>>41972574
"Don't tell me you actually made this all up!" She shouts in disbelief. You fervently shake your head, which calms Ren down. "With everything that's been going on lately, I'm not going to mistrust you on this one. Why would I ever, actually? We're friends, so of course I'm going to believe you."

Naoko nods at that.

Ren continues with a slight smile. "It's... really weird, for sure. But still, I believe you. I can't really refuse to believe things anymore just because I haven't experienced them myself. I mean, the deal with Shinigami and Hollows was a thing even before I learned about all of it, and I think this might be a similar thing," She shrugs. "So, I believe you, but... you know, even so, I might not be able to help you. We can all probably piece together what that ghost-girl from your dreams wanted, but after that... I think it's all up to you, if there's still something that can be done about it. I mean, it's in your head, because of your powers, and I don't think we can go in there and do something about it. ...Sorry."

You shake your head again. Just knowing that they believe is more than enough. Just by letting you share this with them, they're helping you more than they probably realize. It's like a huge weight just dropped off your shoulders.

Ren sets her cup aside. "So, what was it that Naoko supposedly said? Is it something that's related to her? Is there any reason she told you that she isn't Aiko right after that, or was that just... coincidental timing?"

Naoko closes one of her eyes as she thinks about the question. "I'm not really sure what she means, either. The only thing I've said about Aiko would probably be during that conversation we've had a few days ago, Clarissa. After the meeting with Hiyori."

(1/2)

>>41972602
That's when you've talked about whether or not Aiko forgave you. Since you came to the conclusion that she did... well, what does it mean in this context?

"She's not Aiko, so she couldn't have been punishing you for anything," Naoko suggests. "You thought that she was something you made to punish yourself at first, right? Maybe she wanted to tell you that it's not the case."

Ren picks up on that. "So she just... wanted you to know that she's her own person, then. And the next day... after you understood that fact, she... wanted to meet you properly? Ah, it's still kind of vague. I mean, that could be what all she wanted, right? Just recognition as her own person. If we had that ghost-girl around to tell us if that guess is right or not, this would be way easier..."

And unfortunately, it seems that you might not receive any more hints from her. If there's anything more to it than just wanting to be acknowledged as a person that's separate from Kimiko and Aiko, then, in the worst case scenario, you might never learn it.

Ren notices your disappointment and speaks up again. "I don't... think you did the wrong thing when you stopped her. It couldn't really go on like that. If she's anything like Aiko and Kimiko, who loved you and would never want to hurt you, she probably hated it, too. At least, that's what I think..." She briefly purses her lips in a mix of frustration and tense contemplation before continuing. "But why couldn't she just tell you everything outright? I mean, the only thing I can think of that she could be worried about would be that goldie guy you've mentioned before. But then, didn't you say that he didn't know anything about her, and that he only cared about you being happy? So why'd he cause something like this instead of resolving it peacefully?"

(3/4)

>>41972623
You shrug as you listen to your red-haired friend. It's hard to say for sure, as always.

The spirit ribbons still seem to be the only tool you have in your possession that could potentially do something about this situation, after all. You just need to learn how to use it, and maybe that'll answer at least some of the questions.

...

>"Let's take a break and talk about the op to save Paul instead."
>"Naoko, let's take some time off from school. I need you to teach me that sensing technique, and we can't half-ass it anymore. It might be the key to everything."
>Tell them something. (Write-in).
>Other. (Write-in).

>>41972641
>"Naoko, let's take some time off from school. I need you to teach me that sensing technique, and we can't half-ass it anymore. It might be the key to everything."
Oh, I'm late!

>>41972641
Quickly check in with Ren to ask if her powers have any side effects that she felt embarrassed about. Like since we're friends, it shouldn't just be us going on about our problems.

Also tell them the other guy thinks that against Paul we might be able to go all out if the timing is right, so the plan may have become safer?

>>41972641
>"Naoko, let's take some time off from school. I need you to teach me that sensing technique, and we can't half-ass it anymore. It might be the key to everything."
I guess, not too much though. Nice of our friends to brainstorm some potential solutions though.

>>41972862
>>41972847
Ah, I'll support this too.

>>41972641
What day of the week is it?

