Love and Justice!

"Greetings, fellow comrades! Magical☆Girl Justina is here to serve justice upon all evil-doers~! They shan't hurt a single, innocent soul on my watch! Let's do it~!" SHSL Cosplay Idol Kaya Hanamoto On Stage | Off Stage [Affilated with Despair Quest] Sidebar made by Shai

[shslcosplayidol]

Listen to the beat | Kaya | Chapter 4 | ATTN: Nyakuma

[shslcosplayidol]

nyahahakuma:

Nyakuma, of course, was doing just fine for this first week. They hadn’t participated much at all the last trial, and honestly, they just… Seemed a bit aloof. After all, they were mostly occupied with the few they had decided to truly call friends.

Seeing Kaya in the music room – a place they entered out of boredom more than anything – was far from unpleasant, however. Even if things between the two of them had grown taught, given the revelations in difference between their versions of righteous justice. Nyakuma had no reason to really dislike Kaya, after all… And given the way the last trial went, they felt that maybe the girl was coming to what they thought were her senses.

Being offered a smile and a peace sign, Nyakuma offered no smile of their own – that would just be out of character – but did hold up their hand to return the peace sign gesture.

“Hey. I can’t play the piano at all, so I have no right to judge… Kuhuhu… But if it was a rhythm game, the great and powerful Nyakuma would have you totally beat.” They approached Kaya, reaching out and tapping repeatedly at one of the higher pitched piano keys, for no reason other than being idly obnoxious. “How long do you think it takes to learn to play one of these? There are a lot of keys.”

Guess Nyakuma had a point there, but at the same time, must one do everything for themselves first in order to judge something? Just to name one example, neither of them had killed - at least to Kaya’s knowledge -, but both of them knew that killing was bad. Then again, some people were tone-deaf, so they might think that something sounded great even if most wouldn’t quite agree on that...

Either way, it was nice to chat with Nyakuma again - they hadn’t done so for quite awhile, after all. Aside from trials and investigations, their last interaction was... in the kitchen near the beginning of this insanity, right?

(That was... a long time ago.)

“Ehe, I wouldn’t doubt it for a second, Nya-chan. I mean, I think that I’m decent at rhythm games, but as soon as something reeeeeaaaaally quick and difficult comes, I’m just losing all sorts of coordination... and if it’s something like DDR, then I eventually trip over my own two feet anyway.”

Someone was certainly upfront about her clumsiness, but what point would there be to gloss over that part? After all, it was her - she just ought to deal with it and if she might say so herself, she’d managed just fine.

(Then again, she should start covering up her bruises again.)

Kaya didn’t seem annoyed at Nyakuma button smashing the same key over and over again - there wasn’t really much that bothered this sunshine girl.

“Hmmmm, that’s a good question... I mean, it would only take you a few minutes to learn the song that I’ve just played. Then again, this is the easiest song out there, so for the more complicated ones... I bet they pour hours upon hours to be able to play them without any errors. I mean, you need to move your fingers all individually at different times. ”

“... Wonder if they have any books about piano playing. I mean, if we’re stuck here for longer, might as well try and learn something new, right?”

[shslcosplayidol]

Overworking yourself | Kaya | Chapter 4 | RE: Execution Reaction(?), ATTN: Shiruku

[shslcosplayidol]

silken-misfortune:

How was Shiruku supposed to explain what had thrown Kaya into unconsciousness without rattling the already dazed girl?

There had been the obvious— Yuki and Norio were…gone, and that was a fact that was impossible to elude. The double murder had shocked everyone, particularly considering the motive was, perhaps, not as severe as the first or second ones. But perhaps she’d been a little too idealistic in assuming that everyone would hold out and manage to get through the entirety of what had to be an empty promise.

She’d certainly been too hopeful; two people were dead because of that incentive.

Still, out of all the people Shiruku anticipated to have been Yuki and Norio’s killer? Mikka Sakata was far from one of the top suspects. The two had…they’d investigated together, and Mikka had seemed so adamant on finding the killer this chapter that it seemed impossible that she’d be lying…but it turned out that the Super High School Level Entomologist was a better actress than any of them could have fathomed.

To Mikka, every single one of them had been little other than pieces of meat.

To Mikka, all the friendships she’d developed were gateways into the jaws of her “partner.”

To Mikka, all that mattered were the insects pretending to be ribbons that clung so adamantly to her back.

How was Shiruku going to explain that without intensifying the sickness boiling under Kaya’s skin?

“It’s a long story, to be truthful.” Shiruku said, examining the bruises and cuts peppered over Kaya’s arms and face. In truth, it was only a matter of time until one of them got infected…. “…Hanamoto-san? Where did these bruises and cuts come from?” She sounded infinitely more concerned than she had anticipated.

