persona rp Persona: Simulacrum - IC Thread

[MRDRHAWK]

Date: April 17th, 2015
Time: 9:42 PM
Location: ???

"... And that concludes our report on this strange new Ersatz Syndrome that has begun crippling our streets. Join us at 11 for more breaking ne-"

The screen clicked off with a loud blip, as a remote was gently placed onto the nearby desk.

"Uh, Mr. Serizawa, they didn't run the interview they did with you. Did you want me to file a formal complaint on behalf of the Chruch?" One of the men in the room, a much younger male in his mid-20s, inquired from one side of the desk, moonlight glaring into his eyes, looming over him as if about to swallow him whole.

"... No, that will not be necessary, Saburo. You are... dismissed for the evening." The man sitting at the desk suddenly stood upright, sauntering towards the middle of the room, passing his apparent assistant. "Oh, and do say hi to your wife for me. It has been a while since they came to the church, has it not?" Serizawa suddenly inquired, turning back towards his assistant.

Saburo gulped. "U-uh... well, sir, that's because she's having a hard time getting around... y'know, with the baby and all..." He sheepishly replied, prompting Serizawa to stroke his chin.

"Hmm, yes... how far along is she? Six months, if I recall?" Serizawa replied, his gaze piercing into Saburo's as if analyzing him, waiting for a response.

"S-seven, actually... u-uh, sir, I really should be going..." Saburo replied weakly, as he made for the door. Before he could leave, however, Serizawa said one last thing to him.

"Do be careful on the streets... more people are becoming lost to the void each day. For your sake and hers, I hope you do not join them."
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As Saburo left the church, he began rifling through his work bag for his phone; he'd hoped to call his wife and let her know that he was coming home late.

Dammit... Miya's gonna kill me... Saburo thought frantically as he passed by the towering glass buildings that were home to several business's offices, in order to maximize revenue. Kyoshoku really was a place where money talked bigger than your words ever could.

Before he could find his phone, however, Saburo heard something rather odd: the chiming of a bell.

Whirling around, but finding nothing, Saburo tensed up and began to walk just a little bit faster, hoping that whatever it was, he would be able to leave it behind him quickly.

Fate is never so kind, however.

A hand gripped onto Saburo's shoulder, and before he knew what was truly going on, he was gone without any trace of his ever being there, his space on the city streets replaced by that of a mirror, nothing that you couldn't find in a normal house.

Mirror, mirror...~
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As the gates of Torodara Preparatory opened up, Nagita Inoue frowned as she surveyed the students approaching her school, looking for any potential symptoms of Ersatz Syndrome. The news seemed to be eating this phenomenon up for everything that it was worth, which was actually something hysterical to the principal, considering how she'd already lost a few of her most promising students to this.

Sighing with both sadness and relief in her breath, Inoue sat down in her desk chair - she really did need to get a new one, this chair was getting worn down - and reached into her desk drawer to pull out a stack of papers to ready herself for the morning ahead of her.

One way or another, dammit, the show must go on. And her school was no different.

As the students finished piling into the school and began to enter their classrooms, she began her announcements, and finished them almost in record time.

Life goes on...

[You may now post.]

Player info, and other important information, is located here.

Edited April 28, 2015 by Blackhawk Stinger

[Ether]

Today was already shaping up to be a shit day. On her way to Torodara Preperatory, one Akane Himura, a third year student at said school, had been accosted by a prior... customer, for lack of a better term, the man accompanied by a prior co-worker to boot. Neither of the duo was particularly pleasant, and dealing with the pair had left a rather foul taste in her mouth. Not quite as annoying as all the scrubbing that she had to do to clean her hands of the affair, but that was an inconvenience the senior student had grown accustomed to.

No, what really set her off was the inability to clear that foul taste off her palette. They had managed to waste just enough of her time that when she reached the educational institution, she was only at the start of her well-deserved cigarette, and the poor thing had to be discarded to observe some archaic rule that was in place about the damn things. If nothing else, the euphoric little stick of happiness deserved a better fate, and left just shallow enough a flavour on her lips to tease. And now, having to wait until morning classes were finished in order to get her fix, would surely do nothing but depress the high-schooler further as the day progressed, and the lack of nicotine set in.

