Quoth the Raven;

Hikaru Sato SHSL Obake Yashiki Actor DEAD "I fooled all of you, at least. You're all murderers, every single one, sending me to my death. See you all again in Hell."

[shslhoverboarder-blog]

Dead On Arrival // Hikaru

As Moe sat down in the chair, pulling the visor over her bangs and once more sliding them out of the way in order to properly use the device, the familiar whir of it put her at ease. It was getting late but she’d yet to really feel tired enough to sleep; she’d just end up going back to her room alone, staying awake. That was usually fine enough, but she was too scared to spend all that time not moving and not with anyone. It was much easier to sit down and talk to her good buddy-

"Hikaru…? Oh- I mean- Sato-kun?" As the virtual reality set in around her, she waited patiently for a sign that it was working.  Herreal-life  hands fidgeted with all the nervousness of someone worried about murder and talking to a dead guy but at least she didn’t drop what was in them.

"…dude… I brought you something."

It’s a pinecone covered in peanut butter.

[shsltengu]

Coming to visit Hikaru- or the likeness of Hikaru, at least, was something that it felt like the hoverboarder had spent a lot of time doing. In fact, she was the only one that ever visited the static specter of their deceased classmate, but it's not like he was ever not excited to see her. Just like before, he greets her with that big grin and a chipper voice.

"Iiito-san--!"

He seems more excited to speak to her every time.

"You brought me something?!"

Hikaru's image fizzes loudly with static at the excited outburst. How he's ever going to receive a tangible gift from the world of the living... well, it's not on his mind. But Moe brought him a gift, and it's the thought that counts.

[shslhoverboarder-blog]

Fear Itself // Moe/Hikaru(???)

[shslhoverboarder-blog]

"……bird br-  uh… S…ato?"    

As soon as he shows up on the screen Moe loses touch with what’s going on and any of the spooky atmosphere of the room before. Instantly accepting of the virtual reality at hand, the sinking, mourning feeling she’d had before is replaced with a startling sense of confusion.  But you know, good confusion.

"What… you’re… woah you’re…you’re here. I knew it…… no way you guys were really dead. How’d you do that?? Dude… that was messed up, I really thought.."

She really didn’t seem to realize, at least in this moment of surprise, that there was no way this was real.

[shsltengu]

The image before Moe's eyes flickers just a few times more, but after a light burst of static, there, undeniably, is the image of Hikaru Sato.

"Ito-san!"

he repeats, this time marked with much more enthusiasm. The actor's face falls, however, at Moe's following words. The truth behind the matter is... sad, to simplify things, but Hikaru's expression is not one marked by sadness, but genuine confusion as he tilts his head to the side slowly.

"What do you mean? I am not alive, if that's what you're implying. But I can not be dead, either. I exist only here. But either way, I am excited to see you!"

Something about Hikaru seems... different. Could he be acting again?

[shslhoverboarder-blog]

Fear Itself // Moe/Hikaru(???)

This new area had a lot to offer, and Moe had been wandering the new features of their home in pursuit of distraction. After all, it hadn’t been long since the horrific events of the morning. She’d taken a nap and a long walk  but even all of these exciting shops and restaurants couldn’t put her entirely at ease.

At the very least, though, this hallway looked interesting. Of all places to get caught up in and actually peek her interest, the spooky Morpheus Lounge just had to tempt the boarder.  With her usual straight face about her and more composure than earlier in the day, she headed through the dark hallway, only getting unsettled when she realized just how dark it had gotten.

She had almost considered turning back when she came across the light of the candles and the goddamn cultish set-up around the infamous virtual reality bear. I mean chair. Freezing in the front of the room, she felt the chills go through her as she looked at it.

"…..nothin’ to worry about here….just mood lights…spooky…"

As creepy as this was, she had to admit it was more interesting than anything else she’d found in this part of the moon-dome or whatever. Moe had been nothing but scared and pathetic for the past few days and in a rush of adrenalin she decided there was absolutely no reason to sit back and run away from a chair. Whatever this thing was for had to be important, after all, and she wasn’t going to let herself get scared out of something important again.

