>>40257565
>I...Maybe so. I guess.
Dammit Clarissa, so rude!

>>40257565
>"I... guess that makes sense, actually. You can come in."

>>40257565
>>"I... guess that makes sense, actually. You can come in."

>>40257686
Well since we're waiting for more anons anyway, hope you're doing well Mushroom! On a scale from one to Clarissa, how badly did we fuck up yesterday?

>>40257776
It depends on how you look at it, I guess!

>>40257565
Voting over, writing!

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>>40257686
>>40257740
"I... guess that makes sense. You can come in." You step to the side and gesture her to enter.

"Well, of course it makes sense, Clarissa!" Apparently irked off, Ren seems intent on shouting at you some more. She walks in, huffing a bit.

"Look, I'm sorry for... going off on you there," You apologize. You really didn't mean to yell at her or anything. "I'm just... feeling a bit on edge, you know?"

The girl sighs but seems to ease up. "I know, you've told me that much. ...I probably shouldn't have responded so harshly, either."

"Nah, you... you were right to do that."

She folds her arms over her chest and shakes her head. "No, I wasn't."

"...Don't start it."

The two of you make your way inside. Ren greets Naoko, a bit surprised to see her. You all sit down and make yourselves comfortable, or, well, at least everyone except you. You're struggling against the urge to fidget in place, and the wish to dig your nails into something, to pull your hair out, to punch the walls, to-...

"We're waiting for Kimiko, right?" Ren suddenly asks, startling you a bit. It's not that she wasn't talking with Naoko (or, well, trying to, and without much success), but the mention of her name made it stand out from the rest of the conversational static. "That's Aiko, by the way, right? I remember you called her 'Kimiko' that one time, Clarissa."

(1/2)

>>40258538
"No. She's not Aiko." You answer without thinking, sounding annoyed again, as if Ren just said something immensely stupid. It takes you a moment to realize that you've reached a bit of a dead end in the conversation, unable to think of a good way of explaining yourself. She still doesn't know that you... that you killed Aiko. If you mention the fact that she's dead, it'll no doubt lead to very unpleasant questions that you'll struggle to coherently answer even without lying like the biggest scumbag.

There are so many problems that you have with just telling her everything. If she doesn't take to it well, you'll just end up losing a friend, and for nothing. She might start being afraid of you, or hating you, or... damn it, just what good can come out of it? And now, of all times?

...

>Try to tell her the whole story. Confess the murder to Ren.
>Give her a part of the story. "Kimiko is... a spirit that's been possessing Aiko. You... you know? Like spirits can do. It's... fine, though."
>"...It's just a nickname. Nevermind."
>Other. (Write-in).

>>40258565
>Try to tell her the whole story. Confess the murder to Ren.
Keeping it secret seems like prime material for a reveal at the worst possible time.

W-where did you go anons?

>>40258565
>Try to tell her the whole story. Confess the murder to Ren.

Wouldn't it be hilarious if when school resumes, we get a new teacher, and THAT is Kimiko?

>>40258728
Friday, man.

>>40258565
Voting over, writing!

>>40258738
They should quit having lives.

>>40258565
>Give her a part of the story. "Kimiko is... a spirit that's been possessing Aiko. You... you know? Like spirits can do. It's... fine, though."
Sorry for being late, but I really am not sure what good can come from this.

Exposition and Clarissa suffering!

I personally doubt Clarissa killed her, who knows though.

>>40259046
I think she did, but it's a side effect of her powers being kind of hollow-y?

>>40258738
>>40258770
>>40258779
I feel like it's kind of annoying to have big decisions on this depend on only like two voters, especially when there's often more than that later in the day. But since the main theme is "horrible decisions" I guess it makes sense.

>>40259046
Several options really - might be her inner asshole did it, a hollow, she herself, or something completely different.

>>40259097
Kimiko won't be possessing Aiko much longer, her body will be found soon. At that point Ren would have some uncomfortable questions to say the least. And there's the chance someone else might straight up reveal it too. I don't see much reason to keep it secret.

>>40259151
She might turn us in? And technically we don't have to add in the part about us murdering her. Also if we do need to rescue Kimiko, then that's gonna be difficult to do with these chicks.

>>40259097
>But since the main theme is "horrible decisions"

Was that the theme at the start of the quest?

Or was it just something that seeped in as more and more people died to the serial killer hollows?

Mushroom has ended up running the quest as a sort of Bleach horror movie, including teenage girls made bad choices.

I've read on and off and even though I missed that vote I agree with it.

>>40259248
When the quest's cold open involves the protagonist apparently having murdered her girlfriend, and then letting a shinigami squat in her corpse, I feel like making bad decisions is definitely an intrinsic element.

>>40259274
Well we are only the substitute after all. And untrained at that!