If only it stopped there, things might have been bearable. Far from ideal and still well deserving of a fist to the gut, but bearable... vaguely. Of course, when she reached her classroom and took her assigned seat, she received that same shit-faced grin, thumbs up, and wink from one of her classmates. An outed and well-known otaku, President of the school's club pertaining to such things, and far too optimistic for a man with such a... potato-esque physique, and no money left to flaunt, having spent it all on figures and box-set collections. Maybe he wouldn't have noticed her were it not for this be-damned seat... though life was never so kind as to allow such a thing, really. This assigned seat, next to the window, and second from the back, was as he called it, the seat of a protagonist, a heroine! And so she found herself, day after day, needing to lose this potato of a man so that he did not interrupt her business with his blathering on about how she was to be the first and foremost in his veritable harem of anime women, his one waifu to rule all waifus, as it were, a 3D girl, what an astonishing twist! But the man seemed stricken with his heroine, and was an accomplished enough stalker-type to be annoyingly difficult to lose at times.

Akane shivered as he entered the room, and his gaze fell upon her immediately, as it always did. Ah, he had a new phone... no doubt he would try to sneak more pictures of her so that he could finish the life-sized hug pillow that he had, proudly... somehow, announced he was planning to commission. As sickening as it was to buddy up to such a man, she'd need to do so soon, and destroy anything he might have procured... it was well worth it to do that much, if it meant intervening in the birthing of such a foul atrocity. If only the man had some cash at his disposal, then at least he might have been useful...

"Oh Akane-chaaaaaaan~" came the voice, filled with optimism and hope, that his Goddess might give him recognition. Akane cringed visibly, once again. She wondered if anyone would miss the sad sack if he dissapeared, one day.

[Xinnidy]

Another day, another commute to school.

...Another daunting experience to Eliana, currently frozen standing before the Torodara Preparatory's gates. She'd just recently been given leave from the Educational Program for Japanese Initiates, and had been transferred to study with actual Japanese students the start of this week, taking advantage of the fact the actual school year was about to start. It was all scary for the girl.

I... I'm not even ready to speak Japanese all the time yet. She kept being concerned about it. The Program teachers encouraged her to move on and her father highly expected the change from her, but Eliana wished she could stay for longer. It was so nice, had very few people... such a perfect comfort zone, couldn't she have kept studying within the Program until graduation? Ugh, I just hope I don't slip up again. Eliana's first class was a failure in her mind. Stuttering the introductions, good job. Sigh. Her desire to timidly stay on the sidelines since was thwarted pretty quickly as she realized she constantly stuck out in the hay of uniformed first years --a very browny brownie with blonde hair was hard to miss in a mostly normal classroom.

Her motivation to enter the school grew as more and more students passed through, creating a mass of bodies and very little personal space to stay still. That was the last thing Eliana desired at that moment. Quickly enough, she moved to her classroom, sitting down at her assigned chair --one at the front of her class, much to her chagrin. While she couldn't avoid the attention, she could at least have some comfort by being close to the teacher. Hope classes go by fast today... She fidgeted with her skirt as she looked down at her table, handbag hung to the side of her chair. It was a matter of time until the awkward phase was over, optimistically.

Edited April 27, 2015 by Xinnidy

[Nanami Touko]

The jog to school was the best part of the day! Way better than getting there. Aoi ran along the side paths leading up to Torodara, skirting the first class bell. She was always late, or at least she tended to be, because going to school really was the least enjoyable thing for her to do. Especially after having been held back a year. There'd been some teasing, of course, but the worst part was having to watch the few people she'd made acquaintance with head on to the next year, while she was stuck having to deal with all the juniors and transfers moving up a year. It was a pain, to be sure.

But right now, there was just running. And running helped her feel free from all that. Bag strung on her back, uniform open like always, she kept a brisk pace and made her way through the gates, on time for once... Huh? Why am I... She took out her phone, and looked at the clock hanging in the entrance hall... And for whatever reason, her phone's clock was fast. She sighed. That was five more minutes I could've spent in bed. Oh well... Her class wasn't even on the second or third floor, either, so it was annoyingly easy to get to. Not even an extended work out. Today sucks... She tucked those thoughts away, and entered the class, getting a few glances. It wasn't the most apparent thing, but she did look a bit older than the rest of her new classmates, and she was sure some people knew she'd been held back. She didn't really care. She also ignored the glare from Professor Harada, who was most displeased with the look of her uniform, but, eh. It felt better unbuttoned, so that's how she left it.

