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>>4920269
"Ruka! Ruka, wake up!"

You hear a voice calling you. It is hard to leave; you think you should go to that voice.

But why?

In fact, why should you leave at all? Why not stay here forever? Here in this blessed land, where the storms of life can never destroy joy nor the shrill winds of toil stymie happiness. Existence here is untouched by the troubles and concerns of the Waking World. All is blessed by the sweet presence of golden light and goodness.

"Ruka, what is wrong? Please answer me!" The voice sounds frantic, and it sounds familiar...

Your thoughts are slow, but you don't feel a particular need for haste to try and remember. Finally, a face seems to float up from your memories...

... Who is this man?

That's when your memories get a helpful nudge from something. You know that it didn't come from within you, but rather from without. It is a gentle and reproachful push, whoever or whatever it was only wanted to help you. The forgetfulness that plagued is gone as your brain comes up to speed and remembers. You realize that for one brief moment, you couldn't recognize the voice and face of your father.

Also, what the hell are you thinking? Why would you want to stay here forever when there was family and friends you need to get back to?

You're not sure what was worse, the Nightmares chasing after you or this place that made you forget everyone you loved.

The beautiful place winks out of existence and you are once again awake. You're back to the Waking World.

Your dad is shaking you and stops when he sees your eyes flutter open.

"Did you have a bad dream? You were thrashing and groaning quite a bit."

You know you must look terrible in the eyes of your father. You feel that your body is drenched in sweat, skin clammy and cold, and hair is sticking to your cheeks and forehead.

"I.... I had a bad dream? I think?" You cannot help but make what should have been a statement into a question to yourself. You cannot remember at all what the beautiful place looked like, and the Nightmare feels like a faded photograph. Fraying already at the edges and dissipating from your memories.

Your dad fusses over you, he is reluctant to leave your side even. You manage to convince him that you're fine after a few minutes, and he reluctantly leaves you be. He is going to go out to buy the Sunday newspaper from the corner store, it is going to be a brief outing and he promises to be back as soon as possible.

You wave him goodbye as he goes out the door.

He won't be back for at least 30 minutes.

What will you do?

>Start making breakfast. You could at least do that for your dad.
>Open up your notebook and see if there is anything changed in it. It is why you put it under the pillow.
>Take a shower and get changed. You feel super dirty and gross in your pyjamas
>Call a friend to talk about your dream. You are kind of freaked out.
>write in

>>4920270
>>Open up your notebook and see if there is anything changed in it. It is why you put it under the pillow.
>>Take a shower and get changed. You feel super dirty and gross in your pyjamas
>Start making breakfast. You could at least do that for your dad.
in that order

>>4920311
>>4920270
+1

I have created a Twitter for the quest
https://twitter.com/CrescentDreamA1

Next time I will advertise the time more specifically rather than being all vague about 'Friday will post' and such.

>>4920311
This seems like a good plan. All the prudent options are here, except for talking about our feelings over the phone. Such interactions should be done face to face with someone we trust implicitly.

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You have the time now to open up the notebook while your dad is away. It is perfect, you're all alone. You grab it from under your pillow, it is warm to touch and seems the same from the outside. However, what's outside is not what you are seeking, not what you are hoping that's changed. You wonder has anything changed within the notebook itself.

There is only one way to find out, and you feel quite anxious about opening it up to look. The Dream had transformed into something that was beyond your expectations. A Nightmare that still rattles your nerves and you are afraid that it has somehow imprinted itself within the notebook. It is a dire suspicion that makes you hesitate to flip the pages to see.

Your damnable curiosity though, drives you on mercilessly. You take a deep breath to harden your nerves.

You flip the notebook open to the very first page. It doesn't seem like anything has changed there, still has your name. You open random pages and don't see anything different about it either. So now, you turn to the page where you had ended writing. What greets you is horrifying, your stomach clenches and you drop the notebook from your nerveless fingers in shock.

It is a drawing of the Eye from your Nightmare. The hand drawn Eye is on a blackened page, seeing it was a shock.

For a few seconds, you can't bring yourself to pick up the notebook to study it closer.

You take deep breaths to calm your nerves. Hands shaking, you reach to the take back the notebook into your hands.

You look carefully at the baleful gaze of the Eye on the page. You are now shaking uncontrollably; the Eye is floating around the blackened page. It is actually moving. This shouldn't be happening. It continues to glare at you from the page, never deviating or lessening its malicious gaze upon you despite the slow circuit of its journey in the page itself.

You cannot bear it any longer. You rip the page with the Eye out of your journal and begin tearing it into pieces. Turns out, that was a bad idea.

