#cc chapter 2

[cloudcoliseum-blog]

All students have received +1 MANUcoin. E.L.L.A. Lemnos, Shou Shimizu, and Takashi Koiwai have received +2 MANUcoins.

[cloudcoliseum-blog]

Log: 20 April 2114 || Post-Trial

The votes are in, and Tsukiko Takahashi is out. Her screams still ring in your ears and the blood pooling on the execution floor is still warm. Once more, the horrors of the coliseum have been brutally shown. But the doors have yet to open; clearly, MonoMANU is not yet done.

“Kekeke, how exciting!” it exclaims, “That trial was a blast! Kudos to Shou Shimizu for catching the killer so cleverly! She’s dead because of you, you know? Yoouu killed her!!” It cackles gleefully, like static in a dead television.

“Before you all scram, I have some prizes to give away! A few of you did particularly well back there, and for your fine work in putting a poor girl to death, you get a reward. Shou Shimizu, Takashi Koiwai, and E.L.L.A. Lemnos all get access to the VIP Lounge! Look at you go, Miss Lemnos, MVP twice in a row!”

“As for the rest of you, you did alright. Which is a shame, because I had such a fun penalty laid out for you.” It lets out a simulated sigh of disappointment. “Looks like I’m on garbage duty this week.”

“Just like last time, Moe and all of the evidence has been cleaned up, so no need to worry about accidentally stepping your friend’s blood! Now off you go, it’s super late, kiddos, get some shut-eye.” With that, the doors swing open, and you are ushered out into the courtyard.

[cloudcoliseum-blog]

Heart of Darkness | Tsukiko Takahashi’s Execution

[♪♪♪]

The moon is high

The dream analyst falls through the ceiling, landing with such a force that her body crumples at the impact. Even with aching muscles, however, she manages to compose herself, rising to her feet to find that she’s been thrown into what appears to be a child’s bedroom. The room’s contents are sparse: the standard desk, lamp, chair and bed. Not even a single window, but there is a closet, its existence brought to Tsukiko’s attention by a low growling resonating from underneath the crack in the door. The door rattles violently in its frame for a moment as well, and she turns her head away only to see a soft red glow emanating from underneath of the bed. Not all hope is lost, however, as the exit, the bedroom door, is in plain sight, and she wastes no time in making a break for it.

The end is nigh

As she lunges at the bedroom door, she twists and turns and yanks the knob, but it stays bolted firmly in place, leaving her to turn and look at the closet door. It swings wide open, and her body stiffens, preparing to embrace death, but the sight that she’s greeted with is… absolutely nothing. The closet is empty, void of clothes and, thankfully, any sort of beast or supernatural being. Skeptical, she closes the door, and the growling once again permeates the room. With bated breath, she retreats a few steps back, making her way to the bedside and kneeling to the ground. The red glow recedes, and as she stands, she makes to inspect the desk.

Your horse is here

[♪♪♪]

A chilling music box lullaby begins to play, nearly drowning out the sound of the growling… or soothing its source, if she’s being optimistic. In any other situation, the twinkling tune might be enough to lull her into a deep sleep as well, but she knows what’s inevitably coming, and keeps her guard up. Within seconds, a whisper of a hissing sound follows, and all at once, that light-headed feeling finally sets in, her eyelids drooping slowly as she fights to keep her consciousness- even so, she can barely stand, and elects to sit on the bed, unamused by the possibility of collapsing to the floor. Repeatedly, the lights begin flickering on and off, and she brings her hand to her forehead, barely lucid but positive that falling asleep right now will be the last thing that she ever does.

I bring you fear

The closet door bursts open with a loud crash, giving her the wake up call that she needs to stay conscious. She can’t discern the actual identity of the figure, and might as well have mistaken it for a long coat, had she not seen that the closet was stripped bare just moments ago. Inhaling sharply as it draws closer to her, she rises to meet it, deciding that she’ll face the end with as much dignity as possible. Focusing all of her attention on the shadowy figure keeps her blissfully unaware of the growing intensity of the red light, and she lets out a sharp cry as two blackened hands grab her ankles, knocking her face-first against the floor and pulling her underneath of the bed.

