Obviously I'm not either, but I dunno. Sometimes I wonder about things. [He isn't sure why he's inclined to say it, but:] Dcom had an indoor garden, too. It wasn't anything extravagant but sometimes it was nice to have around and pretend we could go somewhere else during our lockdown.
I like swimming but I've never been a big fan of the ocean. [But he tilts his head. Go for a walk with him? He wants to move a little and stretch his legs.]
Most of the rooms that've opened up for us are almost calm. Weird, isn't it?
And a theater. [He echoes the word because it's the outlier to him, but it's kind of funny. His hands are in his pockets as he walks at a leisurely pace.] I hope that's what it is. Maybe our captors finally felt like cutting us some slack this week.
["Even though I seriously doubt it."] ...how are things? After the weekend and everything.
[He cants his head at the word "practice" but he leaves it alone unless Kanesada feels like explaining. As it is...there's a sigh. He picks up on that implication if only because he answered the same way when someone else asked. But if there's one thing he loves, it's information.]
No, you didn't. The days after were kind of a blur...what've you got? Did you ever find your mystery note writer by the way? [He's interested in what they found in the security room, but also. That's still on his mind.]
Ah - did any of us tell you about our performances?
[ it's uh. it's been a while. he hasn't been thinking about it with all the demons happening. ]
I haven't found who wrote it yet, but I've found a few more who didn't. [ there's a note of frustration in his voice, because most people find it a little weird to ask for writing samples. he's trying. ] As for what I've got...
There's a new note, but it isn't handwritten. And I have the notebook from the office we broke into - as well as the keys to the cell. I want to try them on the ones on this floor, too, when I get the chance.
I must've missed that part. I didn't realize you guys performed at all. [Which in and of itself is kind of funny but somehow fitting. ] You'll have to show us sometime.
Nice going though. [He does sound pleased because keys are a big step.] If there's some kind of master key that could help with future break-ins. What'd the new note say? And the notebook? If you can remember off the top of your head.
[ there's a nod, but he... doesn't look very enthusiastic about it at the moment. ]
Our master said it was the way to do battle in one of the eras they liked sending us to. It's singing and dancing, mostly. I... promised Escha I would show her sometime.
[ but that's... well, that's done, for now. so kanesan gives himself a good mental shake and moves on. ]
I don't know if it's a master key, but it's worth trying, at least. Though we'll have to be careful that there aren't more knife incidents.
[ not to talk bad about your fox wife, junpei, but that was a dumb move. anyway! instead of answering immediately, he pulls two things from his kimono - a badly water-damaged notebook and a small note to hand to junpei. if he knows kanesan's writing (and let's say he does because i never thought that far), he'll recognize it. ]
The note wasn't handwritten - but I wasn't sure if you'd be able to read it or not, since it appeared the same way as the last one.
[ there are only two entries in the notebook that are anything approaching legible - but the note reads:
I never really thought about performing arts as a battle strategy, but if it helped you blend in...maybe that makes sense. [A frown.] I wonder if they can still see us even after they're off the ship. It seems weird that they couldn't.
I think most of us would be fine. [He. Knows. He loves Tamamo for being the way she is but he's also well aware she doesn't think things through like that when she's in the moment. Still, there are two things going on here. He'll take both items, comparing them and reading everything over. The note gets his attention first though because:]
What the hell does any of this mean? Another game of Hang Man? [He knows Kanesada doesn't know but ???] How did this show up? And when?
There's no way of knowing what the dead can or can't see, is there? Though I do wonder about the new ruins that appear outside when we lose someone.
[ he'll just give a shrug. ]
No idea. It appeared on Friday morning - it was in the room when I woke up. I don't think Taako noticed it. My guess is that it's some sort of code, but I couldn't tell you what. As for the notebook, it looks like a journal, doesn't it? Maybe from one of the last people who went through what we're doing?
[ the entries in it are dated and span about seven weeks, but it's definitely seen better days. several pages have been torn out, and others are too water-damaged to be legible. the first entry that junpei will be able to read is dated to last week - the same day kanesan had brought an injured tamamo to his door. it reads:
DAY 20 SPOKE TO: █████, █████████, NE██A, M█████
- Did not find th████████ shoes - Task still pending for A. Where the fuck am I going t███████████████████████ - ██████████████████████ █V██████████████████████ - M███████████████ moron who cannot stop breaking into places. This is the last time I pop his arm back in its socket!!!! ]
I don't know if there are. Maybe somebody can send messages back and forth with our hosts. The ruins are always linked back to whoever dies though.