It reminds of a time when you ate pudding with your fingers because you didn't have a spoon. It is a slimy and sticky sensation as your fingers dig into the Eye as you rip the page apart. It doesn't sound like paper tearing either, there is a tinny whinnying noise as you desperately rip into it.

EEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEE

You realize the Eye is screaming and you are killing it by tearing it to pieces.

Strange green and red liquids drain from the page and seeps onto your hands. It is staining your hands with its gooey viscera. A drop falls to the floor of your bedroom, and then more drips land on the floor. It remains green and red on the floor.

plop plop plop plop

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>>4920526
You give a short scream as you toss the sodden mess into the garbage can and rush to the bathroom to wash your hands vigorously. The reddish greenish blood flows down the drain of the bathroom sink in a slow spiral.

Standing in the bathroom alone, you're afraid of going back to your room.

Then you suddenly remember about the Mask from your Nightmare. It too must be floating around in your notebook, doing who knows what.

It takes you an eternity it seems to summon your courage to get back into your room; you fumble through your school bag to grab your newly crafted knife.

Then you start checking your notebook carefully, hunting for that Mask you know is in there somewhere. You finally find something strange. There are gaps in the text on page 44, as though you stopped writing mid stroke, skipped a bit ahead and then continued on as though there was nothing wrong with skipping words. The same with some of your drawing, you had white gaps in them.

You flip through the pages quickly. There is a trail of destruction through page 44 to 49, like a worm eating its way through an apple. Whole pieces of text are in disarray as a squiggly path is cutting through.

It is on page 50, where you find the Mask. It takes a large bite of a drawing of the four cups of wine you had made, swallows and leaves pristine white paper behind. It is eating your writing and pictures. Erasing forever the hard work you had put into meticulously recording your Memory.

The Mask pauses in its destruction, and turns to face you. The rigid smile it shows you pisses you off and horrifies you to no end. The Mask turns away and speeds up the feasting noticeably. It bites and bites, swallows and swallows and moves on and on.

You don't hesitate, you stab it with your knife. It is like stabbing downwards onto a plate complete with the sound of a large crack, the force shatters the Mask, putting an end to its rampage through your notebook. Then carefully as possible, you tip the book over the garbage can, and you see slivers of the Mask fall. The pieces land on top of the sodden green red mess of what was once the Eye.

There is a smell of iron and rotting plants in the air.

You had thought you were going to take a shower and then start making breakfast for your dad after you had checked out your notebook. Like it was going to be all good and normal.

Instead, you are now curled up in your bed and under the blankets, shivering with terror.

This was not how you envisioned things would go this morning.

You gained 'A Small Nightmare: It saw you...'

What do you do?

>Fuck doing anything, I am going to stay under the blankets until I feel better
>I need to wash more thoroughly; I got monster blood on me and on the floor. Roll 3d6 dc 10
>The dead bodies, I gotta throw out the dead bodies in the trashcan. Roll 3d6 dc 12
>write in

Rolled 3, 2, 5 = 10 (3d6)

>>4920528

>The dead bodies, I gotta throw out the dead bodies in the trashcan. Roll 3d6 dc 12
>I need to wash more thoroughly; I got monster blood on me and on the floor. Roll 3d6 dc 10

It's better to be clean than comfortable. But we also gotta figure out who to talk to about this. There's some spooky shit going on, and we don't know a lot of people who are well-versed in spookiness.

Rolled 2, 5, 1 = 8 (3d6)

>>4920528
>he dead bodies, I gotta throw out the dead bodies in the trashcan. Roll 3d6 dc 12
>I need to wash more thoroughly; I got monster blood on me and on the floor. Roll 3d6 dc 10

Rolled 1, 4, 4 = 9 (3d6)

>>4920528
>The dead bodies, I gotta throw out the dead bodies in the trashcan. Roll 3d6 dc 12
>I need to wash more thoroughly; I got monster blood on me and on the floor. Roll 3d6 dc 10

It seems that today is not garbage day.

But at least we will be clean and scared instead of stinky and scared.

>>4920544
>>4920740
>>4920804
Good morning, I don't know where everyone is posting from but right now it is 8:10 am Atlantic time, just to give people an idea when I get up and such.

Going to be writing the next post

>>4920932
Well, I for example live 5 hours in the future.

You know that staying in bed and just trying to ignore what had happened wasn't the best thing to do.

But damn, is it super tempting.

The bed is safety. The blanket is comfort. The pillow is a perfect companion for loafing about.