>>40259300
To be honest, with Clarissa's powers I'm not sure she can even be called a shinigami.

>>40259327
Well who is gonna protest, the word police?

This feels like a longer than average delay. I worry that this latest choice was exceptionally poor.

>>40259617
I don't see it, the magnitude of this reveal demands a long post regardless of reaction.

>>40259655
I feel like the important thing to take away from this is that without Kimiko around, it's only a matter of time before Clarissa jams a fork into an electric socket.

>>40259617

This is the big reveal. Have to see what happens.

>>40260041
Yeah but why, at least with Naoko she'd been killing souls. With Ren we don't have any leverage like that.

>>40260090

I am waiting to see if Paul is standing there listening in to big reveal for max sufferings.

>>40260183
I think we'd notice.

>>40259617
It's been over two hours. Curse you >>40258618
and >>40258729

>>40258618
You turn the television off. You lean forward a bit, placing your arms on your knees. Trying to calm down doesn't work. The silent pause seems to only make Ren more curious.

"So... who is she, then?" She asks hesitantly. The only thing you can think about right now is how to avoid answering. You quickly realize that it just won't work. It's wrong to try hiding something from a friend in the first place.

With a painful bitterness rising in the back of your throat, you begin. "Do you remember who the Shinigami are? Kimiko is one of them. After she got injured on her job, she... needed a place to recover in. I... I took her to Aiko's body."

"Y-you mean she needed to possess someone? Like... a ghost?" Ren tatters off a bit, apparently confused. The implication hits her shortly after. "Wait. B-by 'body', you don't mean..."

"...Aiko is dead, Ren."

"What? A-are you serious? That's... that's horrible," The girl puts a hand to her mouth, as if holding back a gasp. "I... what happened? When? She... she was just fine yesterday, wasn't she?"

"It happened a week ago. She's... been dead since then." You can't bear to look at her. Ren tries to say something, but manages to mutter only incoherent noises in her shock.

After a pause, she manages to snap out of it. "Then... all of those times, it was actually... someone else completely? Someone was just pretending t-to be Aiko? Why... how did it happen? Do you know, Clarissa?"

You wish she didn't ask. It would be great if she just... forgot to do that. You really don't want to say it out loud. Not again. How many times do you need to repeat this fucking sentence? Why won't they just... stop asking already? You detest every single bit of breath you have to spend on speaking it. Feels like you're about to vomit.

Ren's hand settles on your shoulder, and another on your harshly clutched fist. She must have noticed how tense you've gotten.

"...Aiko died because of me. I killed her."

(1/3)

>>40260698
"W-what?" The girl doesn't understand, as if you said something incomprehensible. "I... I don't get it, Clarissa. You... it was an accident, r-right? Or, or... it was because of those monsters, right?"

You shake your head. There's nothing accidental about it. No one's fault but yours. "I got angry at her. That's why I did it. It has nothing to do with anything else."

Ren still doesn't believe it. "T-there's just no way. You wouldn't hurt anyone who didn't deserve it, and even then... not like that! You'd never kill anyone. You're... you're like a hero, right? You saved me that one time, a-and I'm sure you've been helping many others, so I don't believe that you-..."

"Ren, stop. Just... don't. Just fucking believe me, alright? Why is that so fucking hard? For both of you?"

"Clarissa, you... you look like you're about to cry. Of course I can't believe it when you look like that. And you... held on for a week with Aiko like that? I..."

"That doesn't fucking mean that I didn't do it. I regret it, but I'm still responsible. Why the fuck don't you get that?" You stand up, shaking off her weakening grasp; you shrug off the pity that you didn't deserve to in the first place. You feel like your next words will be something that you'll regret saying, so you head to your room without uttering anything else. Ren tries to stop you, but you don't listen to her, and it seems that Naoko keeps her from going after you.

It... was a mistake to tell her about this. Would it be better if she believed you and hated you like you were expecting her to? Of course not. There simply weren't any good outcomes to this to begin with.

...

(2/3)

>>40260734
Oh boy, suffering train again has left the station

>>40260734
I wonder if they'll work together to try and figure out why Clarissa would think she killed Aiko.

>>40260734
You had a meager 15 minutes to yourself before they lost patience and started knocking.

"Clarissa, are you alright?" A girl speaks through the closed door. It's Naoko. You can't tell if Ren's with her. And what's with that stupid question? Yeah, you're feeling fucking fantastic. "Ren said that she forgives you."

...What the hell is wrong with them? Friend or not, how the hell can you just forgive someone for murder, and so easily at that?

"Is she still there? Tell her that... I don't know... that she's a fucking dumbass for doing that."

"No, she left." Naoko says. She continues after a pause. "...You forgave me too, Clarissa. I... wanted to call you that as well, at first."

"That was different, and you know it. What you did wasn't your fault."