‘A long story’ in this context always signalized that something terrible must’ve occured. Given their current predicament, that wasn’t anything new, but did that mean that she should stop worrying? No, of course not. If anything, her mind was already trying to race through all possibilities of what might’ve occured during the trial - no one was hurt, right? Aside... well, from the culprit of course. Wait, did they even catch them? From what she remembered, they’d... pressured Mikka quite a bit, right? Because of... something black. Black, black, black...

Ugh, it was no use, the more Kaya tried to remember, the fuzzier everything got. Still, it was better to know now, but at the same time, passing out from overworking herself might not be the most sensible choice.

(Thinking was so hard--)

“I... uh, don’t mind listening. F... From the looks of it, I certainly have... t-time to listen, right?”

Seemed like as if someone finally admitted that pushing onward with such a sickness dragging her down was utterly foolish at this point. Probably a bit late of a revelation, but then again, she could’ve always still remain stubborn and... well, let’s not go there.

However, she looked a bit confused when Shiruku mentioned cuts - bruises were nothing new for her, but cuts? Blinking slowly, the pink-haired girl looked over herself for a moment - well, the cuts were shallow, but... hm, from where did she get them? She was sure she’d put band-aids on every single little injury she’d sustained... Well, some of the bruises aside, that is.

“I’m... not sure where some of the cuts come from, but... uh, probably from all my constant a... accidents, I’d figure? It’s... uh, nothing new that I have bruises, b-but... I always cover them up, b-because... I wouldn’t want to worry anyone and it... looks kind of dumb to... to have constantly bruises somewhere, e-ehe...”

[shslcosplayidol]

Wake-up Call | Kaya | Chapter 4 | RE: Motive Reaction

The NPC’s absence brought a multitude amount of feelings forth. Most of all, it was worry in Kaya’s case. After all, that had never happened before and therefore, one could only imagine the reasoning behind such an occasion. For all they knew, the NPCs could be up to something nefarious - not like that wasn’t the case already, but it could always get worse. By now, the cosplay idol knew that it would be foolish to believe that their captors would soften in their approach in any way. Instead, they would try to get under their skins even more - which disgusted her.

When the silence was finally broken at one day, Kaya sighed as she listened to Chihue ramble. The pink-haired girl made sure to pay close attention to what he said and couldn’t help but feel like as if that paid off; after all, they finally had confirmation about the mascots being actually robots. Well, not like there were many other possibilities to begin with, but having some answers was already a beginning.

That aside, the motive certainly did hit home.

Well, who wouldn’t feel their heart stop at the mere thought of losing a loved one? Almost immediately, the ones most important to her flashed before her very eyes - her parents, Shiho, him--

When she was shown pictures on her screen, the cosplay idol paled. Panic was starting to settle down and she wanted to scream at Chihue to not lay a finger on her loved ones or so god held her.

However, fortunately for her, a spark of rationalism managed to break through her panic, filling her mind with various questions - questions that helped her to get a grip of herself, to not give into this game for any longer. It was time for them all to resist these temptations for good.

“... Not this time, you fiends. You won’t fool me with your pathetic attempt. I know that they’re all safe... to dare and make me think otherwise is truly beyond disgusting.”

And with out - not like there was anyone around to even hear her words -, Kaya began to formulate a plan - to soothe everyone’s nerves and halt this mutual killing game for good.

...

At the very same day the motive was announced, everyone would find a letter in their room that was shoved underneath their door. It would read the following - with their own name written on it:

Well, someone was certainly trying her best, huh?

[shslcosplayidol]

Just two gals having fun | Kaya | Chapter 4 | ATTN: Zeycan

[shslcosplayidol]

shslbellydancing:

Zeycan had to admit, she was curious about the arcade. She was glad it was here, but she wasn’t sure what the point was. More importantly: what games would there be? Could they count on their hellish captors to have good taste? Probably not, but what did she care? She just wanted to play some games to distract herself. Any game could serve that purpose.

Distraction was more necessary than ever. After last trial she was starting to…lose hope.It was harder to act happy, like everything was okay. It really wasn’t. The dancer had thought she was adapting to their situation, but then giant bugs came in, and she was suddenly completely shaken.

Despite how tired she was, she still brightened when she walked in and saw Kaya. Just that she was even up and about was an improvement from the last time they saw each other. She still…felt bad about that. Not that she had been in any position to help her. 

They hadn’t talked in forever! Even though they had had so much fun together last time. So it was nice to see her again. Besides..she was supposed to tell her something, but they never got a chance to talk. She was glad they could fix that.