With a deep breath, oblivious to anyone else who may have entered the room, she stepped forward and sat herself down in the chair.  Without a break in composure she took the visor down over her eyes and brushed her hair out of the way to take a peek. 

[shsltengu]

Just like when the students had all been called to the lounge for the motive, the visor displays a scenario that is entirely lifelike, if one didn't know better. Even if one does know better, it's hard to say that it doesn't feel like one couldn't reach out and touch the person before them. A recognizable face flickers briefly before Moe's eyes.

"Ito-san?"

[kingofthekarps]

Man, that first trial was a doozy

[shsltengu]

Zoinks! || Osamu/Moe/Yukiko

[shslhoverboarder-blog]

When Yukiko came onto the scene, Moe hardly seemed surprised and instead greeted her, too, with a wave. Her words made her pale a bit more, though, head hanging as she dragged her foot around on the floor. With the infinitely genius surgeon here, she didn’t seem to need Osamu’s egg-bashing specification to discount the not-really-dead idea.

"…….uh."    

The prompt for her alibi hadn’t been something she’d expected, but it made sense. She continued doing the foot thing as she tried to calculate exactly what she had been doing at that time.

"…..around… then… I was asleep?" 

That certainly didn’t come out too definite. She seems to realize this to some degree and tacks on some more. The way her face pales and her hands fidget, though, she seems to be thinking much more than talking.  

”..I fell asleep down here.. in the…”  (Mumbling.)  ”…and.. woke up in the middle of the night…. because… uh. Well. Right after that I went upstairs though, back to bed. Nobody saw me I don’t think, but…” 

What a quality testimony. 

[shslsurgery]

Now is not really the time to be more focused on proving her own innocence rather than poking holes in other peoples’ observations, but it would only screw her farther down the line if she didn’t put forth some token explanation after posing the question in the first place.

"Alright. Fair. Pray it never comes up again. I was asleep…at least before 9:30. As Peña-shi can attest, I go to bed early. She was there. I did not kill anyone." Really, no one spoon-feeding her information yet? Was she really going to have to examine the body herself? She was pretty obviously the only one qualified, if the next-most likely person was a marine biologist or one of several robot specialists, but…it wasn’t as if the method of death was being determined, and someone else would surely mention it…eventually.

Ugh, if she actually kept up her train of thought she would have to actually go in there and that might end up even more horrifying than discovering a corpse in the morning. She had to at least bring the interrogation train somewhere no one else was looking. …Without a word of warning she started gravitating towards the kitchen, taking the route that least involved the lounge. If she never saw a body it would be too soon.

"What was that, Ito-shi? I couldn’t quite hear you," she said acidly over her shoulder. That sounded like a Suspicious Occurrence if she’d ever heard one.

[shsltengu]

Wow. Osamu thought his alibi was shaky. True his best testimony may have been "I was asleep and nobody can vouch for me," but at least he had the decency to maintain his composure while delivering it. He looks at Moe. It's not as if he can really figure out what she's thinking- reading body language is difficult when you can't see one's eyes. Her tone of voice manages to betray any sense of placidity, however, and he can only laugh.

"You aren't doing yourself any favors."

At least the surgeon's testimony is... somewhat solid. If she claims that someone else can attest to it, then it's probably not a stretch at all to say that she's telling the truth. Osamu takes longer strides to catch up with her as she absconds off to the kitchen, also craning his neck to speak to Moe behind them.

"Yes, Ito-san, would you speak up?"

[shsltengu]

Zoinks! || Osamu/Moe/Yukiko

[shslhoverboarder-blog]

Standing in the lobby for who knows how long now, Moe’s easily startled by Osamu’s sudden presence.

Walking into the lounge so early in the morning and seeing, of all things, a dead body?? Someone real, someone who had been talking with them and been alive with them only yesterday was dead now. There’s no way someone here could really have done it, right? Her hat was pulled snugly over her head for once, rather than hanging loosely at the back of her hair, and when she turned to see who was speaking to her she had to do her best to keep cool.

"…Oh. Bird guy…"  

She speaks just as quietly as usual, waving one of her hands before wringing it back with her other one.   After processing what he actually said, she seems to relax a bit, shoulders dropping. 

