Nova E. Sinclair

He let himself be lightly tugged by the young girl, and took his seat at the table. "Okay, okay! Not like I can say no to you, anyway."

With Mira taking her seat across from him, he was appeciative that he had a nice view. "So, Mira. How has your hunting been going lately? And good leads?"

Let's Take a Long Walk on the Beach or Somewhere- Reika [CLOSED for Nova]

Reika walked along, keeping her eyes on the ground and the scenery around her. Everything was so real; the feeling of the air, the blades of grass waving in the light wind, the soft pounding of her heart.

"Ah, I see…! I don’t think I’ve seen that yet myself, actually. I’ll have to watch it if you recommend it, Nova-kun. I like almost every genre, though of course if it’s got steampunk elements I love it even more!"

She stopped in her tracks as Nova grabbed her hand, face heating up once again and body tensing slightly. She relaxed rather quickly, feeling the warmth and ease in his hand.

Reika let out a sigh, closing her eyes… should she just ask it, after all? She didn’t want to do anything that would cause awkwardness in their relationship… but she knew that if she didn't ask, she’d just be waiting forever, right? And so she took a deep breath, looking Nova in the eyes and remaining with their hands locked together.

"W-well… um… I’m just curious… it’s been, uh, bugging me for a bit… well… how do you… feel about me…?"

Her face heated up more, and she wanted to tell him to just forget it, but she knew she couldn't. She wanted to know.

Nova stopped with Reika, even more curious now as to what she wanted to ask him. He expected her to perhaps ask for him to help her with a novel, or even get some food. But instead, what she asked he didn't expect. It was a simple sentence, and he heard it well. But his mind wasn't sure how to take it. What did she mean by how he felt? Did she mean what he thought she meant? What would happen if he misinterpreted her meaning and made things awkward? He realized he was standing like a dope, and she was waiting for an answer. Quick, say something!

"Well, I think you're a really nice girl, and...uh, I really am glad to have met you. And, uh...you're goggles look cool, and..."

He was rambling now, and he couldn't think straight. And furthermore, his answer was so generic and evasive, it made him look like he was a careless jackass. And he didn't want Reika to think that!

"I mean, not to say that you're not a cool person, but...I mean...!"

Nova was getting flustered, and he needed to calm down. He took a deep breath, paused, and tried to collect his thoughts. How did he feel about Reika, honestly? He'd never thought to confront how he felt, but now was a good a time as any to do it.

"Well, let me start over. I do think that you're a cool girl. Probably one of the coolest I'd ever met. Whenever I hang out with you, I don't feel as awkward or embarrassed as I used to. And, well...I am glad that I met you. With all the crazy, terrible stuff that's happened here, it's sort of almost been worth it...just to be here with you, walking and talking."

"And as for how I feel, well...I do like you, Reika. You know, as a good friend. And maybe...more...than...friends..."

His words at the end trailed off, as he was almost afraid to admit to her his true feelings. Anything could happen now, but even he had to admit, he wouldn't have been able to ever admit feelings like this to anyone, expect with Reika.

Let's Take a Long Walk on the Beach or Somewhere- Reika [CLOSED for Nova]

It certainly was a beautiful day. To Reika, it seemed to brighten even more the longer she was by Nova’s side. He really did seem to make things more cheerful.

"Y-yeah…"

At his comment she blushed a bit deeper and looked down again, a small smile on her face, letting out a light chuckle under her breath. Jeez, he knew what to say to her, huh? Gosh, she didn’t even know what to do or how to feel at this point.

As Nova tripped, she instinctively reached out a hand to catch him, grabbing his shirt sleeve. He managed to right himself, but she didn’t let go right away. Instead, she thought for a second, and opened her mouth.

"Um… Nova-kun… well…"

Her words fell flat, and she let go of his shirt slowly, smiling again. No, she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to ask quite yet. Did she? Maybe she did, but was just a bit afraid.

"Ah, never mind… er, I’d like to get to know you a bit better! Like, what’s your favorite food, book genre…"

She stayed close to him, however, arm just a few inches away. She liked being nearby.

Nova hoped that he hadn't embarrassed himself in front of Reika too badly. She grabbed his jacket, and felt kind of bad that she much have fallen with him. It would have been funny in hindsight, by he didn't want to knock her down, even if just by accident.