>>41972623
So assuming their theories are mostly right if vague, she just wanted recognition then. Guess that works with asking if Clarissa knows her name, and her freak-out stuff.

>>41972914
It's wednesday!

>>41972966
Now you just make me wonder if that's in- or out-of-story!

>>41972990
I didn't mean to do that! It's both!

>>41973014
In that case I feel like we might as well try settling the score with Paul before our truancy triggers him.

>>41973092
Do you mean regular trigger or dangerous kind? Cause I dunno if simple truancy will hit him THAT hard, even if we might have said the same about grabbing some night-snacks before.

>>41972641
Voting over, writing!

>>41972795
>>41972847
>>41972862
"Ren, when you use your powers... do you feel like something is off about anything?" You and Paul go on unhinged rampages whenever you use your powers for real. Does Ren feel anything similar to that, or is she perfectly fine when she uses her abilities, just like Naoko?

"I feel a little tingly, I guess... or maybe that's only after I realize that I did something... it makes me feel a little happy, but I don't think that's what you're asking me." She shrugs. So there's probably nothing wrong, then.

After that, you tell them about there being the possibility that your and Paul's powers cancel each other out, which means that it'll be safe for you to use them as long as he's in a frenzy. But, of course, you'd need to shut yourself down immediately after he stops, leaving this only viable as a backup option in the case of everything going to shit.

They can't really tell you anything about that. Naoko doesn't seem thrilled by the idea, but Ren doesn't see anything wrong with having that as an option. They leave the choice to you, depending on how it goes, but hopefully, you won't need it at all.

Ren remembers something. "Oh yeah, speaking of the op... I actually got someone to set the place up with traps and stuff. Here, I drew a map, but we should go and take a look at the place, anyway, since it's now basically a minefield."

She takes out a notebook in which the general outline of the abandoned building you've selected as your arena of choice has been drawn across two pages. From what you remember, this is pretty accurate, and from what you can see, it's all very clear-cut and easy to understand. But... the amount of crosses, dots and circles highlighting seemingly unremarkable spots is actually frightening.

(1/2)

>>41973956
When you ask how exactly Ren managed to do this much in just a day, she says something about her cousin's friend being a huge fan of making things like these, and since Ren told her that these traps are meant for terrible and mean people that her cornered friend has no chance but to fight for the sake of her other friends - or something along those lines, it doesn't really matter - she agreed to set the place up for her and has been very zealous about her job.

"Isn't your cousin a fifth grader? Are you sure their traps are going to help at all?"

"I had to tell her to tone it down a little, actually. I was worried that Paul would get killed by some of the ideas she came up with. You really shouldn't underestimate that cunning friend of his."

Well... you suppose you shouldn't question or delve too deeply into why a fifth grader knows how to do something like this. It's done, so that's good. Just need to memorize the map and then inspect the place to get ready, and then lure Paul into one of them and hope that - even if they don't work as intended - they distract him long enough for you to take advantage.

But unfortunately, the whole op might have to wait. You tell Naoko about your other idea to skip school and focus on training. She nods without any hesitation, and rather than ask you 'why' such a thing is suddenly so urgent, she goes straight into asking you how you want to go about doing it.

You start suggesting ideas. "Well... we could both pretend to be sick, and it should be easy for you since you live alone, but I'll have mom around all the time, so I wouldn't be able to sneak out. I suppose I could go to school and then swap out with Chappy, but..."

(2/3)

>>41973999
...Actually, you'd rather not let that ghost rabbit loose at your school while it's wearing your skin. That sounds like a recipe for disaster. If you have to consider that, you think you'd rather just skip in the most straightforward and delinquent-like manner, by leaving home and then simply not going to school at all.

Ren doesn't like this plan. "I don't really feel good about skipping school like that. My mom would kill me if she found out. And if I pretend to be sick, I don't think I'd be able to sneak out, either. If you don't need me, guys, I think I'll pass."

...

>Just skip without explaining anything to anyone.
>Use your ability to convince the teachers that nothing is wrong with your absence. Ren might be able to come with you too.
>Pretend to be sick, swap places with Chappy and then sneak out of your house.
>Other. (Write-in).