Bag flopped onto the floor, she sat at the desk in the first row, right next to the window. It was probably someone else's desk, but that didn't matter that much for homeroom. Maybe she'd get lucky, and it'd be her desk! It was her favorite spot, because she could simply watch what was going on outside, instead of paying attention to the teacher or the rest of her classmates. With a sigh, she waited for classic literature to begin. At least this class was easy enough to get through. It was far from her best subject, but it was also far from her worst. It was also more interesting than Math, or Science, or even Philosophy, so her interest would manage to stay, for most of it.

But for now... She did a quick scan over the class, and only one person really stood out as weird. It was the girl sitting a few seat over, in the front row. She was... Well, she wasn't from Japan, that was for sure. Hmm. Class was about to start, but, there were a few other people talking anyway. "Ooiiii," she said over, hoping she wasn't being too loud, but not exactly caring if she was, "what's your name?" A good way to start! Just had to keep up a conversation... Maybe. That was the hard part.

Edited April 27, 2015 by I have opinions

[Xinnidy]

Everything would have gone well and Eliana would have a quiet day if she managed to keep interactions to a minimum, or so she really hoped. Unfortunately, the odds were very against that, and one shout shook the girl's attention from staring at her table. It... was that at me? It wasn't, please tell me it wasn't at me. Curiosity took the better of the girl, who slowly turned to meet the inquirer-- Crap. They made eye contact. Oh god. But wait, maybe that girl was still talking to someone else! Maybe she would turn to look at someone else soon eno--

"What's your name?"

Oh no. It was really at her. So early in the day, too. Oh, oh god. An answer, need an answer. I need to respond! "Hello." Eliana replied.

Wait.

"Ah, Eliana! It is my name!" Eliana finally answered, and then the embarassment set in. No, no, that's so dumb. She asked my name, I said hello. Why? Trying pretty hard to resist the temptation to bury her face in her hands, Eliana thought over-- don't people give their family names too? Culture was hard. "Ah, Goulart. No!" She took a deep breath. "My name is Eliana, Goulart." There. Basic sentences. She could do this. She had to do this. Please don't think I'm crazy pleasepleaseplease--

[Sandalphon]

Clayton wiped some sweat from his brow as he slumped through the halls of Torodara Prep. He hadn't anticipated that he would ever walk through the building again, so the experience was slightly surreal. He walked briskly by a group of uniformed students, thinking to himself that they were all rather short.

Had he ever been that small? He was only a year older than most of the graduating class. He figured he really shouldn't feel so awkward and out of place... Then again, he never really felt that he belonged there back when he was a student either. Still, it should be some sort of honour to have been invited back to the place to work on an initiative to beautify the place. Something about "improving student morale in these tense times", according to the notice that had been posted at the art collective. He shivered a little. There was some seriously spooky business going on these days.

He finally made it to the wall that he had been assigned to create a mural on, a blank stretch of wall tucked away across from a classroom on the first floor. He rustled through his oversized bag, pulling out all matter of paints, floor covers, painter's tape, brushes and other supplies required in the making of art. He pasted up his stencil, his ears slightly pink. Having known this would be so uncomfortable he would've been less eager to take the job...

[FrostyFireMage]

Ichirou sighed as he wiped the last strands of sleep from his eyelids as he entered Torodara's gates. He was having such an interesting dream too... right before his mother hustled him out of bed. He guessed he should be thankful - Torodara was a far better alternative to the Boarding School his parents were scrutinizing over.

One such advantage was the geographical location, as he didn't need to walk far to reach his destination. He would actively need to try to be late. That was a good thing, too - Ichirou wasn't exactly the most focused student (or person) there was.

Entering his classroom, Ichirou made his way to sit down at his usual spot. Surprise, surprise, he was one of the first people here. Maybe I could play a quick game on my phone...

Edited April 27, 2015 by FrostyFireMage

[Dandragon]

Ken slowly walked into class, hoping not to cause a commotion. The trip to school had been a rough one. The path he usually took was becoming quite treacherous. Or maybe it was his lack of motor skills this morning. Either way, he had ended up tripping and ruining his hoodie in a pile of dirt. It had taken him nearly twenty minutes in the bathroom to clean it off as much as possible, which resulted in him being late to class. And it was in the bathroom that he noticed that he forgot to properly comb his hair, again. It shouldn't bother me this much. He kept telling himself this. It wasn't even my uniform. Why should I care? Yet it still bugged him in the back of his mind.