As he continued walking, he happened to notice that Reika wanted to ask him something. She seemed almost afraid to ask though, and tried to avoid his eyes. Had he done something wrong?

"Well, I don't watch that many movies, although I have seen the Ace Attorney film a while back wipe learning Japanese."

He turned to the writer, and took hold of her hand. It felt warm in his own hand, and really comforting.

"But you know, you don't have to hide anything from me. I'm your friend, and I wanna hear what you have to say. I like listening to you."

Let's Take a Long Walk on the Beach or Somewhere- Reika [CLOSED for Nova]

"Great!"

Getting some fresh air under the virtual sun was surprisingly relaxing. After all, the whole place felt so real, she supposed the effect was the same as walking on a real sunlit path. Maybe, when they got out, she’d be able to walk with Nova there, too. She went along by his side, smiling as brightly as she could in a situation like theirs, kicking up pebbles with shuffles of her boots.

At Nova’s comment she blushed a bit, smiling and looking down.

"Ah… thank you…! I like being with you too, Nova-kun. You always cheer me up, you know? Eheh…"

He did always make her feel calmer. She really enjoyed his company. She also had a sudden slightly embarrassing urge to hold his hand, but she made no move to do so.

Nova began to walk with Reika, taking in the serene view and air. By this point, he had completely forgotten that he was in a digital space, and had just accepted that it was all real. It might as well have been real anyways, right? The sun shone bright, the grass seemed impossibly green, and he could see the caves and other dungeons in the distance, perhaps for another day with Reika to explore.

"I dunno if it's just me, but today seems to be a particularly nice day, don't you think?" He took a deep breath, and unintentionally shifted closer to Reika. "I don't think I've ever seen you look so beautiful, to be honest!"

Nova hadn't noticed his little slip of saying "you" and not "it", and he didn't go back and correct it. Instead, he continued to walk confidently with Reika, his mind perhaps having wanted to say it at some level. And besides, he was looking at her more than the path, which almost caused him to fall flat on his face when he walked into a protruding rock.

"Whoa!"

He caught himself, just in time, but he was still caught off guard, and didn't want such a stupid thing make him look all clumsy. Not in front of her.

Let's Take a Long Walk on the Beach or Somewhere- Reika [CLOSED for Nova]

They’d gotten it wrong, of course.

They knew they would. And yet they still voted for someone else. This was all so wrong and it stirred something within Reika. There were at least two, maybe more murderers walking amongst them, and they knew exactly who one was. It was unsettling to say the least— after all, in a situation like this, weren’t those who had killed once likely to kill again?

She didn’t want to dwell on those thoughts for too long. After all, they’d gotten one of them. Reika wanted to focus on the positive!

Speaking of positive, Nova! Reika had been wanting to speak with him for ages, but hadn’t gotten a chance. He would lighten her mood!

And so after the trial, the writer stepped over to Nova’s podium and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Nova-kun! Want to go for a walk with me?"

Nova couldn't think too clearly after the trial. He was annoyed at himself for having made no new progress, and defaulting his vote. It seemed as though their luck might have finally began turning, like things might have gone well for once. But again, their luck didn't last long. He just wanted to forget about all of this, and clear his mind. And as if on cue, Reika showed up with just what he needed.

"Ah, Reika! Of course, of course! I'd be glad to walk with you!"

He stepped down from his podium, and followed Reika out of the room. It didn't even feel unnatural anymore, to finish a trial like this. It still jarred him, but he was beginning to expect things. He knew he shouldn't, and he tried his best not to. He began walking, not with any real destination in mind, as he spoke to Reika.

"It's always a real treat to talk to you, you know that?" The path they were on was quiet and bright. No one else seemed to be around. "I like being with you."

He wondered why he hadn't felt weird saying that. Normally, he would have apologized for saying something that he would have considered suggestive. But it was Reika, right? She was cool!

World 5-1: New Beginnings [OPEN]

It felt bizarre, walking out of the trial room victorious for once. They’d finally done it, they’d finally caught one of the maniacal killers running around the school. They brought justice to Eiji, and everything’s okay now. Roll credits, as it were.

