheless.]

[cherryblooded]

Yes, I do.

[He's listening carefully as he waits for her to continue.]

[devastation]

[This is still really hard to talk about, so give her a moment before she continues.]

In the dreams I've had since then... there was a terrible tragedy that happened at the school. Many students and teachers died, to the point where only myself and a few students managed to survive.

[There's a pause, as she then places her hand down on the book by her.]

... The emergency being described in this book... is the exact same one that happened in my dream.

[cherryblooded]

[That's alright. He can be patient.]

So they knew, or at least suspected it might happen. ...But it's something no one would reasonably expect? Otherwise there'd be no point in keeping it secret...

[devastation]

[Cherryblod, please don't make her say what exactly this "tragedy" was and try to explain just how bad it is...]

It would be one thing if they weren't expecting it... but... that's not the feeling I get when reading what's written in here.

[If they knew something like that could happen, why would they forbid them from being allowed to know what to do until after the tragedy claimed so many lives, rather than knowing beforehand so that they could prevent casualties?]

[cherryblooded]

[He'll try not to!]

...That is distressing. I hope you can demand an explanation from someone, when this is all over.

[devastation]

I don't know if there's anyone that would be able to answer that for me.

[Or at least not anyone that might actually still be alive in all this chaos.

However, she does try to sound a little more determined when she speaks again.]

Until then... the best thing I can do is try to protect my remaining students. I'm their teacher, so it's my responsibility to make sure that they're safe.

[cherryblooded]

You're a good teacher. Most wouldn't be willing to take on that responsibility, for something they hadn't been trained for.

[He respects teachers, but he recognizes they're - for lack of a better word - only human.]

[devastation]

It's the least I can do for them.

[To make up for not being able to do anything to prevent what happened...]

I wish this manual was in their hands rather than mine, but... for now, at least I can study it so that I can try to make things better when I get back.

[cherryblooded]

And you will be getting back. Soon, I hope.

[devastation]

Right. [There's a slight pause, before she then smiles.] Once I'm able to find my students, it would be nice if they were able to meet everyone here, too: I'm sure they would really like you, Cherryblod-san.

[what with how nice you are as well as the fact that you're a shrimp person which is definitely a thing they've never seen before]

[cherryblooded]

If they aren't too bothered by my appearance, I'd love to meet them.

[They're old enough to not go pulling on everything...]

Imagine we'll all be doing a lot of visiting each other, once this is over with.

[devastation]

Oh, I doubt that they'll be bothered: in fact, Yuki--Takeya-san would probably think that the shrimp tail was cute.

[That girl adores cute things and also likes to give nicknames to everyone so you'll probably get referred to as "Cherry-nii" or something like that.]

[cherryblooded]

[That's the most adorable thing the narration has ever heard.]

She's not going to try and play with it, is she...?

[devastation]

[Yuki's sense of personal space is kind of non-existent, so... well...]

... I'll make sure to tell her not to. [yeah]

[cherryblooded]

Just as long as she doesn't pull on my antennae. They're sensitive.

[devastation]

Oh, don't worry--she can be a little childish, but Takeya-san is a sweet girl. She wouldn't do anything that would cause you any harm.

[She might hug you or want to poke the tail to see if it's real, but she wouldn't pull on the antennae if it would actually hurt you doing that.]

[cherryblooded]

Good to hear. [His antennae do a happy little wiggle.] I haven't gotten my antennae yanked on since Lobco was a little girl.