One glance at the other girl was enough to make her smile fade. Maybe she was up, but she still looked horrible.Too bruised and tired.

“Y-yeah, if you’re up for it, it could be fun. How do you feel?”

It seemed like as if not putting on enough make-up was going to bite her ass now. After all, it was obvious that Zeycan seemed to be worried about her condition - and Kaya knew that all the bruises didn’t help her case there, either. Well, no use to cry over spilled milk now - she’d made her choices and now had to live with the consequences.

Her smile didn’t seem to falter as she cheerfully replied to Zeycan:”Oh, I’m totally up for it! A little bit of distraction never hurt someone before, did it? And even more so if you can enjoy your time with a friend~!”

Whether she was genuinly fired up or not was debatable. At least she seemed to be in a better condition than the last few days.

“And I think I’m doing pretty much okay. I mean, I don’t feel completely healed up yet, buuuut if I have to spend one more minute in my room, then I’m going bonkers. Soooo, that’s why I’m here!”

“What about you, ZeyZey? Have you been doing okay?”

[shslcosplayidol]

Listen to the beat | Kaya | Chapter 4 | ATTN: Nyakuma

@nyahahakuma

Time sure flies by fast if you don’t pay attention to it. It’s an observation that most people made repeatedly for some reason, herself included. She wondered if there was any explanation to that sensation - why did they feel the need to ascertain themselves over something that wouldn’t change? It was... almost odd, but then again, she couldn’t really come up with a satisfying answer, so this particular question was left unanswered yet again.

Either way, as almost a week passed by since the trials ongoings, Kaya felt mostly fit at this point. Still a tiny bit exhausted, but overall, she couldn’t really complain. Her skin returned back to its healthy color and her eyes were full of life again... or well, as much as you could expect it to, given how much death these eyes had witnessed.

Shaking her head to clear her head from any negativity, Kaya finally entered the music room - although she’d been here before, it was back when she was still half-sick. Thus, it was time to give this room another lookover, so she could make sure that she didn’t miss anything out.

... However, soon enough, she found herself in front of the piano, the urge to play on it emerging victorious over being in business mode only. Granted, she didn’t really know how to play the piano - but that couldn’t try her from stopping, right? And she did know how to play Twinkle Twinke Star, at the very least!

Stretching her fingers out, she grinned as she started to play the easiest song that could be played on this particular instrument - and it didn’t come out half bad, if she said so herself! Sure, others could probably play it better, but at least it didn’t sound like a catastrophe. It was... decent. Yeah, that’s the perfect word to describe her performance!

Just as she finished playing the song again, Kaya saw something out of the corners of her eyes and flashed Nyakuma a welcoming smile, as well as a peace sign.

“Oh, hey there, Nya-chan! Hope my play wasn’t too bad to listen to, ehe~!”

[shslcosplayidol]

Overworking yourself | Kaya | Chapter 4 | RE: Execution Reaction(?), ATTN: Shiruku

[shslcosplayidol]

silken-misfortune:

Even despite her utter refusal to interact with others lest her misfortune take them too, Shiruku was not the kind of person to linger back and watch as someone else suffered.

Especially not if that person was someone she treasured with all her heart.

Moments after the end of the trial, Shiruku had gathered the unconscious cosplay idol up in her arms and disappeared down the corridors, pacing herself as best she could— not wanting to disturb Kaya with excessive speed, but not wanting to loiter too long in case her pressing illness worsened in condition. So, she’d had to find a balance. Luckily, the bedrooms were only a staircase away, and it wasn’t long before the two could slip into the warmth of Kaya’s room.

First thing was first— moving Kaya into her bed. The second the door slid open, Shiruku laid the display idol on her mattress, carefully moving her sheets and comforter over her sleeping form. It didn’t take a genius to tell that Kaya was not doing well— with shadows under her typically luminous eyes, a new paleness to her formerly healthy complexion. She looked worn out beyond belief— and no matter how guilty Shiruku felt about their whole scenario, she had to help somehow.

The second thing was getting Kaya situated. After positively ascertaining that Kaya would be alright alone for a few moments, Shiruku slipped out of the room, moving downstairs into the kitchen. Within a few moments, Shiruku had a warm mug of tea prepared, as well as a warm washcloth— she’d return sooner if Kaya was hungry, but she didn’t want to push her too hard.

As the seamstress slipped back into Kaya’s bedroom, silently shutting the door behind her, her eyes landed on a half-conscious cosplay idol, seemingly puzzled at where she was. She certainly didn’t take long to rise.