>>41974032
>Pretend to be sick, swap places with Chappy and then sneak out of your house.
Sure!

>>41974063
It's a bit worrying to have Chappy anywhere near Paul but I guess he'll be at school all day anyway.

>>41974032
>Use your ability to convince the teachers that nothing is wrong with your absence. Ren might be able to come with you too.
I don't know, I'm not sure if Clarissa can even do much training with her various worries and concerns in the way.

>>41974032
>Pretend to be sick, swap places with Chappy and then sneak out of your house.

>>41974140
Do we really want to use our mind-powers for something this simple though?

>>41974309
I'm kind of worried about Paul killing our body, though it could be informative to see if he notices the difference. Also ask Chappy what would happen if someone who isn't like a shinigami ate a soul candy?

>>41974032
Voting over, writing!

>>41974406
Yeah, we should ask that. Chappy might know though I don't have too much hope.

>>41974063
>>41974232
>>41974406
You've decided that the two of you will pretend to be sick and then sneak out of your respective homes to meet up somewhere private and quiet. That very same building in which you'll be having the fight with Paul is probably the perfect place, and you'll check the traps in place while you're at it, too. Ren doesn't need the technique as much as you do, so she can take it easy. She says that she'll come by after school and bring you two something to eat.

It's all decided, then. For the next few days, you'll be doing nothing but working hard, or... well, actually, you need to determine when you'll be executing the op in light of all these new circumstances. It can't really be done today, as it's a bit late, but with a little wit and some luck, you could probably do it as early as tomorrow, if you wanted that.

As you test out the merits of your school-skipping plan - by using the Soul Candy to make sure that it works and explain to Ren exactly what a Chappy is - you also ask the ghost-bunny what would happen to a person with a non-Shinigami soul who decided to swallow the pill. Basically, the rabbit explains, their normal soul would pop out. It's a dangerous thing to do, mainly because they turn into helpless Hollow bait when in that state, and they should go back to normal as soon as they can. Pyon.

Well, everything works as always, without any new complications. There's no way this particular plan would somehow fail, you think.

...

>Focus fully on the training. Don't stop until you learn to use the technique.
>Take care of Paul's problem as soon as you can, namely, tomorrow after school.
>Other. (Write-in).

>>41974787
>Take care of Paul's problem as soon as you can, namely, tomorrow after school.
Let's see how we do with a deadline?

>>41974787
>Take care of Paul's problem as soon as you can, namely, tomorrow after school.
Feel like we should, though I dunno about splitting our attention. Oh well.

>>41974787
>Take care of Paul's problem as soon as you can, namely, tomorrow after school.

>>41974787
Voting over, writing!

>>41975166
Time to take care of Paul!

>>41975231
Montage first.

>>41975444
Training montage best montage.

>>41974881
>>41974892
>>41975034
"Before we start doing that, though, we should take care of Paul," You decide, after which your friends nod. "We'll all go to school tomorrow and I'll lure him to that place." You don't actually know exactly how you'll do it, but it shouldn't be a problem. You'll come up with something overnight. There's little reason to start fully dedicated training right now only for the effort to be interrupted while it'll be hardly midway into the process. You NEED your brother to come to that place tomorrow, so you can't afford to half-ass it by not being there to oversee the process.

Actually, you have to head to the place right now to check out the changes to the terrain. And after finishing the inspection, you'll ask Naoko to tutor you - you've got a few hours left in the day, might as well spend them on that.

And when the plan is set into motion, everything should hopefully be settled, and Paul and everyone around him should be safe. This particular method is probably your last hope at keeping this issue contained within your own circle, without other Shinigami, like Urahara, getting involved. Letting strangers with questionable motives in on this is an idea that can very easily backfire, and you'd rather not take that risk if you can help it.

After thoroughly sizing up the place, you memorize the placements and the giveaways of the traps, so hopefully, none of you will end up triggering them and getting caught by them yourselves. Honestly, it shouldn't be that hard. The small size of the place actually makes it easy to remember this stuff, and while they have been crammed all over the place, there's just enough space to move around. Now for your frenzying brother, who most likely won't be paying attention to the menial details of his surroundings, this is going to be a hell to run through.