But no, you have to get out from under here. Back under the light of the dreaded daystar and off to do what needs to be done.

You need to wash, your dad should be back in a few minutes. He's unlikely to enter your bedroom, so he isn't going to realize there was something weird going on yet.

Also... You honestly don't want to go anywhere near the garbage can right now. You briefly thought about throwing out the corpses of the Nightmare but decide that can be done later. You wipe the floor with paper towel and water, the green red ichors is easy to clean up. You toss the paper into the garbage from as far as possible. And for good measure toss a small pinch of salt to purify the room.

You've seen your grandparents do it all the time. Salt to cleanse whatever is impure. And the things in the garbage can are definitely impure.

As you take your shower, you hear your dad come back and start making breakfast.

Today was going to be a day of shopping with sukiyaki for dinner. Though shopping is really more like window shopping. You don't have a lot of money on you to spend and neither does your dad.

But still, it's nice to walk around and see the city a bit. You usually hang around specific areas of the shopping district like Crown Games.

Sunday morning is full of shoppers in the street. Homemakers going to get groceries, families out for a walk, young teens out to meet friends and have fun. After the events of last night, you need this. This sense of benign normality, that everything is all right in the world and isn't going to go sideways into danger.

Your father wants to take a look at some electronics, you're happy to tag along since you haven't figured out where you would like to go and see. You considered clothing, cute accessories, the bookstore and even going to see Master Leblanc at Cafe Lupin but none really appeal to you.

Your decision is made the moment when you run into Naru in the street though. You've been meaning to get back to Osaka's jewelry store to check it out again.

"Ruka! You look good. You're coming back to school tomorrow right?" Your classmate cheerily calls out to you.

"Yeah, and I'll be taking off this bandage on my face too." You point to your left cheek. The bruises on your body have faded to a yellowish color. The doctor was wrong, you didn't need 4 weeks to recover at all, just about a week. It hurt only for about a day too.

You introduce your classmate Naru to your dad.

"I heard my daughter helped you out during those terrible moments last week. I hope everything is okay with you too." Your dad says to Naru.

>>4921012
"Things are better, we've opened up the store today to let regulars in. You can come in with me! My mom wants to meet you too."

When you arrive at the jewelry store, the place looks almost the same. The broken glass has been cleaned up and some of the display cases have been moved around. It is hard to imagine that on Monday you had to stab a monster here. You wish you had brought your new knife, you feel vulnerable without a weapon. There are very few customers in the store; they all seem to know Mrs. Osaka and Naru very well. The public reopening is probably later on.

"Oh Naru, this is your friend?" It's Mrs. Osaka calling out, you nearly have a heart attack as you remember how the monster was disguised as her before dropping the illusion. You try to remind yourself that it is the actual Mrs. Osaka and not a monster.

Introductions are made, and you can see that Naru's mom is very happy to meet you. She must have heard the details from Naru about what you did.

"It's a small thing, but we wanted to give you this as a gift." Naru hands you a small stone.

It is a lapis lazuli, a mostly rough uncut stone, with only one side polished to reveal its deep blueness. The color of the stone is mesmerizing in its utter perfection. You didn't know that a stone could be so perfectly blue.

"It's from Afghanistan, where the best quality lapis lazuli is mined from. Other mines in say Chile have imperfections like lots of pyrite and calcite to diminish the blue color. But I do believe this small piece is perfect." Mrs. Osaka explains as you turn the stone in your hand.

"This must be so expensive though!" You can't help but exclaim. You try to hand it back.

"Oh no, please take it. It's not the best, since you see it's mostly unworked except for that small polished side. If you ever get it cut and polished though, it will be a thing of beauty." Mrs. Osaka insists you keep it as you try to give it back to her.

"It's a beautiful stone. Take it Ruka, after all the Osaka's really want you to have it." Your father encourages you to accept.

You do so reluctantly. The stone is beautiful; you can't help but love it.

Azulis.

Wait... That sounds familiar? You know the word from somewhere... Wait, a name?

It is on the dark margins of your memory but you cannot remember. It might come to you one day but you aren't interested in thinking about it today, you put the stone in your pocket. There's still so much more to do today. You bid good bye to Naru and Mrs. Osaka.

The day continues in a sedate pace, you go with your father to a haberdashery festooned with wild hat creations, a small shop dedicated to just ink pens, a cigar store where you hear more about tobacco than you ever wanted, a small perfume and incense store that smelt wonderful and more.

Soon it is time for sukiyaki. Meat, and meat, then more meat.