“Ah, Hanamoto-san— it’s nice to see you awake.” Shiruku softly smiled, gingerly setting the warm washcloth on Kaya’s forehead. “I brought you some chamomile— it might help out a little.”

Although she was still all over the place, Kaya was able to register the voice that came from her side. She felt like as if she’d heard said voice recently, before she’d assumingly passed out. Was it... during the trial? At the end of it? Maybe even the beginning? She wasn’t sure, but she remembered that she felt warm at one point... as if someone had hugged her. Or was it something placed on top of her to keep warm?

Thinking about it made her head just spin a lot more, so she decided to not pursue this line of thinking any longer and instead, tried to shift her attention to whom the voice belonged - though as she slightly tilted her head to the side, she suddenly felt something... warm on her forehead. That was... strange, but also oddly comforting. Even though she felt quite hot, it could also change quickly to insufferably cold.

(Fever, man. What a strange thing it was.)

That aside, she heard the person say something about chamomile - and it was for her, right? So someone was taking care of her, because she’d winded up getting too sick to take care of herself. But who...?

As Kaya strained herself to get a proper look at the person, she realized that it was Shiruku who’d been kind enough to look after her. Now that she thought about it, she remembered seeing a blue strand of hair at some point when she felt especially weak- it must’ve also been here back then, right?

“M... Mae-chan...? Uh... what... where...”

She had lots of questions, but incredible difficulties to formulate them in any way. The sick girl wanted to ask everything at once, but that was just bound to fail.

“What h... happened...?”

[shslcosplayidol]

Just two gals having fun | Kaya | Chapter 4 | ATTN: Zeycan

@shslbellydancing​

By all means, Kaya should’ve rested more than she did, but at least she seemed to get better nonetheless. Slower than it could’ve been with proper rest, but she was getting there. Her skin was still paler than usual and her eyes continued to have a glassy look to them, but it was nowhere as bad as four days ago when she’d passed out at the end of the trial.

Still, every other person would’ve still continued to stay in bed, but alas, Kaya was not someone who could stop from pushing herself, unless someone was finally there to stop here from doing that. Those who usually did... those back at home, they weren’t here to make sure of that.

Thus, she was rather reckless about her own well-being, which was certainly anything but advantageous in a mutual killing game.

Not that Kaya was really thinking about that, mind you. No, she’d finally been able to visit the arcade - she wanted to do that yesterday already, but alas, her strength wasn’t quite enough to go through the whole kingdom in a single day. Damn you, body!

Even though her main purpose for visiting the place was to continue finding a way out of this kingdom or find a clue about who is behind this, she would be lying if she didn’t say that she wanted to play games here as well. A bit of distractions was alright... others told her as much. And finally, it did get through to her - though it didn’t stop her from feeling a bit bad about having fun while she could do so much more...!

(It was strange, that feeling. Beforehand, she never minded having fun - if anything, she would always go for the more fun options, but alas, being stuck in a mutual killing game makes you more serious about certain stuff.)

Kaya coughed, her body still exhausted from the illness it has to deal with, but luckily, it wasn’t a coughing fit or anything - just that annoying kind of coughing that you have when you’re sick.

And just at that moment, Kaya saw someone from the corners of her eyes - and when she turned around, she couldn’t help but smile at Zeycan. They... haven’t really talked ever since Chouju passed away and... she felt bad for not checking up on her sooner (or anyone, really--).

“It’s so nice meeting you here, ZeyZey! Want to play some games together?”

[shslcosplayidol]

Overworking yourself | Kaya | Chapter 4 | RE: Execution Reaction(?), ATTN: Shiruku

@silken-misfortune

[TW: Insect mention in second paragraph]

Usually, Kaya would’ve observed the so-called execution, so she could remember their last, possible moments. After all, even though all culprits only landed in prison thus far, which guarantee had they that they’ll be kept alive? Aside from simply hoping for that to be the case, the mascots never explained themselves in that regard. For all they knew, prison here could mean a worser fate than death.

However, none of that mattered, as Kaya had passed out by the time the execution started. She’d been sick since quite a while and now, she’d finally reached her limit. Hell, she hadn’t even realized yet that Mikka had killed for two human-eating bugs that had camouflagued themselves as eccentric ribbons! At this point, the cosplay idol sincerely believed that she had hallucinated them and thus, was truthful to Shiruku when she said that she might feel a lot worse than anticipated.

Either way, the cosplay idol had absolutely no idea how much time passed before slowly, her consciousness returned back to reality. Stirring awake, the pink-haired girl attempted to open her eyes, but when she did, she almost immediately closed them. Not only was the light almost blinding, everything was such a blur that it made her dizzy.