She doesn't reply at first, but you doubt that you've managed to convince her. It's probably the opposite, really.

"When you forgave me just as easily, I thought the same way - that I didn't deserve it, and that you forgave me only to pity me. The truth is, I still do. I still think you're wrong for doing that."

You can't think of anything to say to that. You know that she's not responsible for what happened to her, that it's not her fault at all, but... you just don't know how to convince her. Only now do you realize how hard it is to really do that.

"...What did she say after I left?"

"She was angry at you for walking off, and at me for not letting her follow. Ren was upset that you weren't listening to her."

How ironic. You were worried that she'd hate you, but... it seems that the opposite almost happened.

...

>"Go home, Naoko. I want to be alone for now."
>"...Naoko, you should go with Ren. Keep her safe for me. I'll wait for Kimiko."
>"Ask Ren to come back. I'll talk to her and apologize."
>Other. (Write-in).

>>40260770
It still seems weird. Like even when Clarissa goes full LET 'ER RIP I don't think she'd kill someone unless she could fight them first.

>>40260842
>"Ask Ren to come back. I'll talk to her and apologize."
Perhaps it's time to start un-fucking things.

>>40260842
>go with Ren, keep her safe for me

>>40260842
>"Ask Ren to come back. I'll talk to her and apologize."

>>40260842
>"Ask Ren to come back. I'll talk to her and apologize."

>>40260842
>"...Naoko, you should go with Ren. Keep her safe for me. I'll wait for Kimiko."

>>40260842
>>"...Naoko, you should go with Ren. Keep her safe for me. I'll wait for Kimiko."

>>40260842
>"Ask Ren to come back. I'll talk to her and apologize."

>>40260842
>"Ask Ren to come back. I'll talk to her and apologize."

Haha, well I was very conflicted about whether to call Ren back or send Naoko after her, so I guess a close vote is fitting.

>>40260842
>"Ask Ren to come back. I'll talk to her and apologize."

>>40260842
Voting over, writing!

On the bright side, Ren could have taken that a lot worse! Maybe with an apology we can finally have a thread going better than expected again!

>>40261314
Eh, it's kind of tricky because maybe Clarissa really did just snap somehow?

>>40260868
>>40260912
"...Naoko, how long ago did she leave?"

"Just now."

"Think you could catch up and tell her to come back? I'll... apologize."

"I'll do it."

"...Thanks." With that, you plant your face back into the wet pillow. A few footsteps later, the girl behind the door departs.

You're left alone again. There's not much point to staying in your room, where you might miss Kimiko knocking or ringing the bell. You make your way downstairs. Paul still hasn't returned. You don't think there's anything unusual about that; you're usually out at this time, so you can't really tell for sure. Bet the guy's having a lot of fun, wherever the hell he is.

You sit down on the sofa again, and wait.

The house feels so quiet and empty. It's annoying. You look around for the remote, but can't seem to find it. You give up on the idea entirely. Just sitting is fine.

...You really hope they come back quickly.

...

The doorbell rings again, startling you into springing off your seat. You're still so freaking nervous. You hear the door open, and the two girls soon enter the living room. Ren, looking on the verge of tears, walks up to you and gives you a hug.

...Damn it. You didn't even need to apologize; she's forgiven you already. This feels unlike her, in a way. She tends to get irritated easily, and knows how to hold a grudge, but... it seems that she knows when it's right to do that, and when it isn't. Not that you agree, though.

You return the embrace, hesitantly. You still don't think you deserve any of this.

(1/2)

>>40262216
"She... she'll be back, okay?" Ren mutters. "Stop crying."

"...You first."

It's not that either of you actually try to stop after that. You keep going until you're done. It takes a while to calm down, but at least you've managed to get it out of your systems. Only some of it, in your case. You still have a long way to go. You know that you might never fully get over it.

...The evening continues. Ren takes up the duty of cooking a late lunch for everyone present while Paul is still away, and Naoko volunteers to help. You have to sit it out as you obviously can't be trusted to be anywhere near the kitchen.

Kimiko is still missing. She's not answering her phone. Because of that, you're not even a little hungry, but you're sure that the other two are; you'll be joining for the company, so as to not ruin everyone's moods.

While the food is cooking, you have nothing to do. What is there to spend this alone-time on?

...

>Call Paul, check how he's doing.
>Maybe you can... practice your ability, somehow?
>Other. (Write-in).

>>40262246
>better call Paul

>>40262246
>Call Paul, check how he's doing.
Sure, take our mind off things.
Maybe we should bring up the idea of some group training with the girls too?

>>40262246
>Call Paul, check how he's doing.

>>40262246
>Maybe you can... practice your ability, somehow?
Maybe try talking to what's his face again? Though it's still probably pretty cloudy since Kimiko being gone fried our confidence.