>>4921013
The all you can eat sukiyaki restaurant just keeps on bringing in the plates of meat. Your dad and you eat as much as you can. You are stuffed.

"Today's been a great day. I can't believe we have to go back to the regular old routine tomorrow," your dad says. He sounds a little sad that vacation time is pretty much over. Life that has been put on hold is going to start moving again.

"Yeah, it's been so long since we just had time to hang out like this..." You say.

"Ruka, remember, I want you to stay safe. It's okay to run and get help or stay out of the way. There are others who can handle things."

You remember the monster choking the life out of Naru. What would have happened if you didn't intervene? You don't say a thing, your dad is just worried but you disagree. Sometimes, you have to do something and you made the right choice back then.

When you get back to your apartment, you gingerly enter your room. The air still smells of iron and rotting plants, the garbage can still has the dead corpses of the Nightmares. You peek and see that that the paper towel you threw over them still hides them.

What do you want to do?

>Sneak out and throw them into the outside garbage dumpster? roll 3d6+2 DC 12
>Take them out of the garbage and poke around at them? Roll 3d6-2, DC 15
>Keep them preserved by freezing them in the kitchen freezer? You can show it to someone... roll 3d6-2, dc 13
>Try to ask for help, see if the Shadow Players are around?
>write in

>>4921015
>Try to ask for help, see if the Shadow Players are around?
We have nightmare monsters haunting us, I'm willing to believe anything.

>>4921015
>Try to ask for help, see if the Shadow Players are around?

Our heroine has her eyes opened, and a terrible and frightening wisdom has lodged itself in her psyche! If only there were some kind of mysterious mentor figure to come along and give cryptic advice about how to deal with these things!

>>4921026
+1
it would be really handy, woudn't it?

>>4920932 >>4920983
Same for me, 8:10 for Crescent was 13:11 for me.
>>4921015
>Try to ask for help, see if the Shadow Players are around?

>>4921024
>>4921026
>>4921032
>>4921109
well it seems we're going to try and summon the Shadow Players

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You saw the Shadow Players yesterday at the aquarium. You were wide-awake and these Nightmares appeared also in the Waking World. So clearly, you could communicate with those shadow girls even if you aren't asleep.

So why not see if they're around?

"Um... Hey, P-ko? S-ko? You around? I need answers, you must have some..." You tentatively call out.

Dead silence greets you. After a minute of it, you give up hope on hearing an answer back. You sigh in disappointment. That was a waste of effort. You feel dumb for even trying.

You consider what to do with the dead Nightmares, when out of the corner of your eye you see something under your bed. You tense and watch carefully to see what emerges from under there. Childhood jokes about monsters under the bed are no longer an innocent joke. Not when there are actual monsters running around.

The blue penguin guide from your Dream waddles out from the dark depths of your bed and approaches you.

!?

Why is the penguin here!?

You feel a surge of annoyance, was the universe mocking you? It feels like it is mocking you, and you don't like it one bit.

Wait... Can the blue penguin talk?

"Kwaaa." The penguin croaks.

No, no it can't. Okay, this was most unhelpful. You can't believe it, but you really wish the Shadow Players would bother you at this moment. Some help and info would be so nice right now.

You watch the blue penguin use its flipper to point at your garbage can. You didn't expect that at all. Perhaps the little guy can help you out. You bring the garbage can out and push it towards the blue penguin.

He stares into the garbage can and sees the remains of the Nightmare you had killed. There is thoughtfulness in his eyes that you did not think was possible. As though he truly understood what he was seeing and could tell you more. He turns to look you in the eye, and you await eagerly for an answer.

The penguin doesn't say a word at all. Instead, he swiftly tips the content of the garbage can into his open beak. The green red remains of the Eye and the slivers of the Mask plunge into the open maw and he swallows it all in one great big gulp. Upon devouring them, he rubs his stomach with his flipper in satisfaction. As though it was a nice meal and he was thankful to have it.

Did... Did... Did this stupid blue penguin just eat the remains of the Nightmare you had killed!?

What? Was that even a good idea? Or safe at all?!

You now know the horror of pet owners everywhere who watched their stupid dog or cat gremlin eat something they really really shouldn't have.

"Spit that out, right now!"

>>4921277
You immediately grab the penguin and start slapping his back to force him to puke up the remains. Despite the squawking, nothing is coming out. This damn penguin must have a stomach of iron or had rats and raccoons as ancestors.

"Ruka is something wrong?" You drop the penguin like a hot potato and try to answer your dad to keep him from coming in. You had made too much noise, and the squawking definitely didn't help. It's too late, he just opened the bedroom door and looked in.