However, if anything, Kaya was a stubborn one. Thus, she attempted to open her eyes again, whilst also realizing that she was lying on something... comfy. A bed? Probably.

Regardless, she blinked for a few times and soon enough, her view got a bit clearer - still not incredibly sharp, but what can you do? If you’re sick, you have to do with what you have at your disposal.

“... Huh...? Where...”

Her voice was hoarse and she felt thirsty. However, she was more occupied with where she was and why. What happened? She remembered going to the trial and... it happened. However...

“Hngh...!”

Ouch, her head hurt.

[shslcosplayidol]

Chapter 4 Tracker

Public

Shiruku

Zeycan

Private

Hotaru

Hibiki

Carmilla

Alright, I should be a bit more free - at least, this week. Merely friday and saturday will be of a challenge, but otherwise… yeah! So hmu with those sweet threads

[shslcosplayidol]

Never enough | Kaya | Chapter 3 | RE: Motive, Event Death and Murder Reactions

Truthfully speaking, Kaya didn’t think much about the motive itself. After all, not only would it doom at least one person for certain, only two would benefit from it, while the rest of the class would continue to suffer. She couldn’t allow for that to happen, especially as she promised to get them out of here as soon as possible - all of them.

(But what could a helpless little girl like her even do to reach that kind of goal to begin with?)

Either way, after failing to attend the birthday party of poor Maggie - why had her fellow peers ruined a child’s birthday, she didn’t understand? -, the cosplay idol pushed herself to do more patrols. If she did it more frequently, then surely, she’d eventually get to help out someone, right?

However, days went by and others have already seen it prior to the motive announcement - albeit Kaya tried to appear as bright as ever, there was a certain exhaustion to her. A certain air of tiredness that will eventually consume her if she doesn’t properly rest; if she doesn’t take care of herself.

(This became so trivial to her at this point--)

Then, Ai died.

She was alerted the moment she heard a scream from roughly were the pool was. As the cosplay idol was pretty close, she instantly began to ran towards said direction, praying that she would arrive in time to prevent anything bad from happening-

But alas, she was late.

Again.

Albeit she’d never really talked much to Ai, the pink-haired girl was still struck with grief. After all, another life had been lost to an accident - a stupid, stupid accident that could’ve been easily avoided if things would’ve played out differently. Her timing had been off.

Again.

Then, the actual murder happened.

When Kaya was alerted, she instantly ran towards the location, forcing her body to cooperate with her despite feeling light-headed yet again. She stumbled several times - fell even twice -, but eventually, she reached her destination-

Only to want to fall down a third time and cry for once.

She failed.

AGAIN.

Kaya simply stood there, eyes widened in shock and disbelief as she swayed to the side, only to bump into a wall and use that to support herself. It seemed like as if she’d... more accidents than usually, given how the amounts of bandaids and bruises rose up.

(Seemed like as if she wasn’t doing such a good job at always covering up her bruises anymore, huh?)

She looked... anything but healthy, really. Pale skin, dull eyes, slouched shoulders... It doesn’t take a genius that she should actually stay in bed instead of being out and about, but here we are.

"W... Why would... Why would anybody... t-two... you can’t be s-serious...”

Her voice was barely above a whisper, tears welling up inside her eyes yet again, but she simply shook her head and bit her lips-- Oh god, that wasn’t a good idea, the world was spinning-

“Ugh... T-Tsuki-chan, Yoshi-kun, y-you...you will get your justice... j-just like the ones before you...”

God, it hurt to say that.

[shslcosplayidol]

Giving it 200% | Kaya | Chapter 3 | RE: Execution Reaction, ATTN: Carmilla

[shslcosplayidol]

shslbatty:

In fairness, Carmilla had been fine with being incredibly familiar about people’s names since the group arrived. So far at least, no one had said anything about it, so it was probably fine right? Or at the very least, no one has said anything to her about how incredibly rude she was being. It’s like she thinks she’s above other people, or something. Still, Kaya didn’t try to correct her, so she’d probably just keep doing it.

“That’s similar enough to my own approach about it, I think,” Carmilla said, choosing to wait at least a few seconds to approach Kaya about the crying so the other girl could get her story together. At least in Carmilla’s mind, it was a bit obvious. “If we don’t keep searching for a way to escape, at the least, we’re not going to find one. I highly doubt that our captors plan on letting us go any time soon. If we escape, it’ll have to be a matter of outsmarting them, which I am confident we’re capable of doing.”