”..Y…ou really think someone here actually wrecked that kid..?” 

She clears her throat and then nods a bit, glancing all around them. Most people would probably be intimidated by being outright called an idiot by some fucking chicken in the middle of a murder. She doesn’t really seem to care or notice.

"Yeah, okay, I can help you out, don’t worry… do you  know who did it?? If someone even did it. Maybe he isn’t even dead, who knows…. dudes tired a lot, right..? Maybe we just gotta.. shake him a little. Make him some… I dunno… eggs.."  

Her frightened demeanor peeks through only every few words in the form of a nervous glance or a wring of her hands, and pushing her on the edge of talkativeness rather than silence for once. Otherwise, she still seems far more cool-headed than some of the others.  

"…not that I’m fretting…or anything. Nope….. no frets here. Got it, detective." 

Deciding that this guy actually seems pretty smart, or at least like he knows what hes doing, she steps over to him with a thumbs up  before starting to look all around the room as if clues will literally start oozing out of the walls like slime or worms or something. Clue worms. Where are they?

[shslsurgery]

Yukiko, in that judgmentally languid way of hers, was apparently late to the party. Apparently having already been nowhere near the body, and looking like she’d rather eat her own arm than examine it, she finally appeared at the bottom of the stairs a significant while after the announcement, muttering darkly to herself, supporting herself mostly on her cane. The fact that someone would die had been obvious enough from the start, and she could already imagine the looks on the more cheerful girls’ faces as their reality became apparent. But of all people…hmph.

At least the lounge entrance appeared to be blocked by people who had the same idea as her. One annoying and one not-so-annoying. Well, all their lives were collectively on the line now, and watching people before the inevitable trial was just as important as collecting evidence—so she might as well attach herself to some sort of a group, even if they likely had no idea what they were doing. Perhaps they could just carry out the actual strenuous searching for her.

"He’s definitely dead. One hundred percent dead. Unequivocally dead. Fit only for vultures. The sooner we address it point-blank and get on with our lives the better." Yukiko inserted herself into conversations like she was daring someone to tell her she wasn’t wanted, but still stopped a few steps too far back from the other two, pausing to blindly dig her card out of the front of her dress (was that really where she kept it for safekeeping?) while she cast her eyes over the floor outside the door and around the stairs instead.

With the information finally up in front of her, she pulled a grimace before regarding the other two.

"First off. The most obvious part. Where were the both of you at 10:47 last night. And can anyone corroborate your whereabouts. Secondly, did either of you happen to see which machine he was using." Using, as though he had only been soundly chastised for breaking that rule rather than having his brain cooked in his head.

[shsltengu]

Frowning, Osamu crosses his arms. The hoverboarder is much more compliant than he had expected, but her relaxed attitude makes him wonder if he really should have clung to the first person that he spotted in the lobby. True, she even seems shaken a bit, at least more disturbed than she had been when they had last truly spoken, but overall, her general apathy is irritating. Before he can even bark out a retort, pointedly about how he is definitely not asleep and also that eggs are a barbaric choice in food, a deadpan voice pulls him away, and he can only roll his eyes. Oh, her.

"After 10, I was sound asleep in my room. I needed my beauty rest, after all. Neo-san was in the room too, unfortunately for me. Also I did not, I could not stand to be in the same room as the body."

"Where were you at that time, then?"

[shsltengu]

Zoinks! || Osamu/Moe/Yukiko

"A murder most fowl..."

The only thing that concerned Osamu for the past few days was staying alive. It's not as if he cared about any of the others, either, and so he thought that as long as it wasn't him, murder wouldn't faze him one bit.

He was wrong.

True, the therapist was strange, and he may have found him a little boring, but seeing the blood running down his face brings reality crashing down all around the actor. Someone died. Someone killed him. This is real. This is happening. That insipid robot wasn't kidding- he wants them to kill. And they're falling for it.

He excuses himself. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Well, even if he separates himself from the crime scene, it doesn't mean that the trial won't come. He may as well get something done, but he refuses to do it alone. Thankfully, he sees Moe Ito right as he steps out into the lobby.