Crap... he was going to see the blue penguin. Actually, no... his attention is focused on you and not on the penguin sprawled on the bedroom floor in full view.

"Ah... nothing dad, everything's fine." You barely manage to say.

"Really? I thought I heard you talking to someone?" Your dad looks around your bedroom. His gaze passes the blue penguin several times but there's no evidence that he can see the bird at all.

Could it be that... you're the only one who can see the blue penguin?

"In any case, you should get ready for bed. Got to get up early for school, can't sleep in no more."

"Right dad, I'll finish up on homework and do some exercises first. Then I'll go to bed!" You answer. Your nervous smile causes a hint of suspicion in your dad's eyes but he closes your bedroom door.

You stare at the penguin, the penguin stares back at you.

"You have got to warn me if you're going to pull something crazy like that again. Okay!?"

The blue penguin looks confused but nods. He casually waves his flipper to lazily acknowledge your demand.

You decide to ignore the bird for now and just finish up some work and do exercises before bed. You sit at your desk to review your notebook for further damage. It seems only page 44 to 50 are damaged, nothing else is messed up. You take a pen and start putting back the details that had been lost, you remember most of what you had noted but not all of it. When you see the Memory again, you'll have to pay close attention to it once more.

The penguin is still in your room when you get up to do exercises. Strange, why isn't it leaving?

"Right, you can go home now..." You tell him.

The blue penguin shakes it head no, and instead picks up a five pound weight to start exercising too.

"What do you mean by no?" You ask, you grab the ten pound weights to do some basic lifting.

The penguin naturally doesn't answer.

"... I guess you're going to hang around me then?" You ask to confirm your suspicion.

He nods enthusiastically as he does his work out.

Well, you have a pet now.... A blue penguin that no one but you can see. You better give it a name, you can't always call it penguin

What will you name the penguin?

>Write in

>>4921280
I say we name it Ao.

>>4921280
Azul
Azureus
Flippers
Pengy-san

>>4921301
>>4921382
Seems we only got 2 people suggesting names. I'll leave this up for a little while longer, then roll for names if there is no con consensus

>>4921280
Azul
that seems like a good name

>>4921536
Okay, Azul it is!

Azul.

He is after all a blue penguin. It sounds like a great name for him. Now that you think about it, your name too has a Japanese kanji character meaning Lapis Lazuli. Perhaps the color blue and that jewel is going to be a continuing theme for you.

You can't tell if Azul likes his name or not. But it doesn't matter, if he's sticking around and can't talk, then you get to decide on his name.

You had wanted a pet, and now you got a super weird one. You will see the Shadow Players again some other night. You can ask questions then. They had better answer. You are sick and tired of running around blind.

You finish your exercises for the night and get ready to bed. School bag packed with all the essentials; textbook, pencils and pens, bump key, tactical mirror pencil case, hand crafted knife, tiny lapis lazuli stone... Wow, you are carrying some weird things now, if teachers saw some of things you brought to school... You're lucky that Ms. Sakurada is forgiving. You've always been a pretty weird kid but now you feel it is going overdrive.

You pick up Azul and give him a nice comfy spot right next to your pillow. Your new penguin buddy can sleep right by your side.

There are no Dreams that night, nor a repeat of the Memory. It is a fitful and restful sleep, and soon you are awake at around 630 am. Just early enough to start cooking breakfast and prep a nice boxed lunch for your dad who is still asleep.

You can't believe you have to go to school today. You mourn the loss of your recent relaxing week. Well except the part where the Nightmares began haunting you, you toss those particular memories into the trash where they belong... You still can't believe Azul ate their corpses.

You look at your penguin pet. Azul seems okay, so maybe you don't have to worry?

In any case, your father wakes up and can sit down to a nice breakfast. You hope you can wake up early enough to make breakfast in the future.

Your dad reads some recent headlines from the newspaper.

"Parisian fashion invasion!"
"Sailor Moon and Sailor V related?"
"Nikkei crash might end soon?"

Ah, you remember your interview with the reporter Kakutani. You wonder what she had written but your father barely lingers on the Sailor Moon article. He's in the sports section and is now very silent. He's probably reading up on the latest news on high school baseball.

As you get ready for school, you decide now was a good time to remove the bandage on your left cheek. After all, the bruises over your ribs have disappeared completely. But when you peel the bandage off, you see there is a light scar on your cheek. You frown, you don't like that. You look like a delinquent of some sort.

>>4921877
You hate the fact that make up is banned from your school. Maybe you could ask for an exemption, no girl wants to run away with a scar on her face. Rules governing appearance at your school is too strict. No earrings, no make up, no deodorant, and on and on the rules go.