Carmilla looked Kaya over, thinking on what to say. She felt….reasonable sure she could trust Kaya, even if she had little to offer. The ‘hero of justice’ was more or less steadfast in her resolve from what Carmilla had seen, even if it did seem things might be getting to her a bit, if that last trial was any indication. Carmilla was….probably not the best to try and rally Kaya’s spirits, but maybe she could figure something out.

“Ah…Well, as far as tonight goes, I’m just starting, yes. After all, the sun does make things a tad…inconvenient for me during the day. I’ve found it better to go ahead and rest during the day so I’m wide awake during the evening and night to investigate rather than exhausting myself by trying to investigate during both. How’re things going as far as your own investigation? And, ah…….That being said, I do have to wonder…I don’t recall seeing you out and about after dark too often. Did something happen to make you get a later start to your own search? …Anything you wish to speak about, that is?”

Listening to Carmilla, Kaya couldn’t help but be filled with... hope. It was good to hear that others were having a similar mindset to this whole thing as her. If no effort was put into escaping this hellish kingdom, then they would never achieve anything! Attempting something was always better than doing nothing!

“I agree! That’s why I always try to look through the whole kingdom every now and then, in case something actually changed and we could use that to our advantage! And... yeah, we’re totally capable of outsmarting these third-rate mascots! I believe in us, we just need to try a little bit harder!”

Or more like, she demands of herself to give it her double effort - if not even more. Kaya felt responsible for not having contributed much to their actual escape yet - which meant that she simply didn’t try hard enough yet!

It seemed like as if Carmilla had just started and... it did make sense. After all, the cosplay idol remembers how she always sees Carmilla with an umbrella if the sun is still out. Guess that had something to do with her talent, right? Actually, she should get to know Carmilla better on a personal level... if they all formed tight enough bonds, then nothing would shatter them, right?

(... Right?)

“That makes sense! Actually, would you mind telling me a bit more about your talent? I’m really curious about it~!”

The smile and her voice seemed genuine enough, at least.

“Well, although I haven’t been doing explorations for all that long, I cannot say I found anything worthwhile, sadly. Oh and um... I just thought I should rest first before looking around the new areas and whatnot, ehehehe! I... didn’t want to push it back until tomorrow though, soooooo... here I am!”

“Hey, what about if we look around together? Maybe we can bounce off ideas on how to outsmart the mascots while searching the new places?”

[shslyuki-blog]

[Macklemore Voice] Komaeda! || Yuki || CH 3 || ATTN: Kaya

@shslcosplayidol

Even despite the… Rather stressful trial they had all gone through, the sprinter was trying his best to keep his head up and think positive. Even if another one of his classmates had been murdered and jail it wouldn’t be good to sulk around all day. So for the most part he tried to keep busy, and what a better way of doing that than checking out some of the new rooms that had opened up? He was curious of course to see what the new areas were, but one had caught his attention more than the others.

Just what the heck did a ‘cheese room’ entail?

Of course he couldn’t just read that there was a 'cheese room’ without going to check it out. There was a cheddary mystery afoot… And by mystery Yuki means finding out if there was actually cheese or not. So the sprinter eventually found themselves wandering over to check the place out. Although to be honest he’s not quite sure what else he suspected to find in a cheese room besides, well, cheese.

But to his surprise he wasn’t alone. Not too far from him stood a familiar looking classmate of his who seemed to have a similar idea. It didn’t take him long to realize who she was of course. With a such a brightly colored ensemble and seeing her in past trials it didn’t take much for Yuki to recognize the heroine of justice herself.

“Ah, hello Hanamoto-san…”

He gave her a polite nod and approached with a small wave. While he hadn’t spoken to her much personally, what he saw of her during trials Yuki had always thought of her to be a kind hearted individual. Wonder what she was doing in here of all places?

“Funny meeting you here in… A cheese room of all places. Still, I hope you’ve been doing well?”

[shslcosplayidol]

No matter how unimportant a place seems to be, it was best to investigate it as thoroughly as possible. After all, for all they knew, the mascots could’ve hidden something of vital importance in such unsuspecting rooms! Thus, it wasn’t a surprise to find Kaya at some point inside the cheese room. Admittedly, the cheese itself seemed to be really yummy, but... she couldn’t eat now. If anything, she had to ascertain herself first that there was really nothing out of the ordinary here. Gotta do her best to uphold that promise of taking everyone out of this game for good!

However, that doesn’t mean that she’d completely ignore her fellow classmates for that. Not only would it be rude, but... as selfish as it sounded, Kaya was glad that she could distract herself a bit by talking to others.

(But did she even deserve that?)