"You. There is a murderer afoot- don't fret, I'm not accusing you. You clearly aren't intelligent enough. All I am saying is that I need someone with me while I attempt to figure this out. Will you join my caws?"

[shsl-therapy]

✚ Trance Therapy ✚ Nanase/Osamu

[shsl-therapy]

Without much of a word or even a glance back, the therapist trots ahead and puts his arms behind his arms behind his head, stretching them out slightly in preparation. “Without wings or… like… balloons… maybe a pack… you would fall… and that would… be a painful… collision…” comes his reply albeit quite a bit late. “Though if you could… fly… I would like… that… birds like… they seem very peaceful up there.” Nanase sighs wistfully.

"Ah…" he pipes up again. This time however he does look back at the taller boy a look of confusion almost appearing on his face… as much as any expression appears on his face. Wow, he really is pretty tall. "You… I don’t think… I ever had your name… I am… Nanase… and you… have a height advantage! But it would be hard… talking to you… if I don’t have… a name for you…"

[shsltengu]

This kid speaks a little too slowly for him. It's easy for him to lose interest, he thinks, although he manages to hold onto the other's words long enough to nod once he mentions the birds. Osamu looks up, frowning. Well, this kid is right, at least with the limitations of this body, he would only end up hurting it further. How nice it must be, however, to be up there with the other birds. Perhaps, he wonders, if he's even envious of the birds for being what they are, rather than the fact that they are at leisure to run away from their problems as far as they wish...

"They do, don't they?"

...

Well, that's the smartest thing he ever expects to come out of this human's mouth. Time to pack up and go. Unfortunately for the actor, right as he makes to turn away, the other stops him, asking for his name. The number of people that he'd yet to introduce himself to is astounding. He would rather keep it that way, frankly.

"Oh, if you're that curious, I am Osamu Toriyama. Call me Toriyama-san."

[shsltengu]

Bird's Eye View | Osamu/Kaoru

[bubblygm-blog-blog]

To say Kaoru took the tallness and the threat badly would be putting it mildly.

She damn near shrank back from Osamu as panic reared up and seized her by the throat.

"I-I’m sorry…!" She squeaked, eyes dropping to the ground as she brought her hands up to her chest. She tried to make herself look small. If she looked small maybe he’d ignore her. Maybe he wouldn’t hurt her. 

"I-I didn’t mean a-anything I just…" She hiccuped, almost shaking. "I just wanted…" She had only wanted to help. Maybe not help them escape. She wasn’t sure she could do that. But maybe she could have helped comfort. Kind words went a long way, didn’t they?

Kaoru allowed herself to breath as Osamu stormed off but she flinched again when he turned around and yelled. She almost brought her hands up to her ears.

 ”Th-that’s what I was t-trying to do…” She protested meekly.

[shsltengu]

Osamu is used to making people cry. He's used to others showing all sorts of signs of weakness, and, well, it's no skin off his beak. It means that he's done his job, right? But... that was acting. Perhaps whoever put them in this situation is acting too, maybe, hopefully it's all just a cruel joke. If it is a joke, however, there's always the one that takes it far too seriously. There must be at least one of them out there that's contemplating murder. Well, it won't be him.

"Stop."

With a deep breath, he tries to compose himself. The difference between making customers cry and making her cry, is that he's not trapped with the customers for an indefinite amount of time. He has to deal with this mess that he's made- or, rather, that she enabled by being so annoying. He'll go with that. She's making it hard to not lash out at her once again.

"You... you need to calm down. It was a joke, but I forgot that you humans have fragile egos. I'm not going to actually drown you, okay? I am better than that."

[shsltengu]

Bird's Eye View | Osamu/Yukiko

[shslsurgery]

"…Fair," she finally said, as though she hadn’t been expecting a straight answer in the first place. She still wanted to know, of course, especially if things like this were going to be dictating who eventually lived or died. Was there any chance of getting information without volunteering her own? Obviously spilling hers to the wrong person would be disastrous, not to mention unprofessional. She didn’t need any more people with vendettas against her. 

"I did say that I was curious. Not that I had a good reason." Her eyes, when actually open, were focused on the water swirling around her knees. Why anyone would choose to swim in this was beyond her.