It didn't help that he was also tired. He did not get a good nights sleep, thanks to his brother. He had come home intoxicated, shouting drunken slurs and phrases at every object in the house. This was nothing new, but last night was especially troubling due to the fact that he was also throwing up all over the place. Ken had taken it upon himself to lead his brother to bed, after sending his 'friends' home, and cleaning up after him. Then, he had to watch over him for a majority of the night, until he knew it was safe for him to leave his mess of a brother alone. By that time, it was long past midnight, and he could do nothing but lay in bed for a mesely hour and a half before finally falling asleep.

Trying to take the terrible experiences off his mind, Ken looked around at his classmates. They all seemed to be caught up in their own conversations. He couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but it's rude to eavesdrop anyway. No one seemed to be approaching him, which was fine. He preferred it that way. It would be a nice, quiet day for him. He sat down at his desk, placing his backpack underneath so that nobody would trip over it or kick it.

Almost immediately, Ken noticed a rather large classmate bugging another, who clearly did not appreciate his company. While he didn't know all the details, Ken got up and walked towards the two. "U-uhm, excuse me, sir, but I believe she does not want to be bothered, right now."

Edited April 27, 2015 by Dandragon

[Garnef]

Today was turning out to be a typical early day at school. Excited for another year, Kinji Kaito took the bus like he always does, in proper uniform like he tries his best to do. He took one of the front seats of the bus, and fell asleep until it reached Toradora Prepatory.

Kinji headed to his class after getting a fruit juice from the vending machine, and took the seat closest to the door. He simply sat there waiting for class to start, and drank some of fruit juice, since nobody he knew was a part of the class he was in, from what he knew.

Bored out of his mind, he counted his money.

"237¥, huh? I hope this is enough to buy what I need from MediPaX, later." He whispered to himself. He wasn't really the best with money, and didn't really know of any efficient methods to get much, so for him, 237¥ was pretty much a blessing.

He put his money away, and continued to wait, and when class started, he was mostly silent.

Edited April 27, 2015 by Nexas

[Acacia Sgt]

Michael Schwartz sat before his desk, as his gaze went over a stack of papers. The material for the class of today. His focus wasn't entirely on them, though, as his thoughts wandered to other things that were on his mind that day. Or more specifically, lingering thoughts from the lasts few days.

Of all places to have chosen, it had to be this city. He thought. Whether he referred to himself or the Ersatz Syndrome, it was irrelevant for him at this point. It was certainly bizarre, like something out of a book or movie. Well, looks like reality one-ups fiction this time. He had concluded, but it was still a worrysome state of events.

But dwelling on it would have to be left for later, as class was about to start and the students were already arriving.

[Nanami Touko]

Weirdo, Aoi thought, but she still smirked at the display. This girl's Japanese wasn't the best, but that was probably why she was here. Exchange students seemed to come and go all the time, getting better at the language, showing up because their parents had to move, or something of that sort. It wouldn't do Aoi any good to start mocking her, so she kept that weirdo thought under wraps. "A foreigner, huh?" she said, instead. "I'm Aoi. I guess it's nice to have someone different in class. I hope you can get your japanese under better control, though..." Oh, crap, uh... Well, she'd wanted to not mock her, but she was slipping. Come on, pick it back up. "Uh, I mean, some people here can be pretty mean. Wouldn't want to get picked on for something you're here to learn, right?" She offered a small smile, but was most definitely panicking in her head. Am I safe? Did I save that?

She sighed again, and shook her head. "Just sucks that you get stuck in classic lit... Could've had a fun class. Like... Like gym. I love gym." She started to brighten up just thinking about P.E., not that she noticed it. "Do you do any sports? I think I'm gonna join the soccer team, this year."

[Raguna]

Whistling a barely audible tune down the school halls with mop in hand and, Retsuya wasn't quite so eager to have woken up today. It was not because of the fact that he needed to work because for a simple janitor he was payed rather well, but it had more in line due to his workplace. He kept a serious expression as he watched the mass of different students approaching and he couldn't help but make himself scarce and reminisce of days long past. ''Man... it's been two years huh...'' he murmured to himself. Two years since the rise and fall of twenty year old Retsuya Ikeda.

