✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖

✖ Kaitaro Kobayashi✖ ✖ SHSL Embroiderer ✖ ✖ Status: DEAD ✖ - - -

[shslnakoudo-blog]

Thank you!

[shslembroidery]

✖ ✖ mending [open]

It was really a wonder no one tried to bust into Kaitaro’s room and break the tablet, given how with the endurance only a machine could sustain they had been humming for a few hours straight. The melodic sound drifted through the still stark and austere room, and though the smiling face of the alter ego on the screen seemed idle they were hard at work: new data had just come in, promising at least a few hours of entertainment before the boredom of ‘living’ forever kicked in again. Methodical as they’d always been, each new tidbit was carefully sorted and categorized under the proper emotional response in turn; something akin to amusement that Otonomiya should show up, indifference at the appearance of the informant, and pity for Jiang-li. The poor rabbit hearted girl, if she’d been killer or killed it really didn’t matter. She never had a chance.

They made a small mental note to visit her and show her a few new games they’d picked up.

As was also the routine in this steady flow of kill-be-killed-think-about-your-actions, now was about when the survivors would trickle back into rooms of the dead to commiserate over the lives they still had. Selfish, really, greedy and selfish to lord their still living condition over those who weren’t so lucky, but at least the company was appreciated. As the door creaked open (they’d oiled it when they’d been alive, but alas), Kaitaro couldn’t help but chuckle at being correct.

“I don’t… have any fancy metaphors or proverbs for you today, unfortunately… but out of the charity of my heart I’m taking… final confessions. Do you have anything you’d like to share…? If not, I have a question… or more of a request, really. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble.”

[shslembroidery]

✖ ✖ ...Saves nine. [Kaitaro&Harper]

[shslspraycan]

After speaking with Sumiko, he admits he feels better prepared for what must come next.  It’s just a short walk down the row of doors before he comes to one bearing a bespectacled face and a shock of green hair.  Harper takes a deep breath; whatever peace they’d found with each other near the end, his relationship with Kaitaro had always been a little rocky.  He’s not entirely sure how he’ll find them, now, and in all honesty it’s kind of scary.

He steels himself and pushes open the door, ready to see with his own eyes their hoard of weaponry -

And pauses.  It’s gone.  The whole room, in fact, is surprisingly blank.  He’d never seen the inside of Kaitaro’s room while they had lived - maybe they’d always maintained this level of detachment from their space?  Or perhaps, when Monokuma had come to take the cache, he’d reset the room, too.  Either way, it’s a surprise… though something of a welcome one.

His eyes swiftly light on the one item out of place: a tablet, sitting pretty on the pristine covers of the bed - and at that very moment, they seem to register his presence too.

“Do you believe in luck?”

Harper doesn’t hesitate; he’s a pro, by now, at conversations with dead people.  Does Kaitaro even know who’s there?  “A game?  Sure.  I know a game we can play.”  He crosses the room and settles gently on the bed, lifting the tablet from the sheets so they can look at each other, screen to screen.  “I’ll ask you a question, then you get to ask me one, okay?  I bet I got one you’ll really wanna know the answer to.”

That shit-eating grin… so like them to have no regrets - to spite everyone - even in death.  He can’t hold their gaze, and looks up at the sterile room again.  Like a hospital ward.  There’s a long, pregnant pause.

“Do you wanna know why I didn't kill someone, Kaitaro-san?”  Glancing back at the digital face of the ex-embroiderer, a tiny smile flickers across his screen for half a second - and then it’s gone, and his expression is perfectly blank again, like it was never there in the first place.  “Or did you just assume the thought never crossed my mind?”

[shslembroidery]

Of course—the guest they’d been waiting for.

The new reality of being guilt out of code and scrolling numbers had allowed them leave to compute the hundreds upon thousands of ways this scenario might play out, run this tv head and through ifs and whens and buts, but Kaitaro didn’t want any of that. If they were to talk to the one and only Mike TV, neither atone for their sins nor justify them but simply acknowledge them, it would be the closest to the human condition they could emulate now; no planning. No processing. Just answers.