Pushing that thought out for now - she could always deal with it later -, Kaya turned around to greet the other student with a smile. At last, it was a student she didn’t really talk to yet - Yuki! The... only remaining Yuki at this point--

(No, no, no, don’t you dare, don’t think, just do your best--)

“Greetings, Tsuki-chan! It’s nice to finally talk to you personally! Sorry I didn’t do that earlier, ehehehe~!”

The cosplay idol scratched her cheeks, before she was asked a question. People were asking about her well-being really often the last few days... how kind of them!

(And how she didn’t deserve it--)

“Oh, I’m okay! Don’t worry about me, really! What about you, Tsuki-chan? Anything I can help you with? Aaaaand as you’ve been already wondering, I’m here to see if I can find anything aside from... well, cheese! I mean, maybe we can find a secret exit here? Who would suspect that from a cheese room, hm? Better be safe than sorry, right?”

[shslsoccerball-blog]

Responsibilities | Chapter 3  | Closed | Kaya

It was that time again. Where Kaede had begun running low on clean clothes to wear. It was a lot better than their first couple weeks, where there was no access to laundry at all. That was certainly a time. He now has the new skill of knowing how to make clean clothes last, but now that the laundry room is back, how useful will this skill be anymore? Oh well, it was an experience.

He slowly tosses in the large pile of clothes, making sure nothing was crammed too hard together so it would actually get clean. He was used to doing the laundry back at home, so this was just a normal chore for him. As he sorted, however, he heard someone entering behind him. In his surprise, he flushed a little, grabbing his hamper of clothes and dumping it all in at once. He closed the lid on the washer, boy that wasn’t awkward or anything.

He looked back to see who it was coming in, and at seeing it was Kaya, he wanted to smile.. but he still felt a little bad about the other evening.

“Good morning, Hanamoto-san!..” He greeted, concern written all over his face. Memories of his outburst at the trial were still fresh in his mind, he wondered if it was the same for her. “How have you been? Sorry I haven’t seen you around. I know it’s only been a couple days but.. are you feeling any better?”

[shslcosplayidol]

Eventually, you had to clean your clothes, lest you wanted to smell and look unpleasant to those around you and yourself. As someone who dealt with costumes and whatnot, it was a given that she knew her way around laundry and the likes. You had to if you didn’t want to ruin your costume that you’ve worked hard for.

As the cosplay idol entered the laundry room, she couldn’t help but freeze for a moment when she saw Kaede. However, the pink-haired girl quickly pushed that kind of reaction back as hard as she could, offering the soccer player a kind smile by the time he turned around.

“Morning, Masa-chan! No need to worry about me, I’m fine!

A little bit of a white lie, really, given that there were faint traces of dark bags underneath her eyes. She must’ve tried to erase it completely with make-up, but alas, there was only so much you could do with it, huh?

“And it’s okay, I also haven’t been able to check up on you like I should’ve. Sorry about that, I’ll strive to become better, promise!”

The cosplay idol placed her basket on top of one of the washing machines, her smile never wavering as she attempts to assure the other that there was absolutely nothing wrong with her or with what he’d done.

“Do you need help with your laundry? I wouldn’t mind to assist you if there is a necessity for it~!”

[pinksquiid-blog]

“is the person on the table dead- no, wait, he has just blown the party horn. “

[shslcosplayidol]

Giving it 200% | Kaya | Chapter 3 | RE: Execution Reaction, ATTN: Carmilla

[shslcosplayidol]

shslbatty:

Carmilla had been….well, handling things about as well as she had the last time around, all things considered. The punishment had been more brutal this time, but still, the killer this time around didn’t even have any sort of excuse to even try to cast themselves in a positive light. So, at least to Carmilla, the more brutal punishment was somewhat more tolerable. It did remind her, though, of one very worrying fact, should this sort of thing continue. So far she had lucked out, and those she enjoyed speaking with of this group had been spared, one way or the other. She had had a bit of discussion with Choju, but nowhere near enough to call them a friend, and none of the others were anyone she particularly cared for. Logically though, if things continued, the probability of someone she cared about dying was…..

………

No, she wouldn’t allow herself to keep thinking that way. She had already told those after the trial that they would make it through this, they were stronger than whoever was running this show. She had no delusions that there wouldn’t be more blood, or that her words would sway the others, but now that there was a growing number of people here she liked, she needed to believe they could escape herself, at the very least. Continuing to stress and worry over what might happen would do nothing but play into the hands of her captors, and throw off her investigations. She buried the feelings.

With the sun having set by now, there was no need for that garish umbrella as she set out. Her first priority was an obvious one, at least to her. There were now more places to explore and investigate, as some sick ‘reward’ for punishing Maya, just as it had been the case last time. The hot springs and the pool…well, Carmilla had little intention of stopping by either of those places until she was quite sure that everyone else was asleep. There were just too many risks involved in that possibility. So then, where to…….