But why did Nova feel defeated still? He figured that if they caught the killer, he would start feeling better about everything that had happened up to that point. But he felt even worse. He was still trapped, half the class was still dead, and this victory faded almost as quickly as it had come. And now, he couldn’t even think of what else could be the problem.

He’d practically run out of the energy to be sad, and instead felt…nothing. He wandered around the town a bit, watched the NPCs do their routines, and ultimately just didn’t know where else to go, or what to do. He was just outside, walking, unsure what he could do.

#virtual distress

Why I've been inactive

I meant to make a post about this. I've been super busy because of finals week, but I promise that I'm not planning to drop this game or anything. I hope that I'm not holding things back too bad, but if you need me to be more active sooner, I'll do my best. Finals end for me around the 19th, which is a while away, but I have not, and will not, forget about the game. I swear.

#OOC

#virtual distress #investigation

World 4-3: Almost Forgotten

Nova had nearly forgotten about the game he was in, almost thought that he was safe, even if just for the brief moment he was with Reika. But unfortunately, no, as soon as he thought he was safe, there had to be another death. There’s always another death, another person that couldn’t let us all live in peace. Why? WHY?

He tried, tried, to muster up the energy to go through it all again. Would this just be the fourth time the killer walked free? Would he have to watch another classmate of his die without redemption? The burden was getting almost too heavy to bear.

World 4-1: Reset [Closed: Reika]

Since the trial’s end, Reika had spent a good deal of time in her room, writing all of her feelings out in a notebook. Writing was always her greatest stress reliever. If ever she were angry or sad, she would transfer those emotions to her pen, letting them flow out into words upon the page. She’d written and written, not stopping to eat or sleep. She was growing tired and weary, but all she wanted to do was keep writing.

Eventually, someone came knocking. Nova. It took Reika a moment to get up and go to the door, but she really did want to see him. The door slowly creaked open, and Reika came into the doorframe. A small, tired smile adorned her face as she looked at Nova, bags under her eyes.

"Ah, Nova-kun… How are you doing? Have you been well? I’m… sorry for what happened at the trial… I know you didn’t do it…"

She trailed off, yawning a bit.

As soon as he noticed the door open slightly, Nova felt himself smile slightly. She looked like she'd been through a lot in the trial too, but then again, so had everyone else. Nova barely avoided getting voted, and the sense of relief grew as he stood there with Reika at the door.

"Ah, Reika! It's really good to talk to you again! I've been, well, alright. I hope I'm not bothering you, I just happened to be by your door and, well..."

He saw Reika yawn, and realized that he might have come at a bit of a bad time.

"Ah jeez, did I wake you up? I'm sorry aboot that."

World 4-1: Reset [Closed: Reika]

Well, once again, it was all over, and once again, they had chosen poorly. Nova watched, painfully, as Joshua bled out to death before his eyes. He had no idea who this boy was, no clue. How could they have sent him off like this? Before he knew it, it was over, and the doors opened for them all to walk away.

Nova walked out of the courtroom with a lot of conflicting feelings. On the one hand ,he was disturbed by the execution, and the fact that another innocent had been killed. He felt almost mad, since they almost accused him of the crime.

But at the same time, he walked out of there with a sense of relief. Relief that the trial was over, yes, but a relief that he was still alive. It was such a contradiction, despair and hope, but he tried to hold on to his relief as he walked.

He walked back to his own room, but as he tried to open his door, he noticed his keycard wasn’t working. What the hell? He looked up, and realized that he was at 2-B, not 1-B. Dammit, he passed his floor. He looked at the map to see whose room it was, and was surprised to see that it belonged to Reika. What were the odds, eh? He decided to knock on the door, and see if she was there.

"Reika? Are you in there? It’s me, Nova. I was wondering if you wanted to talk or something."

Hopefully, she was willing to talk to him still.

World 3-4: Final Conclusions [Re: Kagefu, Kazuto, Akira]

So much was being said at once, Nova almost lost track. There were accusations being thrown around for a lot of people, himself included. He kept an open ear to everything people, however, and kept his cool. When finally, he heard what he needed to hear, he spoke up.

"Okay, I think I have enough of a basis to make my case. There have been a lot of things said, but here is what I think happened, and how.”