There is a knock on your door. It is surprising; you wonder who it could possibly be. When you open the door, the sight is heartening.

Aya and Tomio are waiting for you right outside your apartment door.

"Good morning! We missed you so much Ruka-chan." Aya greets you with such happiness. You hadn't talked to your sempai all week until this morning.

"Not the same without you in class." Tomio mentions as he stops leaning on the railing and straightens up.

Oh wow, it is so rare. You are going to walk to school with your friends. You missed them, even though it's been a few days. They look happy and healthy, the events of last week seems so far away.

Azul is standing right beside you the entire time. Yet not a single person seems to see him. Otherwise, you'd be hearing comments how odd such a large blue penguin is hanging around by your side. Tomio and Aya seem oblivious of Azul's existence. They fill you in on the recent news at school.

Seems there's a bit of a fortune telling craze right now. The old man in the Juuban Shopping district seems to be quite a hit with your classmates due to the accuracy of his predictions. Maybe you should pay a visit later.

The journey to school is far too brief. Too soon, you have to part with Aya, and go up to your classroom with Tomio.

You sit down at your usual seat, and wait for Ms. Sakuraada. It is boring, mundane and completely uninteresting. When Ms. Sakurada comes in, you know it's going to be a long day at school.

Then you remember. your new penguin buddy. No one seems to be able to see Azul. It doesn't matter that he's out in the open and try to peek at Ms. Sakurada's note. No one in your class seems to be able to see him. Could it be possible to ask him to do something interesting?

You can't help but wonder... What can Azul do since no one can see him at all?

>Ask Azul to knock over the trashcan
>Ask Azul to steal Ms. Sakurada's attendance sheet
>Ask Azul to slap one of the students in class. (Tomio? Gurio? Usagi? Naru? who?)
>Write in

>>4921883
>Write in
Slapping students is a bit much. Instead, have him tap one of them on the shoulders at random intervals. Let’s have him aim for someone unassociated with our in-group, like Usagi. She’s probably the most normal person we know.

>>4921883
Supporting >>4921928

>>4921928
>>4921883
Support.

>>4921928
>>4921972
>>4922180
Good morning! Will post

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You're curious...

Just what can Azul do? You know he can't be seen and that he can physically interact with things around him. You got a good demonstration of that when he tipped the garbage can into his mouth to eat those Nightmares.

Do people see him if he pick things up? Or just the item he is carrying? If he touches people, will they see him? Ignore him? Feel him but not see him?

You decide a little experimentation is in order. He is wandering around the classroom, you wait for him walk close to your desk. You think that having him poke one of your classmates might be a good idea. You consider who should be targeted.

You consider Naru, she was at her desk talking with her someone. You didn't want to interrupt.

Then you consider Gurio, but he was hyper focused on something. He probably would not feel Azul poking him for attention.

You don't bother with Ms. Sakurada, you don't want your teacher to realize something weird was going on.

And on and on the list of potential classmates goes. You even considered Tomio but he is right behind you, but he'll probably baffled as to why you're talking to midair.

Oh yeah, how are you going to give orders to Azul exactly? You probably can write a note and Azul can read it... Wait? Can he read?

The problem seems intractable.... Then you realize, you have a missing person in your class. It seems that Usagi is late again. You decide that Azul should poke Usagi at random times to see how she would react when she arrives. Chances were that Usagi was going to be forced to stand out in the hallway as punishment for being late again.

The moment you make your decision in your mind, Azul reacts by immediately walking out the classroom door.

Oh hell, he's not in your classroom. Why did he leave? He's not going to cause trouble right? You didn't even get to give him instructions.

You don't have time to get up and go after him, Ms. Sakurada is taking roll call. As names are called out and answered, you notice that the backdoor to the classroom is opened silently.

Ah, there's our late girl. Usagi attempts to sneak to her desk, but she's super obvious. No one could possibly miss the crawling girl. You could see the exasperation on Ms. Sakurada's face and it was all for naught anyways.

Gurio gives her away by saying good morning to the 'sneaking' Usagi.

As punishment, Usagi is made to stand out in the hallway... Though you don't know why Gurio goes out to join her.

Where is Azul? It's too bad you didn't have time to give instructions to your penguin. You wanted to see what he could do.

"Hey Ruka, you look pretty disappointed. Something bothering you?" Tomio whispers from behind.

Oh, you must be obvious.

"I have a scar on my cheek... a small scar but no girl wants to have a marked up face." You give a small half truth to Tomio.