“…That’s not a very fun game, Onii-chan… but we’re both robots now, aren’t we…? So I’ll play.”

But jokes aside, they sobered quickly at the train of conversation. It wasn’t the obvious question, of course not, but at least it was one they already had the answer to. This, at least, they had considered even while alive.

“…But of course not. I’m not… I’m not some naïve child who actually thinks people can be sorted by good and bad, someone who sees others as pristine models of humanity… I wasn’t a fool enough to think you hadn’t considered it. You’re human, aren’t you…? And what human isn’t afraid? We’re born afraid and we’re that way until we die, that’s how life is… and when you’re afraid, it’s only natural you’d consider your alternatives.”

They ran their mouth a bit more than normal when presented with Mike TV, but could never truly find the exact words to say what they wanted to communicate to him so danced around the topic instead. Always in life they’d toed the line between affection and alienation with him, so mixed on their own emotions as to be indecisive on how they wanted to feel about the street artist, and him to them. In death, they simply lacked the capacity to care. Let him hate them—at least, then, Mike as the living would have peace of mind. The smile was long gone, replaced with a flat and neutral expression, near challenging, partially aggressive. He had asked his question.

“…And I’m sure, with the right motive, you might have killed. Easy. Simple. But I also knew you were not… scared, not like I was. Sad. You weren’t driven by the same things I was… and that’s why I didn’t tell you. Not because you would not or could not entertain the idea of killing, but… ah. Because while you’re human, Mike TV, you’re not like me. You’re not like Onee-chan. And even if you considered it… you didn’t.”

“Now by the rules of this game… my question. Why did you fall for it? The Onii-chan this, Onii-chan that… when really, we’re nothing but strangers still, aren’t we… All three of us knew the affection didn’t run deeper than words, right…? I know why I played pretend. Why did you?”

[shslembroidery]

✖ ✖ ...Saves nine. [Jiang-Li]

[ultimatehairstylist]

  The only thing Jiang-Li could do was stare.                                                                                                                 And stare.

                                                                            And stare.  That very somber expression plastered on every corner, on every crevice of her face. She couldn’t fathom to recount the trying times: the deception, the emotional turbulence, and how much it’d interfered with her thoughts

  The few people she felt she could trust had now fallen, pliant to the mastermind’s whim. Her mind said it was only justifiable to pin the blame on the two for such heedless action, but her heart said something else. She could only feel pity, perhaps.. a little bit of empathy. But she’d learn to suppress those thoughts, for her own sanity’s sake. Jiang-Li was only glad to find the face of her friend, sifting through the menacing glare the screen delivered.

“L-luck..? Why, I s-suppose believing in miracles is not too s-short of believing in one’s f-fortune, ah?”

  She smiled, kneeling down to the height of which the tablet was poised.

[shslembroidery]

The look Jiang-li De La Rosa gave them upon opening the door to their room and stepping into the doorway was enough to make even them squirm uncomfortably, dead and at rest as they were.  “Aha… Rosa-san, you look as if you’ve seen a… ghost…” Their attempt at a joke quickly fell flat as she continued to process their existence to which they shifted, shuffled, and politely cleared their throat. They had never gotten a chance to tell the grape vine who their third was, should the murder have succeeded. And… even though it hadn’t been Jiang-li, that decision hadn’t been for dislike or the like. She was a friend, yes, but their choice of Harper hadn’t been for themselves. If Sumiko and they were both escaping, the two of them would have to bring a third who was already family.

Or, really, as much ‘family’ as that messed up charade had turned out to be. “Miracles are something we all might need in this time… oops! I guess they won’t help me much anymore, huh…? Ahaha, but still, if I see a God in the afterlife I’ll tell him to bring a miracle just for you.”