[shsltengu]

The actor curls his thin fingers into the cold dirt as he looks on, not even wanting to begin to analyze the girl's behavior. Humans are strange, it's a universal constant and a truth that he accepted long ago, although something seems tantalizing about following her into the water, pulling her under briefly, just to see the look on her face... but with no desire to get his clothes wet, and no way to descend into the water quietly, he simply looks on, lips pursed and eyebrows narrowed in confusion.

"Well, from where I'm standing, you don't have much of a good reason for doing anything."

Osamu rises to his feet, brushing the dirt from his clothes without much success.

"Keep going, however. I want to know how deep that pond may be. I don't have a good reason; I'm simply curious, after all."

[shsltengu]

Bird's Eye View | Osamu/Kaoru

[bubblygm-blog-blog]

Looks like someone else had the same idea as her.

Kaoru needed to get away from it all, all the tense people and those chairs with her nice vision image… The ‘outdoors’ seemed like the best place for it. Maybe even dip her feet into the pond?

She was mildly surprised when she saw Osamu there. 

She was more worried when she saw how he didn’t seem to be doing all that great.

"Uh, excuse me?" She said gently as she approached, careful to announce her presence well before reaching anywhere near him. Given the situation everyone was in it was better not to startle anyone. "Are you alright? Can I help with anything…?"

Of course the thought just hit her that, given the situation again, perhaps approaching someone she didn’t know while they were alone was a bad idea.

Ah well, too late now. 

[shsltengu]

When one collapses to the ground to have a nice little breakdown, one of two things tends to happen. The most common path is often a result of what is known as the bystander effect: present in humans, typically, in which they believe that it will be taken care of it by someone else. Of course, there is always the second possibility, in which one will actually, surprisingly enough, stop to help. Most common in Organic beings that aren't human, thank whatever god is out there- if there is one, something that he's more doubtful of now than ever.

However, nothing about nature is rigid, and therefore there are always exceptions to the rule. How unfortunate that one would occur when he was banking on being left alone. Osamu cranes his neck to look at the one that apparently wants to play savior to him. He grimaces, not exactly keen on company in any form, Organic, InOrganic or somehow otherwise right now.

"No, I am clearly not alright."

Dusting the dirt off his kimono, he rises to his feet, approaching the girl. He towers over her, and he decreases the space between them, staring her down.

"If you want to help, do you know what you can do?"

He gestures to the pond by them.

"Get in the dirt. Stick your head in the water. Keep it there while I hold you under. Then you will die and I will go home and live the life that I was supposed to live. Does that sound good to you?"

His voice has nearly dropped to a whisper, uttering his death threat in a deadpan tone before throwing his hands up and walking off, further and further away from the pond. The actor turns on his heel to face the girl once again.

"There is nothing anyone can do! If anything could be done, then you would have done it by now, wouldn't you?!"

[shsl-therapy]

✚ Trance Therapy ✚ Nanase/Osamu

Nanase staggered out of the room, a little dazed. Though perhaps to everybody else that wasn’t much of a change from his everyday demeanor. Oh well. For once though, he didn’t feel that tired. Actually there was something he very much wanted to do after seeing that. And as such, he drifted to the courtyard and just stared up. It was so nice - he missed certain feelings of the outdoors. The therapist stretched his arms out and then noticed, perhaps a little too late, someone was behind him. Nanase tilts his head back and gives the person a nod.

"Oh… hello… you are here… I see." a pause and his attention seems to waver briefly before he turns back with a childlike certain shine in his eyes.

"Do you want to… run… with me?"

[shsltengu]

He feels sick. After prolonged a moment of trying to dissect his emotions, after trying to figure out what it could possibly mean to be anxious, homesick and exultant all at once, he reaches the conclusion that he feels sick to his stomach. What he saw was nothing more than a pipe dream... and yet, it's attainable in some fashion, isn't it? No, no, how could he even think that...? He glances about the room. How many of the others are thinking the same thing? How many of the others could do it without remorse? Most of them are humans after all, and humans are selfish to a fault. And, as for the others... well, he has his reservations about them.