(1/2)

>>41976194
You also work out the specifics of what you'll be doing before and after Paul goes nuts, where you'll be standing, where your friends will be hiding, and where you'll be leading your brother in the case that Naoko fails to catch him immediately. You hope that all this prep work is going to pay off.

You spend the rest of the evening with Naoko and Ren, training, at least until the latter gets fairly tired with her lack of progress and decides to leave. It's actually getting late, but Naoko's not complaining about it at all, probably content with quietly sticking around until you have had enough. You soon notice her fast-paced, tired blinking and feel a little sad for taking advantage of her like that, so you decide to call it a day after all.

Unfortunately, no progress has been made. You're still roughly where you were. The urge to continue practicing even in your bed nags at you all night, and combined with your previous overabundance of sleep, you don't really get any rest. On the bright side, you're not feeling tired at all, too. Either your body's getting used to being constantly starved out on sleep, or you've rested so much that you don't need any more for the remainder of the next day.

Regardless, you feel fully prepared for tomorrow.

You really hope that this works.

...

>>41976236
No progress huh, oh well.

>>41976236
The school day has ended. You successfully pulled it off - Paul will come to this abandoned building in about an hour. You've already swapped places with Chappy and told him to hide somewhere until someone gives it a call and took your position in this rickety warehouse.

"How'd you convince him to come here?" Ren asks.

"I improvised. Like, a lot. Told him that this place is gonna have a museum in it and that they're offering Karakura's schools free tours here. Something like that, I don't think he bought it, to be honest. But he said he'll check it out, so he bought it enough." You laugh. He'll probably be coming here to take a look at the place alone, for starters, and not drag out any school staff along with him on something that might end up being a completely pointless trip. He likely suspects that you're feeding him some weird lies, but he'll probably come by to figure out what you're trying to pull on him, anyway.

...Hopefully.

Ren shrugs and decides to quietly trust you on it. Naoko watches the entrance like a wary hawk, as if expecting your brother to come in at any moment now.

But there's still an hour left. Until then...

...

>Relax and get ready.
>Discuss something with Ren and Naoko. (Write-in).
>Other. (Write-in).

>>41976273
>Discuss something with Ren and Naoko. (Write-in).
Let's try to take our minds off things, ask them about mundane stuff, maybe if they want to go shopping some day!

>>41976273
>Relax and get ready.

>>41976273
Voting over, writing!

>>41976538
Shit, I missed the vote...oh well, sounds pretty relaxed which is fine for sure.

>>41976318
>>41976347
The door creaks and reluctantly opens. The noise of the rusty door handle and the squeaky hinges echoes throughout the empty and ruined interior. The slow and careful footsteps of a young man in glasses quickly join the sounds, and your brother steps inside.

"Well, this doesn't look like a museum of fine arts to me, Clarissa." He sarcastically mutters, looking around the barely intact, dim surroundings. He steps a little deeper inside, unsuspecting of what awaits him mere inches away from where he last set his foot. "Are you there?" He asks, unable to spot any presence of people. "Seriously, just what's the big idea?"

That's when you pop out through the ceiling connecting the semi-ruined second floor to the first one, one of your hands moving freely right through solid stone. "I'm a ghost, damn it!" You shout as you stand on nothing but thin air, giving him the few moments necessary to digest the things his eyes are witnessing. With a gesture, you summon your soul-slaying swords and fling the black and white weapons right at him, hilt-first.

They fly like arrows towards the young man, who by now, has ceased trying to comprehend the situation, and disregarded it as something that simply doesn't exist. With expert skill he plucks out one of the soaring swords, and his arm blurs about, neutering the threats in four metallic clangs.

You slide down the air, lowering yourself to just a few feet off the ground. Just as you've expected him to, your brother dashes directly at you, probably not even for a moment suspecting the ground to be riddled with triggers to harmful hazards. He pulls and snaps a tripwire in his sprint, and while it fails to knock him down - merely forces his footing to stumble for just a moment as he immediately corrects himself - it activates the real mechanism.

"NOW!" You exclaim.