[There's a nod because it does look like a journal. On the other hand, he's reading and he's like. Hm. The fuck?
This...is really interesting and he blinks in surprise as he scans over the page.]
So whoever wrote this was probably kind of a spy of some sort. Interesting, isn't it? [How does this all work...?] Hold onto this. We'll keep a collection of the logs we find. I'm curious what shoes they're looking for though. But I'd like to borrow this to make a copy if that's okay.
[...he's still tied up about Kanesada's mystery note.] It's your other note I'm still concerned about if people keep sending them to you. Have you spoken to our hosts about it...? There must be a reason it's only you so far.
It's worth asking about. It's possible they might have information we don't. It's better to account for all possibilities we can than miss something that might help us.
[ but. yeah. he's nodding. ]
That's what I was thinking, too. But whoever they were, it didn't end well for them. Look at the last entry.
[ it's the only other legible entry, heavily smudged with water and pink stains. it reads:
██y 49 ███████████████████████████████████████ORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORry i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I want to █████████████████████████████████████████████ Why aren't I dead why why why why why wh█████████ I███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
so yeah. not great! ]
I've been keeping it with me, outside of the trial. I've been trying to keep it quiet, so it isn't damaged further or stolen, in case it turns out that we need it - but you can borrow it for now.
[ he does look a bit surprised at the last question, though. ]
Is it only me? I thought others had been receiving things, too. Wasn't your box like that?
You and I are in sync then. [There's a grin. But that grin fades when he flips to the last entry and...freezes a little. Day 49, huh?]
...what happened to them? Rhetorical question, I know we don't know. It's a good idea to keep it with you but not enough to draw attention. I appreciate it though. It...should help with some things I'm working on.
[He shakes his head though.] The box was different. I know others who've received it but I didn't get anything last week. You've been getting notes consistently. [...] I'd like to ask you something. It's based on some rumors I've heard, and I'd appreciate it if this stayed between us.
Are you aware of special rules given out in this game? I don't believe this is a coincidence.
I'm still waiting for you to tell me what those things are.
[ a gentle reminder, but he won't pry further than that. at the next question, he hums thoughtfully, crossing his arms as they walk. ]
Maybe it isn't a coincidence, but if someone is trying to tell me something, I couldn't say what it is. They could have chosen someone who'd understand what "doxxing" is, for one thing.
[ he looks a bit grumpy at that, eventually shaking his head. ]
I can't say that I know about any special rules, but they've already given us so many to work within - what good is it if they keep giving us more? Besides, the only rumors I've heard are that some of us are receiving things from home.
What? [He looks surprised because, like, he's actually not sure which part Kanesada means. He could use a more forceful reminder to be honest, he's had a lot on his mind lately. But it's a curious hum that follows even as they pass a patch of purple flowers.]
Maybe they don't get a choice in the message. Otherwise why send you a puzzle, too? [He shakes his head...but.] You could just be a target of someone with a different part in this game. But then you have to think, like, why you? What does that really mean?
But I don't have prove that's what it means. I haven't heard of anyone receiving things from home recently though. Just the one week. You can see why I think you getting hit twice is the outlier.
[ but he'll give a wave of his hand. it's not important right this second, probably. ]
By that logic, maybe they didn't even choose me to receive them. For all we know, they have as much a choice in it as we do - I could just be the messenger chosen as random, and now we're all stuck with it.
It's hard to say, when we can't even figure out what the messages themselves are meant to say. All I know is that finding who wrote the first one might help us somehow. That's all Chuuya could tell me.
Oh. Yeah, I can debrief you when you have the time. I've been putting together all of the notes from everyone.
If that's true...can it really be random if it's twice? I guess we won't know until later this week because they say that thrice is a pattern or something. It seems weird is all.
I'll see if I can decode some of the messages and let you know my thoughts. It, in theory, should be easy enough to solve if they're being sent in the first place. Maybe I'll ask Chuuya myself, too.
[He stops though because he's busy squinting at that patch of flowers a little harder before something seems amiss.] ...what the? [Excuse him, he's going to step forward and reach down to pluck out a purple hair scrunchie. He turns it in his hand, but without warning a barrier comes, surrounding both him and Kanesada among the flowers as the scrunchie turns to dust.]
You're seeing this, right? What the hell? [The memory will come in the next tag because this barrier is probably going to be a problem in and of itself.]
[ but maybe after junpei has some time to figure out the note or the journal entries. or… after they get out of this barrier. the relaxed posture is gone as soon as it goes up, and his hand goes to his sword. to junpei, he simply nods as his eyes scan the garden for potential threats. ]
But I haven’t heard of any attacks coming earlier than Thursday night.