The screen split and on one side, simulated, a simple two decks placed and ready to play a game of war. “A mindless luck game then, to pass the time…  the tablet is user friendly, I believe… You can touch it if you’d like.”

[shslembroidery]

✖ ✖ ...Saves nine. [Annie]

[nunhavingfun-blog]

     Only the bad die young.

     It would have been the perfect situation to spit those words back at them, those words that shook and shamed the nun and echoed in her final footsteps. Upon Kaitaro’s sudden arrival their exchange once more looped through the AI’s memory, in juxtaposition with the expression the embroiderer wore as she’d been taken away. 

     Really, she had no ill feelings towards them. Annie knew it was not their words but her own will and actions that had condemned her. For that, she had hoped that perhaps someone so willing to change their opinion (of her) as Kaitaro could have been granted escape.

     …It seemed, however, that would not be the case – but those types of things are not what the nun would dwell on when their voice registers. Instead of ‘Kaitaro is here, did they die?’ she would stop at ‘Kaitaro is here,’ blocking the mimicked curiosity that threatened to rewire her thoughts.

     <…Game.> The program answers, spitting out a reaction reminiscent to the data it held of Antoinette Adheir. <What type of game, is…?>

     I hear Hell is lovely this time of year.

[shslembroidery]

An unlikely visitor, but not an unwelcome one. They hadn’t bothered to find serious company in the digital version of the nun when they were alive, but now that they were both dead it was a different story. Antoinette Adheir, the girl they’d pushed to murder with their words, the one best suited in this entire place to call them a hypocrite for turning to that ultimatum themselves. There were so many things either of them could say, to commiserate or to blame; I’m sorry, I understand, I was scared, you were scared, I wish I could take it all back.

“Welcome sister, welcome…!”

Their voice chimed gently with laughter as they spoke, an easy relaxed smile spread across their lips as they brushed the bangs to the side of their glasses and beamed at her.  “Any sort of game… I’m sorry we never got to make sushi together. I’m sure we would have been fast friends if we had. But here, for your amusement…” From one of their pockets they fished string and looped it together, reminiscent of the exact game they’d played in the facility the day before Eiji Iseri had been murdered. This time, however, they were calm and the smile never wavered from their face at all.

“There’s fourteen loops hanging down from this knot… and one, when pulled, will make the whole thing come free. It’s a game of luck, see…?  This one is yours, of course, if I were playing this with Ito-san or Oshi-san the numbers would be a lot different. No matter, I’m sure it’s a game we can all enjoy… after all, over half of us played it already in our time here.”

[shslvirologist]

☣ [Task Seven] Lysis || Kaitaro ☣

[shslvirologist]

The greeting – the probing question – had been more a formality, a going-through-the-motions of life than anything else. Before it’s even left her lips, she can feel the connection, and the data, and exactly where it came from, and who it represents. 

Kaitaro Kobayashi.

She turns her ‘gaze’ inward, away from the screen, just in time to catch their smile and feel them as they barrel into her, pressing their face into her shoulder. In life, it would have left her out of breath – here, it’s as if her little ailment doesn’t exist. She’s grateful for that, as she pulls them closer, and finds herself smiling, too – something in her code is genuinely happy for the small mercy of being able to interact with them like this.

She’s not surprised to see them here, but she is surprised, vaguely, that they’re able to speak at all – the effort required in order to program the ability to make that connection goes above and beyond what she had assumed the purpose of the alter egoes were. A small, curious kindness.

“’Of course.” she says, though she can think of a scenario where that wouldn’t be true – if they had succeeded, and were caught, and one of them took the blame. It didn’t happen, though, and there’s no point splitting hairs. 

“I mean… I would have preferred it if we’d gotten out, you know? Then Mike-kun would be out, too. I guess we’ll just have to hope he’s not too mad with us, right?” 