The treasury would be as fine a place as any to start, really. Maybe tonight would bring something interesting or she’d find some bats or something, really anything to help take her mind off the recent deaths. She hadn’t, however, expected others to be here at the moment. It wasn’t too far into the night, sure, but she had assumed the others would’ve flocked to the more obviously enjoyable places first. Yet, here she was, the group’s very own bastion of justice. Something seemed….off about her, though.

“That’s the plan, yes, ah…..my apologies, but I don’t think we’ve talked before,” she said, running through the names she’d seen in her head. “Ah….Kaya-chan, I believe? Shall I assume you’re doing the same, then? I do seem to recall you being adamant about rescuing everyone in the trial. Also, let me go ahead and ask….how’re you holding up? Your eyes are pretty bloodshot.”

Normally, Kaya would’ve made her patrols by now instead of doing explorations, but there were two reasons as to why this situation came to be to begin with. First, the cosplay idol truly doubted that anyone would kill right after a trial - and secondly, she simply didn’t feel like as if she could do a proper job at protecting anyone in the state she was currently in. Sure, the pink-haired girl somewhat managed to keep her wits about her, but only after having broken down a little in her own chamber.

Not like that she’s giving that any thought right now - her own troubles can wait! It’s best to socialize and distract yourself! Maybe even help if the occasion arises!

“That is true indeed and I apologize for not having approach you sooner, Milla-chan... However, it’s just as they say - better later than never, right?”

Especially if you think about most of the victims thus far.

The cosplay idol nodded, thus signalizing Carmilla that her name was indeed Kaya - and that she was also chill being called like that. At least, she didn’t seem to mind it at all, given that she hadn’t said a word about addressings whatsoever.

“You’re right, I always make it my duty to explore old and new areas alike for any differences and the likes. After all, we cannot be certain if something we’ve grown accumstoned to doesn’t change, yes?”

Then, her smile slightly faltered at the comment about her eyes, but she quickly managed to bounce back and come up with a little... white lie.

“Oh, I’m fine! Don’t worry about me, it’s just that a fly got into my eyes and I couldn’t get it out at first, ehehehe...!”

Sure, Kaya. Not like as if you’d been on the brink of tears at the end of the trial. Or that the bags underneath your eyes indicated that you’d been crying for a long time.

“So, did you just start your investigation or have you already looked around other places? Any kind of findings you could share?”

[shslcosplayidol]

Giving it 200% | Kaya | Chapter 3 | RE: Execution Reaction, ATTN: Carmilla

Kaya couldn’t help but flinch at Maya’s ‘execution’. This was too cruel, even if she’d done lots of bad deeds... It must hurt a lot and surely, Chouju wouldn’t have approved of such punishment either. At least she wasn’t actually executed and instead, simply thrown into prison like Koji before her. The cosplay idol was relieved, to say the least - she’d already said in trial that nobody deserves to die, so to not see another life vanish was reassuring... And jail was the right punishment for murderers.

The aftermatch of the trial had impacted her and as quickly as she could - without it seeming too suspicious -, she excused herself to go to her room and... cry. Everyone said it was okay for heroes to cry, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it in front of everyone. No, if she would do so, then all by herself, so no one would see how miserable she was. Everyone had enough worries, no need to burden them with her own as well. Especially not as an ally of justice who was supposed to be strong for others...

...

It must’ve been around evening when Kaya went out and began her usual investigation of the new locations opened up to them. Surely, this time, she’d find something! She had to, because she promised she’d find a way for this all to end.

(There has to be a way.)

At some point, Kaya arrived at the treasury. This made her remember of all the coins she had in her pouch by now - maybe she should buy something that would help someone? She’d need to visit all shops again and see how she can spend her money wisely... after all, hoarding it wouldn’t really help anyone.

The cosplay idol re-adjusted the wet rag around her knee, which she’d scrapped during the last hours of investigation. Thankfully, it didn’t really hurt anymore, but it would be stupid to walk around without anything to cover this little injury up.

Just as she straightened herself out again, Kaya heard footsteps. Turning around, she had the pleasure to meet someone she’d admired since the first trial - Carmilla. The vampire who was headstrong and did not yield to the culprits one bit. She wished she could be as level-headed as her...

A smile appearing on her face, Kaya waved at the other, completely ignoring the fact that her eyes were still slightly red.

“Hello there, Milla-chan! Are you also investigating for any possible clues or escapes?”

[pinksquiid-blog]

OH THE WORLD’S GONE SILENT,  HERE’S TO LOVING LIFE!