Are we sure this is an attack? [He's trying to push at the barrier himself with no luck. It's...it's something, maybe, because for a moment the barrier shimmers, and then Kanesada finds himself looking through someone else's eyes until everything goes dark at 34:20.]
[ it takes a moment for kanesan to come out of it, blinking in surprise when he does. he doesn’t… really understand what just happened, not immediately, except -
[The problem is that Junpei's blindsided by the memory which means Kanesada gets to see a quick flicker of hurt and discomfort in his expression before it's gone. Instead, he fixes him with a neutral gaze.]
You knew Carlos and I came from the same place, didn't you? [He starts with the obvious here. It's fine.]
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[ but it still reminds him of home, so. here he is. ]
I don't know about you, but I'm not curious enough to stick around to find out.
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I see what you mean. Being here does remind me of home, even if I don't like working in the field. It's a nice change of scene.
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Most of the rooms that've opened up for us are almost calm. Weird, isn't it?
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You're right. A library, and a garden... and a theater.
[ is he excited about that last one. why is he excited about that. but anyway... ]
Maybe we were due for a change of pace.
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["Even though I seriously doubt it."] ...how are things? After the weekend and everything.
[Is he. Trying to talk and share things? Yes.]
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[ he doesn't quite miss a step at the next question, but kanesan does slow for a moment. ]
As well as any of us, probably. [ better than junpei, probably, is what he's not saying. ] I never shared the other things I found with you, did I?
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No, you didn't. The days after were kind of a blur...what've you got? Did you ever find your mystery note writer by the way? [He's interested in what they found in the security room, but also. That's still on his mind.]
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[ it's uh. it's been a while. he hasn't been thinking about it with all the demons happening. ]
I haven't found who wrote it yet, but I've found a few more who didn't. [ there's a note of frustration in his voice, because most people find it a little weird to ask for writing samples. he's trying. ] As for what I've got...
There's a new note, but it isn't handwritten. And I have the notebook from the office we broke into - as well as the keys to the cell. I want to try them on the ones on this floor, too, when I get the chance.
[ he's the police ]
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Nice going though. [He does sound pleased because keys are a big step.] If there's some kind of master key that could help with future break-ins. What'd the new note say? And the notebook? If you can remember off the top of your head.
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Our master said it was the way to do battle in one of the eras they liked sending us to. It's singing and dancing, mostly. I... promised Escha I would show her sometime.
[ but that's... well, that's done, for now. so kanesan gives himself a good mental shake and moves on. ]
I don't know if it's a master key, but it's worth trying, at least. Though we'll have to be careful that there aren't more knife incidents.
[ not to talk bad about your fox wife, junpei, but that was a dumb move. anyway! instead of answering immediately, he pulls two things from his kimono - a badly water-damaged notebook and a small note to hand to junpei. if he knows kanesan's writing (and let's say he does because i never thought that far), he'll recognize it. ]
The note wasn't handwritten - but I wasn't sure if you'd be able to read it or not, since it appeared the same way as the last one.
[ there are only two entries in the notebook that are anything approaching legible - but the note reads:
C------: 1
--------: 1
-u--- ----y: 2
---t- ------: 2
----b------: 3
-----r: 4
please don't ask him what any of that means; he doesn't have a damn clue. ]
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I think most of us would be fine. [He. Knows. He loves Tamamo for being the way she is but he's also well aware she doesn't think things through like that when she's in the moment. Still, there are two things going on here. He'll take both items, comparing them and reading everything over. The note gets his attention first though because:]
What the hell does any of this mean? Another game of Hang Man? [He knows Kanesada doesn't know but ???] How did this show up? And when?
[He's also going to look in the notebook now.]
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[ he'll just give a shrug. ]
No idea. It appeared on Friday morning - it was in the room when I woke up. I don't think Taako noticed it. My guess is that it's some sort of code, but I couldn't tell you what. As for the notebook, it looks like a journal, doesn't it? Maybe from one of the last people who went through what we're doing?
[ the entries in it are dated and span about seven weeks, but it's definitely seen better days. several pages have been torn out, and others are too water-damaged to be legible. the first entry that junpei will be able to read is dated to last week - the same day kanesan had brought an injured tamamo to his door. it reads:
DAY 20
SPOKE TO: █████, █████████, NE██A, M█████
- Did not find th████████ shoes
- Task still pending for A. Where the fuck am I going t███████████████████████
- ██████████████████████ █V██████████████████████
- M███████████████ moron who cannot stop breaking into places. This is the last time I pop his arm back in its socket!!!! ]
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[There's a nod because it does look like a journal. On the other hand, he's reading and he's like. Hm. The fuck?