Fresh air is what he needs, and he slips outside once the majority of the others begin to disperse. The tengu assumes that the rest of them returned to their rooms to wallow in self pity, or to the kitchen to drown their feelings in calories. He hardly cares, but what he does care about is the fact that he's not alone like he had anticipated, and he approaches the distant figure quietly. Quietly. So quietly. Quietly and slowly, poising his gnarled fingernails like claws when-

"...!"

The kid turns around and gives him a soft nod. His cover was blown immediately. The following question is even more startling. Run? Taking a step back, he gestures all the way down the front of his kimono to the geta on his feet.

"I believe you'll find that I am hardly suited for running. Besides... I would vastly prefer to fly."

[shsltengu]

Bird's Eye View | Osamu/Yukiko

[shslsurgery]

Apparently everyone was going to get upset about this ridiculous thing, and apparently Yukiko was going to give everyone with that thought process a piece of her mind whether she wanted to or not. At this point it might even seem like she was hunting down everyone who had the gall to feel disappointed just to make them feel bad about it. Small talk was being left by the wayside here in lieu of introductions crafted entirely out of insults.

After at least one confrontation in the lounge itself (was she ever going to decide to keep mean comments to herself even though they were really, really well thought out? Never), she exited the building, unsteady as usual and muttering darkly to herself while she picked her slow way across the courtyard. It was impossible to miss the person kneeling at the water’s edge, and so she decided that her Professional Investigation was starting there. Practically collapsing in a heap a few feet from him when she finally reached the pond, she awkwardly wriggled one high heel off a barely-responsive left leg before dunking that leg alone in the water. Her already opaque tights darkened as they soaked through.

Well, that was one way to introduce yourself. She was only preparing herself for a long productive slog. Dress skirt hiked up to her waist, one leg curled underneath her and the other, fully dressed, now stinking of pond water, she turned her attention to Osamu as though she’d only just noticed he was there.

"…What was so distressing about yours. I’m curious."

[shsltengu]

Heaving a melodramatic sigh, he shakes the loose water from his fingers, rubbing his hands against the sides of his kimono to free them of the remaining moisture before bringing them to his eyes. He emits a small groan whilst holding his head in his hands, but before he can bring himself back to reality, a sudden splash jolts him away from his thoughts.

"E-excuse you...!"

For only a moment, he wonders if everyone had gone completely mad. Well, if what he saw was as equally upsetting as what everyone else saw, then there's certainly a possibility. However, as far as they exact contents of everyone else's machine... he couldn't care less. And, he can't even imagine why any of the others would do the same for him. There certainly are better things to occupy their minds with. Huffing, he rises to his feet, staring down the girl standing in the water.

"That is hardly any of your business!"

[shsltengu]

Bird's Eye View | Open

When all of them had been called back to the lounge as a whole, Osamu had nary a clue of what to expect. However, what he saw... was one of the furthest things from his list. For only a brief moment, it left his heart fluttering, coming down from the high of his elation, until he came down entirely too hard, and it left a twisting in his gut, a bittersweet feeling of nostalgia. Is it possible to be nostalgic for something that one never truly had? He ponders this for just a moment, but no matter the answer, he's certain of one thing: it makes him feel sick.

"Hhh..."

There's little that he can do, but one thing that he knows for sure is that he will not be paying another visit to this chair. Seeing that once was quite enough, thank you very much. At least no one else can see what he saw, and he is positive that he doesn't care about anyone else's petty fantasies. All that he cares about now is getting far away from here, and shaking off the sensory feeling left in his bony hands. Fresh air might help, if nothing else, and he absconds outside, dropping to his knees and submerging his hands into the pond's cold water the very second that he reaches the shores. After a brief moment, he he splashes the water onto his face, shaking his head.

This is such a nightmare.

Or no, rather, that isn't fair to say. This is real. He can only wish that it was a nightmare.

[shsltengu]

Head in the Sand | Osamu & Neo

The most devastating news, for Osamu, did not come in the form of the command for all of them to start slaughtering their classmates left and right. It was more of an eye-opener for him, to discover their whereabouts, quite literally leaving him wide-eyed, locked in place, and with nausea bubbling in his gut.