In any case, he had been contracted to clean, but he had managed most of that during the earlier parts of the morning so he was left with nothing left to do. He still wasn't very friendly with the school staff and due to the whole Ersatz Syndrome, he's been trying to stay more vigilant for any signs of it among the students than to actually speak with them. Not to mention speaking with the janitor of all people could be considered weird. Still class was about to start, so he figured there wasn't much else to do than just stroll around until break time to see if there was any leftover garbage from his first run down on the first floor. He didn't expect it but he eventually found a young man with a variety of painting utensils getting a little too close to the wall with a paintbrush.

''My apologies if I'm incorrect... but are you defacing school property?'' he asked

He wasn't exactly informed of any beautification project going around in the school, so as the guy who regularly cleans the area he was rather curious as to what the young man was doing and although his words came off as rather soft his expression was completely stern. He didn't want to cause a giant misunderstanding, but he wasn't willing to risk his job already if he let someone randomly enter the school and strew about all the colors of the rainbow just to be cleaned up afterwards.

Edited April 27, 2015 by almi23

[Phoenix]

Eleven more months of this sort of life. Eleven more months and Brant could put it all behind him. He had only started attending at Torodara the start of this semester, but he'd met plenty of the students here already at some clumsily handled introduction ceremony. He supposed it helped him and the other foreigners acclimatize more quickly but it was still clumsy at best. Thankfully, only a few of those students were still pestering him and he didn't have the heart to chase any of them away. They never really stuck around long enough to get truly unbearable anyway. Shortly after he entered the main building, one of those people approached him.

"Yo! Morning!" The cheerful body projecting that annoying voice was a friend of a 'friend', if Brant recalled correctly. If he couldn't be bothered to remember the latter's name, he sure wasn't going to even make an attempt at the former's. Fortunately, this conversation wasn't looking to last terribly long given the time. "How's the family? You seem a bit happier today, so I figured ..."

Brant squinted at the remark. It seemed like this guy was projecting more than just an annoying voice. Brant's aura, his manner of speech, expression, posture ... none of that had changed recently as far as he could tell, so he put the comment out of mind. "I don't know what you've heard, but consider yourself up to date; nothing's changed." And honestly, why would anything have changed? His own research hadn't shown that Ersatz victims got any better within a short period of time. Long term cases didn't appear to exist yet, so he couldn't learn anything more than that. That was part of why it was the big problem these days.

"Ah. I see. Sorry to hear that," his fellow student frowned. His tone had come down to a range Brant found more ... bearable, oddly enough. "Well just remember, there are a lot of other people out there suffering, too. Your mother's not the first and, sadly, probably not going to be the last." Normally, saying something that thoughtless would have at least earned him a scowl, but Brant really did only care about the Ersatz case in his own family. This guy probably didn't know that, though and was just being thoughtless. "Anyway, I'm here, Yuko's here, and ... even the teachers, so you shouldn't be afraid to talk to someone, when you're feeling down." So that was the 'friend''s name, Yuko. It did sound familiar.

"Duly noted," Brant replied flatly. The student left after that and a wave of relaxation washed over Brant. That was better. The episode was brief, and didn't cause any lasting damage, so he was fine with it. Now he just had to get to class ....

Edited April 27, 2015 by Phoenix

[Ether]

Intervention? That was new, to be certain. Akane didn't pay it too much heed, the sad sap would have left on his own once homeroom began, but the confrontation had clearly left the man in a bit of a flustered state.

"W-who are you, trying to get between me and A-Akane-chan?!" The high-school otaku asked, in an uncommon display of bewilderment and anger, huffing at the interloper, the jelly comprising his potato-esque body churning and wiggling as he swung about, his wide face and double... no, triple in fact, chin swaying as he moved. Oh my, was this the fabled 'Nerd Rage'? This might be interesting to watch... maybe someone else would punch him out for her, so Akane wouldn't have to.

Of course, that was only if the timid looking fellow didn't just retreat. Hoping to stir him on, Akane flashed him an encouraging smile, and to be honest, didn't even need to try, to look uncomfortable with the large mass of otaku flesh that had clung to her side.