(1/2)

>>41977065
One of the larger chunks of the fallen off ceiling, conveniently aligned to fit this very task, quickly keels over and falls down, trying to smash the young man under its weight. The dull, all-denying eyes dart to the side from which the threat has emerged, and Paul's body shifts away, moving out of its range in just a single step.

But you didn't yell in excited anticipation of the trap; it was a signal for someone else. Naoko flings herself at him from behind with ludicrous speed and pushes him down on the ground, using the momentary stumble in what should have been perfect footwork to pull on his sword-wielding arm and force the man to the ground. Your brother collides face-first with the concrete, his glasses shattering and dropping off his ears.

"REN!" You yell out again, and the redhead jumps out of cover, running towards your struggling brother as fast as she can, sliding down on her knees as she gets there for an immediate stop. She plants both palms onto his head, probably to make it easier on Naoko to keep him down alongside using her power.

"Just a second!" Ren shouts and closes her eyes in concentration.

It feels like everything should be over now, assuming that Ren is actually capable of pulling out Paul's powers. After that, if this works, Ren promised to treat everyone to something nice to celebrate.

(2/3)

>>41977088
So it's not gonna work huh.

>>41977088
...But still, it might not hurt to prepare for the worst. Right now, Paul is in a completely hopeless situation for human beings, but, of course, he's not just a normal human. You don't know if you can micromanage your arsenal well enough to cover all bases, so you'd like to at least reinforce one of your positions as firmly as possible.

...

>Arrange a barrage of swords right above them, all aimed at Paul, so that if he escapes, immediately reassuming capture will be easier on Naoko.
>Arrange a hail of swords by your sides for self-defense, as you will be in the most danger if Paul somehow gets out of his predicament.
>Other. (Write-in).

>>41977109
>Arrange a barrage of swords right above them, all aimed at Paul, so that if he escapes, immediately reassuming capture will be easier on Naoko.

>>41977109
>Arrange a barrage of swords right above them, all aimed at Paul, so that if he escapes, immediately reassuming capture will be easier on Naoko.

>>41977109
>Arrange a barrage of swords right above them, all aimed at Paul, so that if he escapes, immediately reassuming capture will be easier on Naoko.
I'm sure Clarissa can manage even if he tries to get at him.

>>41977305
Get at her, even!

>>41977109
Voting over, writing!

>>41977214
>>41977270
>>41977305
With a gesture, the air above the trio shimmers and ripples as though made out of water, the hilts of weapons emerging from the torn space. With this, even if Paul were to somehow get out of Naoko's grasp, his freedom shouldn't persist for long.

Your worries quickly prove to not have been over nothing - the struggling is quickly turning disadvantageous on the pinners, who seem to be forced into putting more and more strength towards keeping Paul on the ground with every passing moment. Eventually, they can't even keep themselves on the ground, let alone your brother. They're lifted off the floor and flung aside, not so much by Paul's physical efforts, but by the efforts of his refusal to let his worldview be adjusted against his own will.

But he shouldn't be able to use those powers on things that make sense to be there, so how in the hell did he manage to do that? Could it be that because they were hiding, he doesn't take them for logical beings? That's ridiculous. And it doesn't matter, too. Even despite all of that, it seems that he doesn't reject them forcefully enough to completely erase them, and even despite all this resistance, Naoko still managed to hold him down, even if for a little while. You need to keep this up. Even if Ren's ability didn't work, you still need to keep him still so that he's unable to do any damage.

"I didn't do it!" Ren exclaims, but you've already realized that. "But it's not that I couldn't pull it off, I just couldn't use it in time at all!"

So does that mean that she panicked and botched her ability completely? Well, then there's still a chance of it actually working!

(1/2)

>>41978480
As Naoko hastily forces herself back up to her feet, you let loose the barrage of swords. Your brother doesn't have eyes on his back, and since the projectiles pummeled right from behind, he couldn't avoid them. It works as well as it could - the impacts turn his posture into a clumsy mess, and the brief seconds it's taking him to recover just might prove to be enough of a delay.

Naoko dashes after him, and... shoves him. Paul's foot trips over another wire. Iron buckets rain down from above, landing neatly over his head, just as intended. He makes to remove the obstruction to his eyesight, but the quiet girl roars and pushes him down once more. The bucket's strap ends up under the young man's chin and secures itself, and Naoko viciously rains blows down on it, causing deafening noise as though her fists are made of iron. To the one underneath, it must be torturous.