First, he turned to Kagefu.

"You brought up a good point with the rope. If none of the places with rope was missing any, then the killer already had rope on them to begin with. I doubt we had any rope on us when we came into the Nexus, so the only real possibility is that someone who murdered before had the rope. Obviously, not a lot of possibilities, but it makes the most sense.”

Next, he looked at Kazuto, who brought up the subduing of Chloe.

"Also, you said that it was unlikely that Joshua took out Chloe because of his disability, right? Well, I agree with that. I think that somehow, the real culprit got a hold of one of his shirts, and used it to plant a decoy away from themselves. You wouldn’t use one of your own shirts as a bookmark, would you?”

Finally, he turned to Akira.

"Finally, I wanna talk about the syringes. It’s clear they were used on Chloe, and I think you’re onto something with what you said. Whoever used the syringes would have been in the infirmary to know they were there. And there’s not a lot of people in this school that need to be in the infirmary these days.”

"Which brings me to my final deduction. Who here, that we know, is both suffering from an injury, and was possibly a killer in the past? Considering that an ice pack and painkillers were found when Allen was killed, then I can only assume one of two people as suspects, Zeta or Nagisa. And since I doubt Zeta could do much of anything without hands, that only leaves…”

Nova felt odd, saying the word out loud. It made sense, but he still felt guilty condemning one of his classmates.

"…Nagisa. As much as I don’t want to say it, I firmly believe you are the killer.”

#virtual distress #trial

World 3-4: Keep Pressing On

Nova felt ready for the trial, more ready than he had ever felt before. He planned on making up for his mistake last time, and he felt prepared to stop any kind of pointless arguing or chatter if he could. He wasn’t about to let another innocent person die, not this time.

"Okay, listen up everyone. I don’t want a repeat of last time, so I want to make sure that we keep focus on what’s important, and don’t go into pointless arguing. We need to make sure we get it right this time!"

Nova grabbed his podium, and spoke out to everyone, hoping to start the discussion right. He tended to stay quiet in previous trials, but perhaps that was why Robin died.

"The first thing I think we should look at is how Chloe died. If these past two trials have taught me anything, it’s that appearances are deceiving. The Monofile says that she died from drowning, but I’m not completely convinced that’s the full story. What does everyone else think?"

He tried his best to start discussion, not just overtake it. He needed everyone’s cooperation to solve this, so he didn’t want to jump to conclusions just yet.

#virtual distress #trial

#virtual distress #investigation

World 3-3: Obligatory Water Level

Nova was too busy with the pillow and Reika, that he almost missed out on the announcement for the body. As soon as he heard it, he felt a familiar heavyness in his heart, as he ran to find the body. He noticed people going towards the pool, and ran with the other students. He knew what he was going to find, but he still couldn’t believe it.

He could barely see the body in the pool, but he didn’t really have to. One of the students managed to pull the body out of the water, and seeing the soaked corpse up close was intense. He didn’t want the killer to get away again, not this time. He had to be sure to be perfect, to look at all the evidence. He had to be right!

"I won’t fail this time, I swear."

World 3-1: C'est La Vie [OPEN]

Reika stared blankly as Hoshi left the room, blinking and scratching her head, blush raging strong as ever. After a few moments, she turned to Nova with a small smile, letting out a nervous laugh.

"Eheheh... She's... Certainly energetic..."

She looked down at the ground for a second, trying to clear her embarrassment a little and smile a bit brighter.

"I-it's ok...! It's, um, it's not too bad. Well, I'm kind of glad that if anyone had to get that thing, it's you... I-I mean, rather than... Some pervert... Um... So, no worries, aye?"

She chuckled nervously again, blush heating up just a bit more.

Nova felt a bit relieved, at the very least. At least Reika wasn't angry at him for his unlucky Monomachine pull. But now he didn't know what to say next. Here he was, with a really cute girl in his room, and he was just blanking completely. He was not prepared for this!

"Well, I think this room is starting to feel really...cramped. Maybe we should relocate to somewhere less small. Would you like to...um..."

Go on a date? Watch a movie together? Hold hands and skip on a beach? Couple cosplay? Tell me why my creator is writing these things to make me even more embarrassed?