The moon? The moon? Not here, of all places. Even the worst places on Earth would have been far preferable to this- but for some stretch of time now, he'd developed one serious vendetta against the rapidly developing technology which had simply become reality for him, no matter how far he ran from it. As a result, he'd actively avoided Apollo Luna, only to be thrown up here against his will anyway, to either die or get blood on his hands.

...

He barks out a shrill laugh.

How could it be anything more than a joke? True, the Tragedy was the furthest thing from a joke, but...

He does a poor job of convincing himself, taking his ID card in shaking hands and examining the screen. A distraction, but not a pleasant one, he comes to find. Oh, how he wanted nothing more than to be alone. A roommate, however... well, what if they're moronic enough to fall for all of this? Could the next night that he falls asleep be his last? He examines the bar code on his wrist once more. Whoever had given them these had already instilled so much panic and fear, simply by marking them with something that could read soup for all he knows.

That's it.

Shaking the panic from himself, he marches up to his shared room, blindsided by the bright colors of his new roommate's ensemble. Narrowing his eyes, he pads across the floor softly, wordlessly claiming his half of the room.

[shsltengu]

Why the Caged Bird Sings | Moe

[shslhoverboarder-blog]

The sudden intrusion of Osamu’s voice over her hooded shoulders didn’t cause much of a jolt. In fact, our protagonist turns with all the tranquility and chillaxation of someone who had realized a butterfly landed on her shoulder. Taking her sweet time to fully pivot and meet the tengu in the eyes, she doesnt step  back at first, so they are both  just sort of awkwardly in each others faces now. 

"….Woah. You scared me."  

She says quietly about fifteen full seconds after Osamu said anything to her. She never jumped or yelled or anything else to really imply she had been startled, though.  Haha look, she’s taller. She now steps back a foot or so away from the guy for comfort before offering a slouchy wave.

”..Sup, manI’m— Woah.”    

"………….You’re that Tengu guy."

Moe, why do you recognize this man.

[shsltengu]

Disappointingly enough, the girl that he'd approached hardly moves a muscle in response to him. For just a moment, he's left asking himself if she'd recently fallen comatose, until she finally does turn around, although now he's positive that civilization will collapse before she performs a full one-eighty. He's unmoved, entirely used to being in another's face, but not at all accustomed to the idea of said other individual being unmoved as well.

"..."

He can't at all decide whether he's disturbed or impressed. The ground could open up right and swallow the two of them alive and she certainly wouldn't even bat an eye, he's sure of it. Even if she did, it's not as if he'd know. He subconsciously brushes any stray hairs away from his eyes.

However, finally, a reaction does come, and it's much more than he expected.

"I... you know...?"

He begins smoothing his hair, rubbing his arms, and touching his own face as discretely as he can. What has he done? He's given away his seemingly-flawless human disguise, somehow. There are clearly only two possibilities- either he'd become too arrogant in his own disguise practices and had slipped up, or she's going to proceed to tell him that she's the Super High School Level Monster Hunter. He isn't quite sure what's worse.

[shsltengu]

Why the Caged Bird Sings | Tsukiko

[shsldreamanalyst]

“It was only a simple question, and I was under the impression that the ice had already been broken. I like your hair, so I was wondering what you used to maintain it. If that makes you uncomfortable, you may ask me a question as well…”

She had been intending to address him at the end of the sentence, but realized that he had neglected to give her his name. That should be remedied as soon as possible.

“What do you call yourself?”

[shsltengu]

Among the mess of being tossed from his own room and thrown into a locked one with umpteen other teenagers, he'd nearly forgotten about the bar code on his wrist. Now that the subject is once again at the surface, he has to ask himself how the stinging in his wrist could have ever let him forget in the first place. A large sleeve slides down his arm as he holds it up, the mark on his skin coming into view.

"Ah, yes, unfortunately enough that is the case. Branded like a common farm animal!"

He's scratching at the mark once again with a set of gnarled, black fingernails, holding onto the hope that it will chip away at some point. It does not. He keeps on absentmindedly even as she continues speaking, only stopping to formally introduce himself.

"I... am named Osamu Toriyama. And now I think that perhaps I will ask you but one question. Have you ever met a tengu?"