This...is really interesting and he blinks in surprise as he scans over the page.]
So whoever wrote this was probably kind of a spy of some sort. Interesting, isn't it? [How does this all work...?] Hold onto this. We'll keep a collection of the logs we find. I'm curious what shoes they're looking for though. But I'd like to borrow this to make a copy if that's okay.
[...he's still tied up about Kanesada's mystery note.] It's your other note I'm still concerned about if people keep sending them to you. Have you spoken to our hosts about it...? There must be a reason it's only you so far.
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[ but. yeah. he's nodding. ]
That's what I was thinking, too. But whoever they were, it didn't end well for them. Look at the last entry.
[ it's the only other legible entry, heavily smudged with water and pink stains. it reads:
██y 49
███████████████████████████████████████ORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORry i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry
I'm so sorry
I'm so sorry
I want to █████████████████████████████████████████████
Why aren't I dead why why why why why wh█████████
I███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
so yeah. not great! ]
I've been keeping it with me, outside of the trial. I've been trying to keep it quiet, so it isn't damaged further or stolen, in case it turns out that we need it - but you can borrow it for now.
[ he does look a bit surprised at the last question, though. ]
Is it only me? I thought others had been receiving things, too. Wasn't your box like that?
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...what happened to them? Rhetorical question, I know we don't know. It's a good idea to keep it with you but not enough to draw attention. I appreciate it though. It...should help with some things I'm working on.
[He shakes his head though.] The box was different. I know others who've received it but I didn't get anything last week. You've been getting notes consistently. [...] I'd like to ask you something. It's based on some rumors I've heard, and I'd appreciate it if this stayed between us.
Are you aware of special rules given out in this game? I don't believe this is a coincidence.
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[ a gentle reminder, but he won't pry further than that. at the next question, he hums thoughtfully, crossing his arms as they walk. ]
Maybe it isn't a coincidence, but if someone is trying to tell me something, I couldn't say what it is. They could have chosen someone who'd understand what "doxxing" is, for one thing.
[ he looks a bit grumpy at that, eventually shaking his head. ]
I can't say that I know about any special rules, but they've already given us so many to work within - what good is it if they keep giving us more? Besides, the only rumors I've heard are that some of us are receiving things from home.
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Maybe they don't get a choice in the message. Otherwise why send you a puzzle, too? [He shakes his head...but.] You could just be a target of someone with a different part in this game. But then you have to think, like, why you? What does that really mean?
But I don't have prove that's what it means. I haven't heard of anyone receiving things from home recently though. Just the one week. You can see why I think you getting hit twice is the outlier.
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[ but he'll give a wave of his hand. it's not important right this second, probably. ]
By that logic, maybe they didn't even choose me to receive them. For all we know, they have as much a choice in it as we do - I could just be the messenger chosen as random, and now we're all stuck with it.
It's hard to say, when we can't even figure out what the messages themselves are meant to say. All I know is that finding who wrote the first one might help us somehow. That's all Chuuya could tell me.
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If that's true...can it really be random if it's twice? I guess we won't know until later this week because they say that thrice is a pattern or something. It seems weird is all.
I'll see if I can decode some of the messages and let you know my thoughts. It, in theory, should be easy enough to solve if they're being sent in the first place. Maybe I'll ask Chuuya myself, too.
[He stops though because he's busy squinting at that patch of flowers a little harder before something seems amiss.] ...what the? [Excuse him, he's going to step forward and reach down to pluck out a purple hair scrunchie. He turns it in his hand, but without warning a barrier comes, surrounding both him and Kanesada among the flowers as the scrunchie turns to dust.]
You're seeing this, right? What the hell? [The memory will come in the next tag because this barrier is probably going to be a problem in and of itself.]
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[ but maybe after junpei has some time to figure out the note or the journal entries. or… after they get out of this barrier. the relaxed posture is gone as soon as it goes up, and his hand goes to his sword. to junpei, he simply nods as his eyes scan the garden for potential threats. ]
But I haven’t heard of any attacks coming earlier than Thursday night.
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he turns to junpei questioningly. ]
Junpei, was that…?
[ carlos? junpei himself? what? ]
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You knew Carlos and I came from the same place, didn't you? [He starts with the obvious here. It's fine.]
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I know. But... what was going on? What were you talking about that... that made you feel like that?
[ the human heart... it really is difficult, sometimes. it's no wonder junpei and so many others struggle to manage it. ]
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