"...um, join me in the cafeteria for some food?"

Why does you always go to the cafeteria, Nova asked himself? Food is not the answer to everything, you know!

World 3-1: C'est La Vie [OPEN]

shslstarhoshi

"I think it looks good. Maybe a little inaccurate, but nothing I’d complain about~." Hoshi says with a grin to the extremely embarassed Nova and the equally embarassed Reika. "But I’m biased and I’ve known these things are real for ageeees. Nothing like someone asking you to sign theirs, neh?"

Hoshi, you’re…

Hoshi, you’re not actually helping.

Wait, when does Hoshi ever help?

"Anyways, I’ll leave if you two want to discuss this more… privately?" The little idol offers, her grin curving into a much more mischevious smirk.

"Just let me know when it’s safe~" God damn it Hoshi.

Reika scratched her head, thinking things over. She didn’t really know exactly how to feel about this… It was nothing too bad, and she could trust Nova, right? Hoshi wasn’t exactly making things less embarrassing, however. More like the opposite.

"Um… you can… keep it if you want to? I mean, it’s not that big of a deal. Besides, Nova-kun’s a good person, and I trust you wouldn’t… do anything weird, probably. I… don’t exactly want it myself. So uh, if you wanna hold onto it, or give it away, that’s… fine…”

She coughed, awkwardly scratching her head. God, the air was suffocating in here. Maybe it would be good to leave soon.

As Hoshi spoke again, Reika’s blush intensified, and she blinked, shaking her head.

"Uh… n-no… there’s no need f-for that… uh… I was thinking of l-leaving anyways…"

#virtual distress #shsl-steampunkwriter #shslstarhoshi

Nova scratched his head, trying to think of what to say. Reika seemed at least somewhat comfortable with the pillow, but Nova figured it was more out of politeness than anything. And Hoshi ... well, she was being herself, adding to the awkward. Nova didn't feel like letting Reika leave, not yet anyway. Maybe he was acting selfish, but he wanted to end the conversation with less tension, if he could.

"Look, I'm not planning on doing anything, Hoshi. Stop trying to imply that we're doing anything, we haven't..."

Nova stopped, before he said anything that would make things bad again.

"I mean, she probably doesn't even see me like that, so quit trying to make us flustered."

Nova then turned to Reika.

"I...I have no idea how to make this less weird, honestly. I just hope I can make up for this...whatever this is."

Sumi | reaction post

"Fuck that noise,"

Sumi wouldn’t be done crying anytime soon. And while she was trying to control herself so as not to upset anyone and just try not being plain damn suspicious, objects would start flying around as soon as she was in a room by herself.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Tsukuda didn’t deserve to die, no one did, even if most people weren’t particularly good - herself included. Monobear’s little game would end in everyone’s fucking death. And being Zeta really, really, really, really, really, really, REALLY sucked. And being the poor ten year old stuck in that virtual hellhole.

Nova found one of the students trying to hold back a meltdown, and from the looks of it, they weren't doing a very good job. She had tears streaking her face, and Nova felt secondhand guilt for it. He knew he shouldn't, but he still did. He went over to the girl, and tried to talk to her.

"Hey, you ok? Do you need anything, like a box of tissues, or someone to talk to?"

Nova wasn't good with handling these sort of things, but he tried, regardless.

#virtual distress

World 3-1: C'est La Vie [OPEN]

"….. Oh….."

Well then.

This was… certainly something. Reika’s face lit up red… she had no idea how to react to seeing herself in a provocative pose on a life-sized pillow. How did an image of her like that even exist?!

Then Hoshi came in, and after staring in shock for a few minutes, she blinked ever so slowly. There were more of these…? Well, at least Nova wasn’t some kind of pervert who made a dakimakura of one of his classmates; no, the machine was at fault. Reika was extremely embarrassed, but also somewhat… flattered? It wasn’t that bad of an image of her, at least.

After a few seconds, she turned to Nova, still blushing but with a small smirk on her face.

"Eheh… well… I can’t say I… expected this… uh…"

What the hell was she supposed to say?? ‘Thanks for holding onto this?’ ‘So how do you like this inappropriate image of me?’ Writer though she was, she found herself at a loss for words.