>>4922248
"Huh? Seriously? I didn't see it at all, it must be super faint." This is when your idiot childhood friend grips your chin and inspects your cheeks. You feel like some sort of specimen that he decided to inspect closely rather than a girl. It was embarrassing, did this guy not realize how awkward this must look to the class.

"Oh hey, you're right. You do have a scar on the left cheek. Makes you look like one of those sukeban delinquents from manga." Tomio sounds pleased with himself for finally finding and seeing your scar.

You slap his hand away.

"ACK! Quit it!"

The class laughs at the antics of Tomio. But their attention is soon diverted by what they hear from out in the hallway.

"PENGUIN!!!!" You hear the high pitch scream of Usagi out in the hall. The classroom door slams open and the blonde girl barrels right into class. You look and see Azul standing in the doorway, flippers rubbing his forehead. There's a footprint on there, Usagi must have trampled over him when she tried to escape back into class.

Gurio is also standing at the doorway, looking utterly baffled.

"Ms. Sakurada, there's a penguin out in the hallway. He poked me! See, he's right in the doorway!" Usagi blubbers hysterically.

The class looks utterly baffled. All they can see is Gurio at the doorway.

Oh crap, Usagi can see Azul. You guess that if the blue penguin touches someone, the person he touches can see him.

You give a quick mental command.

'Hey Azul, you better make yourself scarce buddy. Go to the third floor, and stay right next to my clubroom.'

Azul looks at you, he seems to understand your thoughts and wanders away from the doorway.

Usagi continues to hysterically point to the retreating form of Azul and gives an exact description of the blue penguin right down to the bandage on his cheek.

Ms. Sakurada looks concerned and tries to calm the girl down. Gurio is already back at his seat.

The uproar is soon calmed down and the class gets going. But Usagi is utterly miserable during the entire class, no one except you and her could see Azul.

It is lunch time now.

What do you want to do?

>Go and see Azul on the third floor?
>Talk with a classmate? Who?
>Go outside and eat lunch?
>write in

>>4922249
>Go outside and eat lunch?

Perhaps we could eat with Usagi, or invite her to eat with the rest of our friends. Chat with her a little and lend a sympathetic ear, she's had a pretty rough start to her day. It's never too late to expand one's social circle.

>>4922249
>>4922261 works for me

>>4922261
>>4922249
Agree, acquire Usagi .

>>4922355
Or at least just be more than acquaintances. Besides, we can do more testing with Azul’s perception filtering when our friends are less liable to freak out in public, like during a club meeting or after school.

>>4922261
>>4922281
>>4922355
Okay, have lunch with Usagi is go! Post will be late today though.
I hope to at least post once every day during the weekdays rather than just do it on friday. We'll see how that goes

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When you get out of the classroom for lunch, you don't even bother acknowledging Tomio as you get out the door. There are moments where his obliviousness gets on your nerves, and he grabbed your face to look at your scar. Now the entire class knows you have one!

He's often told you that you're like one of the guys to him and that makes him more at ease around you to hang out and stuff.

But you have limits!

In any case, you feel kind of bad for Usagi. When you told Azul to poke her, you didn't really think about how she would react to suddenly seeing a cartoonish blue penguin out of nowhere or other possible consequences to your experimentation.

You look around for her. It seems Usagi is sitting alone on a bench near the commons.

"Stupid Ms. Sakurada, there really was a weird penguin!" Usagi sniffles as she takes giant bites of her lunch. It's amazing to watch the girl demolish it in a few bites.

You swiftly approach and silently sit down. Apparently, Usagi is so absorbed in her lunch she doesn't even realize you're right beside her.

"Luna is so mean too! Meanie cat, I wish I never found you!" Usagi continues on and stares mournfully at her now empty lunch box.

"Man, you completely killed your lunch in 3 minutes..." You can't help but comment.

"GAH! Ruka-chan!" The shock in Usagi's voice is comical. You give a short laugh as you open up your lunch to eat. Today you made 2 salad wraps with curried eggs and chicken, you look forward to devouring your delicious creation.

You take a big large bite of your wrap, while noting that Usagi is staring at the other salad wrap in your lunchbox with covetous eyes.

Wait, didn't she already eat her lunch? How could this girl still be hungry?

"Oh that looks so delicious Ruka-chan..." There's a pleading tone in her voice, she desires the remaining part of your lunch.

Hm, you are not willing to give Usagi the entirety of the other wrap but you can cut it in half. You reach into your school bag and take out your knife. The blade cuts very easily, it's sharpness is amazing. The wrap is neatly cut into two and you hand one half to Usagi. She is absolutely ecstatic to eat your food.