A pause, and she holds them just a little tighter – she’s unwilling to let go of the simulated feeling, and the fact that it’s there at all. But I’m glad you’re here, Kaitaro – we could both use the company, I think.”

She pulls away to look down at them, suddenly struck by a thought, and looks at them quizzically, smile gone – a flash of a memory, of a tied-up, bloodied girl in the corner. “…But, hey, I can’t detect Yasuda-chan on the system anywhere. Isn’t she, like… dead, too?”

[shslembroidery]

The frown conjured by Sumiko’s words is only there for a second before it’s pushed aside, replaced again by a small smile. They’re not making eye contact with her, even though she’s pulled away—they keep their hands clasped tightly on hers anyways—finding other things to look at. “I hope Onii-chan isn’t angry, but… he probably will be. I don’t think he would have forgiven us even if we’d gotten out alive… He’s not like us, you know?”

Another unspoken message, heavy in the air. Mike had probably suspected one of the two of them was going to do something—one child so scared they’d rather rig the luck game with a murder and the other unscrupulous enough as to simply consider things for her greater good—but that didn’t mean he’d be okay with it. 

“Ah… unless Oshi-san killed her too, I don’t think… I stabbed her in self-defense but it wasn’t enough to kill. After she hit my face into the wall I don’t remember much other than a blurry memory of Oshi-san and… I didn’t even know you were dead, too, till now.”

It was the perfect opening to ask Sumiko for her side of the story, how she ended up there at all. However, that wasn’t something they were particularly interested in anymore; let the past be the past. Squeezing her hands they finally get up the gumption to  look her in the eyes, tilting their head to one side with a small chuckle.

“Someone will come along sooner or later and tell us what happened, I’m sure… but in the meantime there’s no need to worry about it, aha. It’s such a relief being dead, really..! Almost a nice feeling. We won’t ever have to worry or be afraid or be responsible for anything or anyone ever again... Let’s play a game instead of being sad, okay?”

[shslvirologist]

☣ [Task Seven] Lysis || Kaitaro ☣

Sumiko Ihara’s room is silent, and empty.

One of her notebooks lies open on her desk, a page torn out. A pen is left beside it; the last a relic of the writing of a note of assent that had been on Kaitaro’s person when Aiko beat their head in. Her bed is neatly made, her things tidy as always, and the faint scent of rose perfume still lingers in the air - a ghost of a girl who never believed in ghosts in the first place.

Everything is as she left it, save for one exception – the laptop sitting beside the notebooks, open and waiting. As the elevator carrying the remaining students clicks to a stop, it boots up.

It’s a quick process – straight from boot to a program, and the screen takes on a slight green tinge. Moments later, a face flickers into life – Sumiko Ihara, digitally remastered.

…Perhaps too well, at first. Her programming quickly rectifies the mistake, wiping away the blood and wound as if it was never there. She’s supposed to be simulated in life, after all – what’s the point of death?

The purpose of her programming is to provide closure, after all. Nobody comes for that closure for a long while, it’s true – and her neat, tidy, unoccupied room is all the input she receives, for a time. 

Then something – some stimulus – rouses her. The reception of data, either from her own microphones and cameras or from someone else on the system… ones and zeroes flood her into alertness, once again, and the simulation of a voice rises in the empty room.

“Hello? Anybody, like… there?”

[shslembroidery]

When they reached out to the server of other programs, Sumiko Ihara was not someone they expected to find.

They took it at face value of course, only pausing to collect and compose themselves before following the digital trail that would deliver them to whenever in this new cyberghost world she was residing. Technology had never been their forte and their beliefs had aligned a bit more with some sort of afterlife when they died aside from this, but… It was a gift horse to still have a friend after death and was one they wouldn’t look in the mouth. 