His limbs are immobilized, and for at least several more seconds, he should be pacified. Ren darts back to his side and grabs his hand, once again shutting her eyes in anxious concentration.

When her shoulders jolt, Paul ceases to resist the grasp. When the girl on top of him realizes that there's a lack of struggle, she stops pounding the bucket.

That whole thing, as short-lived as it may have been, really made your heart jump. What would you even do if Naoko failed to capture him again? Even if you prepared for it, would you really be able to defend yourself with just the hilts of swords? At that point, it'd be like just providing him with free weapons to cut you into pieces with.

You exhale in relief. As the tension gradually fades from the air, you look at Ren. "Did... did you do it?"

(2/3)

>>41978505
There's no real reason to doubt that she did. There's probably no way that your brother ceased his rampage just out of convenient timing. Even though it's obvious, it's a little strange that she doesn't confirm it.

"It... feels strange," Ren quietly mutters, though it's easy to hear in this sudden silence. As she sits, she moves her knees closer to herself, curling up into a ball. The girl clutches her head, first with only one hand and in something resembling confusion, then with both hands, in unsettled terror. "I don't like this..."

She groans and starts trembling, her eyes widening and aimlessly running across the empty ruins. They settle on you. As she breathes in and out in an erratic manner, Ren tries to speak up. Her voice is weak, as though she can't even dedicate the strength to make it any louder. "Can I switch back? Please?"

Naoko's been looking at her for as long as you were, and, after probably coming to some sort of conclusion, takes the bucket off your unconscious brother's head and shoots you a meaningful glance. "Clarissa!"

...

>See if you can figure something out first. "What's wrong, Ren? What do you feel?"
>Use mind control on Paul to convince him of the existence of unexplainable phenomena and then let Ren swap out with him.
>Let Ren swap out immediately.
>Other. (Write-in).

>>41978553
Shit, this is tough. MC would be so convenient a solution, but in addition to the moral issue I'm more importantly kinda scared it'll fuck him up by clashing with his powers somehow. But it might be the only chance we get if Clarissa can only do it when his powers are gone...

>>41978553
Not sure what to choose, I mean first of all, it's not even "unexplainable phenomena" since we've met two scientists who seem to specialize in the spectral field, like it's not completely random and arbitrary, there is a logic behind it, though we don't know what that logic is yet.
Maybe if we cut loose we'll have enough raw power to impose our will on Paul even with his power being active? Knew this wouldn't work, but maybe we at least learned something from it?

>>41978553
>Let Ren swap out immediately.

>>41978643
Yeah, we should have learned quite a bit - I bet Ren can tell us more after we're done here too. Still, if it had that bad an effect on her, it might not be Paul's fault after all (unless that's just what happens when you take someone else's powers in general).

>>41978643
Unexplainable phenomena is from Paul's point of view. It stops being that once he is able to explain it, or has it explained.

It's more of an attempt to force him to stop being so skeptical about things, whether or not it works.

>>41978703
So I guess unless we can dig up a science journal to explain it we might be out of luck huh. Well, we'll see.

>>41978553
>Use mind control on Paul to convince him of the existence of unexplainable phenomena and then let Ren swap out with him.
Fuck it, I'll try. Feel like shit for it, but frankly Paul's caused so much trouble it mitigates a lot of my apprehension.

>>41978719
I think you might be misunderstanding something!

The intention of the choice is to force him to stop denying phenomena that can't be explained currently or ever. It's like hearing a noise that you can't figure out the origin of, but you still realize that it 'exists' even though you don't know what caused it, instead of denying its existence completely.

>>41978822
Yeah, I was talking if we didn't try to affect him here and went for a more mundane approach.

>>41978822
I'm just kind of worried that with his powerset, thinking anything is possible could be even more dangerous than only a narrow spectrum of things being considered possible.

>>41978858
Definitely might be, BUT if he is able to believe in the supernatural we can also convince him that things are going on, and straight up inform him about his powers too. I'd say that would definitely be less dangerous overall, if it works.