[Ace Tactician]

Katsumi briskly walked through the halls of Torodara Prep on route to her first class of the day. Her morning had spent getting her siblings ready for school in addition to her own normal morning readiness routine which included feeding her pet koi fish before leaving. It had been quite the adjustment to make at first, taking over the responsibilities her Mother normally had in prepping her siblings for school in the early morning hours. But Ersatz Syndrome had changed that in what seemed to be an eyeblink.

Shaking the thought from her head as she took her seat in her first class of the day, which already had a scene unfolding before her. Another male classmate wearing a hoodie was bravely attempting to persuade another larger male classmate to leave a female classmate alone. From what she could gather, the other girl didn't seem to want the larger male around her. A light frown crossed her face as she prepared her own interjection as the situation appeared to be sliding into fist fight territory which did not sit well with Katsumi. Rising from her seat and facing the offending parties wearing a stern expression, "Please don't start any fights," She said, hoping to diffuse this before homeroom started.

[Garnef]

After having drank all his fruit juice, Kinji was a lot more revitalized than before, and became who he usually is when he's in a good mood: Hyped and loud.

Having heard somebody say "Please don't start any fights," he instinctively got up and blurted out, "alllll the fights shall happen."

Realizing he just blurted out something completely dumb, Kinji Kaito sat back down looked away from everyone, hiding his face from them.

"Right, it's the beginning of the year, nobody knows who I am in this classroom, they'll think I'm crazy for making a joke. Damn it, first day, and I've already made a bad impression," he rambled on to himself.

[Xinnidy]

A smirk. Internally, Eliana exhaustively considered what that meant. She's laughing, isn't she? She thinks I'm weird, oh no. For some reason, body language was very easy for Eliana to perceive, but not always simple to draw the intent from.

"...I hope you can get your japanese under better control, though..."

Oh god, that was it. I failed, people are going to make fun of me now. Face reddening, she almost got the time to bury her face on her palms, but was interrupted as the girl --now known as Aoi, continued to talk.

"Uh, I mean, some people here can be pretty mean. Wouldn't want to get picked on for something you're here to learn, right?"

"...Huh?" Maybe... maybe she understood? Maybe she wasn't going to make fun of Eliana. "Uh, y-yeah. So hard to learn, it gets embarrassing." Eliana spoke what she could remember, it wasn't an easy language, and speaking was always the hardest part. Memories of learning the English language came back. Gosh, and I thought I could speak that fine until I met an american. Their accents are so hard to understand. People here talk super fast too... Part of her wished she could stick to writing for both. Alas, life wasn't that easy.

As for this girl... she was now starting small talk, and she seemed into it. Maybe she was friendly enough. "Ah, P.E.? Yes, would... it is nice." Word, words! "At my country, P.E. was soccer, all the time. Sometimes basketball, not very often." Maybe that'd get Aoi's interest, she liked soccer, right? Or she will think I'm some crazy kid that's going to talk about my home country all the time like it's the best... Pessimism was so easy. I need to change the topic from that direction quick! "Ah, I like swimming a lot. Was not P.E., but I did swimming, out of school."

[Nanami Touko]

it was really hard to not make fun of her. Aoi didn't mean anything by it, at least in her head, but friendly teasing couldn't happen without being friendly first! You can't just skip a step. But it was easy to take the girl out of the gang. Taking the gang out of the girl, was a bit harder. She ended up biting her lip a few times to force herself to keep quiet, nodding along at the talk of sports. "Yeah, soccer's great! It's pretty popular here too. Baseball's the most popular, but they don't have a team for that at school." I wonder where she's from-- well, duh, idiot, just ask if you're curious. Aoi played some more mental gymnastics, nodding at swimming as well. "I think we have a pool here? I don't know, I don't think I've looked into it. I'd rather run around than swim. Er, I mean at school. I know there's some bigger gym in town that has a pool, if you ever wanted to go visit it."

And if Japanese is so hard for her... "<Maybe, do you speak English?>" she asked a bit slowly, getting her accent used to the weird words for a moment. She got a few weird looks from the nearby rows for speaking English, but whatever! She was good at that, and it was one of the few things she was good at, so she was going to use it as much as she could. But on the off chance she didn't, she switched back for her other question. So, okay, I just ask, right? "So, uh..." This felt really awkward to ask, but, "where are you from, then?"

[Garnef]

Kinji Kaito gathered his thoughts, and came to a realization:

"Wait a minute, if I was incredibly tired, and I know none of the people in this room...then wait a minute."