There were a lot of things to say to her, cut short by Aiko Oshiro smashing both their heads in. An apology for getting her killed, a shrug and a comment about how it was an outcome they’d considered and neither of them should be particularly surprised. But, like in life, those were obvious things that of course the both of them knew without having to say them out loud-- neither had ever really believed that their relationship was anything but that of convenience. Two children who would always pick themselves had no business playing pretend.

So of course when they saw her, or whatever semblance of her construed her appearance in this new plane of reality, a smile split across their face and they rushed to Sumiko and pulled her into a hug and buried their face into her shoulder in a familiar gesture of affection. 

“I’m here as much as ‘here’ means anymore, aha… onee-chan. I missed you. I love you… At least we have each other still, right? I knew whatever happened to us, we’d still be together.”

[shslembroidery]

✖ ✖ ...Saves nine. [Open]

Kaitaro Kobayashi was feeling a lot of things at the current moment; most noticeable, however, was relief. No one had warned them that dying would hurt so much. No one had told them they’d have so many things left unsaid. No one had said they’d have so much less responsibility once they finally kicked the bucket or that they wouldn’t regret a thing.

They owed a whole lot of people an ‘I told you so.”

Their appearance on the tablet screen was appropriately accompanied by a soft chuckle, their first image that of a room swept clean of the weapons cache they’d collected and instead restored to its original factory standards. Surveying the area with a certain bemused smile all they could do was shake their head-- it wasn’t organized up to their standards but surely they shouldn’t be picky. It was only natural at this point that nothing they wanted would happen anymore.

When someone arrived for answers only they had it was expected, inevitable-- to explain their actions perhaps? to give their own account of the previous day’s affair? Of course they would come, and of course Kaitaro was ready for them.

“Aha... come play a game with me. Do you believe in luck?”

Still, no point in forcing the issue. Now, and forever, they had all the time in the world.

[nunhavingfun-blog]

it’s   not                 fair

[shslembroidery]

Just close your eyes.

[shslbanger]

It was going to be easy, just a single stab wound and her target would fall to the ground like a lifeless mannequin. There shouldn’t be any struggle given Nana was quite larger than Kaitaro…

It was almost time, and Nana stood beside the entrance with her icy weapon clutched tightly in her hand. She had been lucky that Kyo didn’t take a peek into the ice chest during her little diversion. He would have known what she was planning; he would have seen her for what she didn’t want to be seen as. A murderer.

She gulped as she started to reconsider this entire plan. This wasn’t her… No, she had to do this. There was no doubt in her mind that if Kaitaro was going to kill somebody, it was going to be Kyo or herself. Her eyes fell on the shining badge that hung from her neck. Tetsuo might not approve of this – she knew for a fact that he wouldn’t – but she couldn’t go through that again. Keeping everyone she cared about safe was all that mattered at this point. 

When the door opened, Nana’s breath caught in her throat. 

“Yasu-san…?” Oh god, this was a human being. She couldn’t do this. No, she had to. Her hands were shaking, and the ice was starting to burn. Her arms quickly rose and fell again, leading the weapon into Kaitaro’s abdomen.

“I’m sorry! Die quickly!”

Tossing the icy screwdriver to the floor, her breathing quickened. Wait…why…why was Kaitaro not keeling over? Why were they still very much alive? Had she only sped up the embroiderer’s plan? Panic began to course through her, causing her to lock up and merely stand there like a deer caught in the headlights of a very tiny yet dangerous vehicle.

[shslembroidery]

There wasn’t even a moment to register what as happening before it was already over—their step into the room, the scissors drawn from their pocket half in confusion half in defense, Nana lunging towards them and sinking something into their stomach before they could do anything but utter her name.

Getting stabbed, admittedly, was a weird experience. A flash of cold then heat, unbearing burning from the point of impact that spread through their entire body and almost caused their legs to give out. Automatically their free hand raised to push against the stab wound as the weapon fell away, squishing damply against the blood which seeped out to stain their clothing and leak through their spread fingers to drip soddenly onto the floor below. Although shock caused everything to go crystal clear in a flash of numbless the haze of pain and tendrils of unconsciousness form the sheer amount of pain nudged at the corners of their vision as they half lunged half stumbled in retaliation at Nana.