>>41978553
>Let Ren swap out immediately.
Ugh I really hate that YET AGAIN we spent a whole thread accomplishing absolutely nothing, but I'd rather not risk losing our friend to whatever this is. Just... god fucking damnit what another waste of time.

>>41978913
Hey, we still got more info anon. Just look on the bright side!

>>41978913
Like it's not even about Paul at this point, for all I know, having Paul's power is destroying Ren's soul from the inside out, and I feel like it's too risky for her to wait, especially since Naoko also seems to think Ren is in peril.

>>41978926
Did we? I bet you that Ren isn't going to give any information about what having Paul's trance ability was like beyond it being cold and scary.

>>41978945
Like I'd like to use mind control, but feel like it'd take too long without any good payoff. It's like I know that being this cautious means nothing will change, but I really don't feel any reason to think that there's really much of a chance to being reckless actually working out, which is really this whole quest to a T.

>>41979039
Well, I think it'd probably have an effect. A positive one, well not so sure there.

>>41979060
I feel like at absolute best we'd be trading a positive effect for Paul with a negative one for Ren, and that just doesn't lke a good trade. If our choices are still limited to 'return to status quo' or 'make everything worse again' then I don't know what we're supposed to do.

>>41979119
Well it IS just a what-if, maybe it works perfectly.
That said I'm not keen on the risk either.

>>41979119
Like I kind of hoped that things might have been different after last thread, but nothing works still.

>>41979150
When have we been allowed to have nice things without something bad showing up to negate it?

>>41979168
Beating up Ren's hollow and dealing with Naoko went pretty well! And technically losing Kimiko wasn't directly related to dealing with the Menos, so I believe that was sort of a success too.

File: world's angstiest mushroom.png (319 KB, 817x817)

319 KB PNG

>>41978553
Well, I'd like to end the thread for tonight, it's getting really late! Was hoping to get more votes in, but it seems that wednesday is just an incompatible day for a lot of players!

Next thread will begin with the most voted option! Next thread's scheduled for friday, but watch out for the unexpected on twitter:
https://twitter.com/Mushroomgami

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

Thanks for reading!

>>41979226
You realize that this is more or less exactly what people were unhappy about last thread right?

>>41979226
I dunno about that Mushroom, last Wednesday had a lot of players didn't it? More than the other days that week. Might just be they couldn't show today.
Thanks for running anyhow!

>>41979226
Thanks for writing.

>>41979239
To be fair, I wasn't even expecting the plan to work at all. It'd be kinda weird if we suddenly succeeded outta nowhere especially if it'd ruin story consistency with changed details, I'm sure Mushroom took it more to heart for future problems

>>41979288
Well yeah but we also got nowhere with our other problems either, and even worse, now the whole booby-trapped warehouse is completely wasted. AND Paul's gotten even more dangerous becuase now he's gonna start targetting Ren and Naoko, so we're not just treading water, we're fucking sinking.

>>41979321
Well at least we didn't waste our time setting up the traps, but rather nameless flunkies.

>>41979356
Still though, the fact that we all knew Ren's plan was gonna backfire and yet did it anyway just so we could say we're doing SOMETHING kind of says a lot about the mood of this quest. Maybe we should be more cavalier with the safety of our friends, since it seems like that's the only way we're gonna get anywhere.

>>41979226
Is it us? Is three people just too little to figure things out? What were we supposed to do here?

>>41979562
Please don't worry about something like that. Just keep making the choices you want to make!

>>41979629
It's kind of hard not to worry, when the choices we make seem so clearly to be the wrong ones.

>>41979629
Somehow I doubt that'll comfort anon, but I'll keep it in mind at least!

>>41979651
Some options will be risky, some will have consequences that might be seen as unfortunate (even despite the received benefits, if any), but there are options that most people would consider good as well, please don't doubt that and don't lose hope of things working out somehow!

>>41979719
That's not that reassuring since I wasn't saying the game is rigged or anything like that, I was saying that we just seem to keep choosing the worse options out of what seems to be a combination of lacking focus and committment as well as cowardice.

Like I'm not doubting there aren't good options, I'm just saying that it gets demoralizing when we keep not choosing them.