What am I?

Save for the gentle tune of the music box, the room falls silent, her scream cut off entirely as she disappears into the darkness. From underneath the bed, a puddle of blood pools out, leaving no trace of the body. Time continues to pass as the blood spreads across the floor, but there’s no doubt about it that Tsukiko Takahashi is dead.

[kingofthecarps]

Adrift (Open) [Takashi/???]

Takashi, wet and cold, wandered throughout the entire courtyard. His effort was fruitless in the previous scenario where he was convinced something of note must have tossed outside in haste. Now the courtyard was the scene of the crime, and thus made sense to try again. But how does the saying go? A man who repeats the same action twice expecting the same result is the mark of a fool. Takashi left for inside, feeling foolish and marked with an overt brown stain on his white lab coat. 

The stain was a very minor thing that just happened to sit atop the rest of the problems, and so even though it wasn’t more important than the corpse of a friend, had to be dealt with immediately!.He headed for the laundry room with haste.

Once there, Takashi found an empty washing machine to take his anger out on by whipping his coat inside it, sounding a low metallic *tong* that resonated through the room. After finding a towel and drying himself, he tossed it in as well. He only needed to do a quick rinse and a dry afterwards. He set the timer for 15 minutes and hoped that the settings he chose were enough to save his symbol of- oh shoot his WA card! He forgot to unclip it from his coat! Oh well... it was laminated, and would survive - unlike...

There was the reminder of how selfish his petty clothing quarrel was. Moe was dead, murdered, no less, and he had stopped to do a load of wash. Takashi was no good at investigations, though! He scanned the entire room, as if anything would appear to him that hadn’t while looking anywhere practical- oh my? 

He stared at the corners of the laundry room and conferred with himself. Now he was using that big brain of his!

[purin117]

Until Our Very Last Breath | Murder Two Reaction

Moe Ito was dead. Their game buddy was dead. Purin had always enjoyed Moe’s company, even though she had been little strange at times. But now she was gone, killed by some malicious classmate.

They watched as Takashi retrieved the body as they tried not to appear distressed. Needless to say, they didn’t do a very good job pretending.

“Maybe Moe-chan isn’t actually...”

No. They could pretend with Kaoru, who had merely disappeared, but Moe was clearly dead. Their chest felt heavy as they turned away from the scene. What secret had been so bad someone killed Moe for it?

They were determined to find out and even more determiend to bring justice to their friend.

[cloudcoliseum-blog]

Moe Ito’s body has been removed from the pond and is now on the shore.

[kingofthecarps]

Swimming Problems [Takashi/Purin]

Here's a common fact. Fish do sleep, and have similar related traits to humans, including taking naps and having insomnia. However, if they stop swimming, they die. This means that to fish, swimming is like keeping the heart beating, and it happens naturally when they need to rest. Takashi might have channeled his gilled brethren too well last night. He tossed and turned, and didn't have such bubbly dreams. They were frightening, but I wouldn't classify them as nightmares either. It was rewind to the harsh reality he had to reface through text (which was for lack of a better word "stupid"). Not to mention Kaoru's demise was scarring in itself.

Takashi rose from bed at 9 AM. Despite his going to bed at 12 AM last night the boy spent no more than half of that time asleep, and even less of that truly resting. He had an appointment, though, and he refused to let a robot arrive there earlier than him. If they thought him as late or forgetful, it'd be even worse. Takashi liked to think he didn't care what people, and androids, thought of him, but appearance is everything, and there is a tiny judge inside all of us forging opinions solely based on it. 

It was 9:50 by the time he got to Demeter's. Hopefully that android wasn't already here. If they wanted to talk to him about the motive, then they were in luck. Takashi had every memory of that imprinted on the backs of his eyes. The only problem was if he felt like sharing again.

[purin117]

A few minutes later Purin receives another message. [here goes: “My own success cost the success of another. Who am I?”]

Well. That solved that. They sent the following message:

[uHH  meet me by that slaoon thing near my apartemtn! RIGHT NOW] 

They meant salon and apartment. It was hard to type when so frantic.

After hitting send, Purin jumped to their feet and dashed out of the laundry room.