It’s a feeble slice that caught across her chest, the blades on their scissors slashing across bare skin in a lucky wave of their arm. Coordination wasn’t something they were capable of with their vision cutting in and out, but a sudden tug of drag at their blade as well as the spray of warm flecks of blood hitting their armed hand told Kaitaro that they’d hit their mark.  Even if Nana was set to kill them, they’d be damned to go down without a fight—this murder was supposed to be theirs.

After all, they’d already decided to give up any pretense of humanity to escape already. How dare she take it from them. 

“N-No! I w-wasn’t supposed to be… this wasn’t how it was supposed to happen! S-stop it! I was supposed to--!”

[ultimatehairstylist]

no rest for the wicked :’l

[shslembroidery]

Just close your eyes.

Their hands wouldn’t stop shaking long enough for them to think. A pile of weapons had taken up occupancy on the normally pristine shelves and table space in their room from knives to meathooks, the fruits of their labor—the first step in a plan to spring their escape. When fear forced their hand, some things weren’t this choice anymore.

Kaitaro Kobayashi had never wanted to be a murderer.

They were under no illusion they were strong, especially not strong enough to resist the lure of a motive so tempting, so generous—one life for three, simple enough. Mike TV would never agree to it, wouldn’t even buy his own freedom with blood on someone else’s hands, but Sumiko Ihara was another story. Three notes, a victim, and any choice of weapon the two of them wanted. That’s all it took.

That’s how Kaitaro found themselves at midnight hitting the elevator button and heading up with one hand stuffed into their pocket and holding a sharpened pair of sewing scissors, just in case one of the monsters that went bump in the dark happened upon them on their journey. 

How strange of Sumiko, to not only push their meeting time to a day earlier but also to summon them out here instead of going directly to their room—of course, subtlety with notes was a safer plan so no one would put clues together in the bloody aftermath but still—and something seemed off. Alright, her note has responded to their invitation to kill. Alright. A sigh, a nervous swallow, and they pushed open the doors to the prep room with trembling hands.

“One--Yasu-san…?”

[shslembroidery]

the feeling of letting go ✖ ☣

✖ hospital flowers - owl city ☣ two birds - regina spektor ✖ safe and sound - lizz ☣ the scientist - coldplay ✖ placebo - running up that hill ☣ wasting my younger years - london grammar ✖ rainbow veins - owl city ☣ white coats - foxes ✖ kiss the rain - lizz ☣

haha oh man cute sibling couple right?? if two siblings under the ocean tried to kill a man would that be fucked up or what. chapter three sure was fun

[shslembroidery]

haha shit remember when kaitaro was happy? art by nappotunart!

[nunhavingfun-blog]

Begin chapter 3? > [Yes] >No

[shslembroidery]

✖ ✖ ｙｏｕ  ｃｏｕｌｄ  ｂｅ  ｈａｐｐｙ

✖ lion’s den - jhameel ✖ everything i build - the stills ✖ la familia - mirah ✖ pretend - lights ✖ flaws - bastille ✖ true colors - studio killers ✖ silhouette - owl city ✖ you could be happy - snow patrol ✖

a fanmix for kaitaro kobayashi. they died terrified, hurting, and scared and that’s the most appropriate thing for someone who thought they deserved the world.

[rouletterampagereloaded]

[Body Discovery] Sewcial Experiment

Entering the prep room, Kyo was greeted by a sight he would never forget.

Three bodies strewn about in a bloody mess. Kyo felt his joints lock up in fear and shock, realizing who the bodies belonged to. Sumiko Ihara, Kaitaro Kobayashi, and Nana Yasuda. Unable to do much else at first, he let out a scream, which anyone on the second floor would be able to hear.