>>40262246
>Call Paul, check how he's doing.

>>40262246
Voting over, writing!

>>40262283
>>40262300
Well, might as well give your brother a call. ...Not that you care or anything. He's just leaving you unfed, that's the problem. What a dick move, making girls do his work. Right?

...No, that's kind of stupid. Whatever, you're still calling him.

You check your pockets for your phone, completely forgetting for a minute that it's right beside you; you've been using it constantly in your attempts to get to Kimiko. You look through your contacts, searching for his name. Ah, there we go. You were looking for "P", but you should have looked for "D". As in, "Dickweed". It's funny and all, but you should probably change it for convenience's sake. Maybe later.

Just as you were about to send the call, a sudden heaviness makes you drop the phone. The oppressiveness continues to increase, turning unbearable in just a second.

And yet even after that, it still continues to increase.

It feels like it's trying to pin- no, bury you in the ground. It's as if gravity decided to go out of control. Like an earthquake is occurring in the air. The sensation is sickening, like it's trying to crush your organs.

Through the pressure that keeps trying to overwhelm your senses, you hear a sharp noise coming from the kitchen. Someone must have dropped a plate; that must mean that you're not the only one going through this right now.

You keel over, falling onto the floor. It's as if the air has turned solid and refuses to go down your throat.

And it cuts off as abruptly as it starts, leaving you on the verge of fainting, a single gasp finally going through and rewarding your lungs with air. Naoko shambles into the living room, leaning against a wall for support. Her skin is just as thickly coated in sweat, and her breathing is just as ragged and greedy as yours.

(1/3)

>>40263900
Huh. I don't THINK Mayuri has enough raw power to do that to us, so he probably hasn't found out that we screwed him over yet.

>>40263900
The question she asks is not really something you expected to hear. "Clarissa, are you doing this?"

"I... how the fuck would I be doing something like that?"

"It felt... similar to what happened last night. I think it didn't happen earlier today only because of that Shinigami."

What? That's what it felt like to others? You thought you were going to die. You were causing something like this?

...Alright, even if you were the cause of this before, then why did it happen now? And what even is this?

"Look, I'll... I'll call Paul. You go check how Ren is doing." You pick up your phone. It still works even after you've dropped it.

"I think she's fine. Well, the same as us."

So not fine at all. Naoko leaves. You put the cell up to your ear, and it goes through four beeps before the caller picks up. His greeting is pretty damn casual for what just happened.

"Hello?"

"Are... are you alright, Paul? Where are you?"

After a confused pause, he responds. "...What are you asking? I'm on my way home. Are you hungry, is that why you're calling?"

"What? No, no, you idiot. Just... is everything fine?"

Paul is clearly growing irritated. "Could you cut it out with the cryptic questions already, Clarissa? You've been at it all morning. Just tell me what you need."

(2/3)

>>40263947
Further confirmation that he lacks second sight, which makes what he did to Clay Bone all the more peculiar.

>>40263947
But... he seems to be completely oblivious about what just went on. Was it just you three? Was it limited to the house?

"Well... where are you? Anyone around that you can see?"

Another pause; probably looking around. "Oh. Someone collapsed. Look, I'll call you back later, Clarissa, alright?"

"Wait! Tell me where you are, Paul!"

After one more pause, he gives you an address. Well, the names of the streets that he could identify and what stuck out to him as a landmark. He hasn't hung up yet. Sounds like he's talking to someone else while the line is still going, but you can't really make anything out.

"Everything's apparently fine now. They didn't need an ambulance." Well, maybe him finding a sick person isn't a coincidence; it might mean that it really wasn't just you to have felt whatever it is you felt. "...Hey, Clarissa. Did a circus come to Karakura lately?"

"What? What are you... well, no, I don't think so."

"Well, nevermind, then. I think something is going on, Clarissa. I can see more collapsed people down the street. I'll go help. I should keep the line free, just in case."

He hangs up then. That was... certainly weird.

...

>Go check up on him.
>Keep waiting for Kimiko.
>Other. (Write-in).

>>40263986
Consult with our friends on this matter. Also if we felt it, Kimiko probably did as well. Maybe she's collapsed somewhere outside.

>>40263986
Fffffff
>Gather our party and find Paul.

>>40263986
>Go check up on him.

>>40263986
>Keep waiting for Kimiko.

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>>40263986
Ending thread for tonight, it's getting really late for me! Next thread will start with the most voted option.

Next thread will be announced on twitter:
https://twitter.com/Mushroomgami

If you have any questions or feedback, please shoot them my way!

Thanks for reading!

>>40264312
Thanks a lot for running!
Did we do better this thread?

>>40264312
Thanks for running.

>>40264312
thanks for writing

>>40264332
The answer to that depends on whether or not you like the eventual results of those actions!