He got up and asked the first person he saw:

"Which classroom is this?"

[SB.]

Considering his morning was going to start off with a god-awful English class, Kazumi Saito was in a pretty good mood as he took his morning route to school. He took the walk at a leisurely pace, in no hurry to arrive to his lesson early, when he felt his phone gently vibrating in his trouser pocket. Most of his friends didn't usually send him texts this early in the morning, so he wasn't sure what to expect from it. Pulling it out, he saw that it came from Arata, a boy from his year but in a different class, and the contents were fairly concerning.

"omg kazumi, did u hear about hiro from my class??? he apparently disappeared a couple of days ago :o

i thought he was just sick or w.e. but his parents can't find him so idk, do u think it's esratz?"

That certainly put a damper on his mood. By the time Kazumi had finished reading the message, he realised that he was biting his lip. He didn't really know Hiro very well, but seeing that more students were vanishing was kind of scary. Of course, he'd never admit that in front of anyone considering they'd probably just make fun of him for doing it, but still. The fact that the church that was being associated with the disappearances was in the same district didn't make him feel any better either. Looking back at his phone screen, he realised that he'd missed a second message.

"*ersatz

sorry, still not used to my new phone lol"

Of course. A quiet laugh escaped him, despite the earlier, more serious message still weighing in on his mind. At least he didn't have anything else to worry about. He was about to type out a reply when he almost stepped out in front of a car turning his way, and had to quickly back up onto the pavement. That was pretty close... he let out a sigh of relief, and pocketed his phone again. He could reply once he got to school.

Luckily, the rest of the journey had been a fairly uneventful one, and within a few minutes he was past the school gates and making his way to his class. He'd been cutting things kind of fine in terms of time, so he didn't bother to go looking for Arata to talk, and just headed straight into his own room and plopped himself down at his desk, and began lifelessly unpacking his books. The next few hours were sure to be a slog...

[FrostyFireMage]

43963? That's a new high score. Go, me. Still, this game was losing its novelty fairly quickly - but what else could you expect from a cheap phone game? Casting a quick glance over the slowly filling classroom, he noticed nobody of interest - well, apart from Kazumi, who Ichirou had a healthy acquaintanceship with.

"Yo, Kazumi, have you heard?" Ichirou whispered to his neighbor. "There have been more confirmed victims of Ersatz! D'you think it has anything to do with some sort of government cover-up? Hitomi says it's because of extraterrestrial interference but I think that sounds like bullcrap, honestly."

[SB.]

Kazumi was just about finished unpacking when Ichirou started talking to him. "Yeah, I heard about it." he confirmed, turning around to face him. "Does Hitomi really think that? That's kind of... out there, isn't it? I don't think that aliens would be involved or anything like that." Sure, Kazumi couldn't come up with a rational explanation for the syndrome, but still. Scientists and researchers would probably figure the whole thing out soon, right?

"And I don't know what kind of thing the government would want to cover up out here either." he continued. "I mean there are all sorts of people with Ersatz now, so I can't really see a connection between them. Maybe they all went to that church or something? I'm not sure." It was definitely worth thinking about, at least.

Edited April 27, 2015 by SB.

[Dandragon]

"Sir, it's obvious that she is uncomfortable with you around her. Please stop bothering her." Up close, he was definitely repulsed by the large student. He could swear that he smelled of sweat and other substances he dared not think about. His disrespect towards his victim was astonishing.

"Please don't start any fights." Someone else had interjected between the three, another female. She had the look of a mother attempting to break up a fight between two arguing children. But he didn't want to let this fat man do as he wished.

"I'm sorry, I-," He cut himself off as he realized what was in the large student's hands. An advanced phone by the looks of it, and it was aimed at the first lady's terra incognita. It was not like him to get angry, but this would not stand. "Stop taking pictures, or I will report this to the principle! What you are doing is sexual harassment!" He yelled in order to try and call attention to the matter. Perhaps if he could not stop him, the class combined could.

Edited April 27, 2015 by Dandragon

[FrostyFireMage]

"...You have a point there. That old church always gave me the creeps. Maybe it's the meeting area of some crazy cult that eats babies or something."

[SB.]

Kazumi had to stifle a laugh after that comment. "Who knows? I've been trying to avoid that area when I can recently, so yeah."