>>4923256
"Oh, this is so good!" She manages to say between bites. It disappears so quickly, you barely can believe it. She sounds incredibly happy.

"Jeez Tsukino, for a girl who seemed so down a moment ago, you sure can eat."

"Don't be mean Ruka-chan, when terrible things happen, eating is one of the few happy things that I can do."

Well, you got to admit. You can't argue against that. It's odd that Naru isn't around, usually she eats lunch with Usagi. You let Usagi talk as you scan the school grounds trying to find Naru.

???

You see her. She's running towards you, and she seems particularly amused about something. You're not sure about what but chances are Naru will tell you soon enough.

"Hey Ruka, hey Usagi. You two were the entertainment highlights of the morning with your antics!"

"Oh not you too Naru-chan." Usagi sounds like she's going to start crying again.

"Wait, I was entertainment?" You ask.

"Of course! The way Tomio just grabbed your face was so funny. You two are soooo comfortable around each other." There's a note of implication in Naru's voice. Usagi picks it up and cheerful adopts a similar tone of voice.

"Indeed, he's your handsome childhood friend right? Ohohoho, you hang out so often." There is what you assume is supposed to be a devious smirk on Usagi's face. The effect is utterly lost on you. It makes Usagi seem incredibly childish instead.

You and your childhood friend? If he wasn't a dense blockhead and didn't casually treat you like a guy who happens to be a girl, would you?

>Maybe but Aya-sempai is clearly angling to reel him in...
>No, he is like a brother. You even have secret guy code rules with him.
>It's complicated. You don't appreciate how he treats you sometimes...
>write in

>>4923257
>It's complicated. You don't appreciate how he treats you sometimes...

>>4923257
>No, he is like a brother. You even have secret guy code rules with him.
Bro code is in effect. And even if it wasn't, the Sempai compact is also in place. That includes not making a move on him when one's sempai and friend is making an honest try of trying to get him to pay attention to her. Though maybe we should make him aware of Aya's intentions or encourage Aya to be more forward/honest with her intentions, because this is going nowhere fast.

>>4923257
>Maybe but Aya-sempai is clearly angling to reel him in...

>>4923321
>>4923257
Yeah, I'm down with that.

>>4923256
>No, he is like a brother. You even have secret guy code rules with him.

You can't help but give the girls a bit of side eye. Is this what it's like to gossip about romance with other girls? You're not sure if you simply dislike it or hate it or simply envy them because you got nothing to say.

"Sorry to disappoint, but your imagination is running away with you." You state as you finish your first salad wrap. You slap Usagi's hand from the remaining half of your lunch, your powers of observation defeats any simple attempt of lunch theft. She watches with envy as you swiftly devour your lunch.

"Really? That's too bad. Tomio's pretty popular with the girls because he has such a cute face but it doesn't amount to much if you can't catch his attention." Naru says as she sits down on the bench with you.

"Romance on the brain? Want to see if Tomio will pay any attention to you?" You tease Naru as you take the last bite of your wrap.

"I prefer older guys, boys our age are so immature and bratty. Give me a nice older gentleman!" Naru declares with some energy.

"I prefer a well dressed guy, and he has to be cool." Usagi sighs as she joins in with her preference.

You don't have anything to say. You are probably a late bloomer, 14 years old is super young to be going on about romance. You'll be 15 years old soon enough too. You scratch the back of your neck in embarrassment when you see that Usagi and Naru are waiting to hear from you.

"Well, it's a little too early for me to figure out what sort of guy I prefer." You weakly say.

"That's no good! You got to take full advantage of your youth Ruka-chan!" Usagi grabs your hands with shining eyes as she continues on.

"You'll never know what can happen; the person you're destined to be with might pass you by if you don't act!"

You have no idea how to react to that. You can't help but be more concerned of being haunted by Nightmare creatures, keeping strange blue penguin companion out of trouble and figuring out your Dream slash Memory than romance right now.

"I'll, uh, keep that in mind..." You offer as you take your hand back from Usagi's enthusiastic grip.

"There's a great fortune teller in the Juuban shopping district, maybe he can give you a clue or prediction on your future romance. I recommend it, lots of girls from school have already gone to see him. Heck, even a few guys have gone to get a reading." Naru mentions.

Oh yeah, Aya and Tomio had mentioned that while you were walking to school this morning. And you had noticed there was a big line up a few days ago. That must be the fortune teller everyone was raving about.

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>>4924683
Lunch time is over, and it is back to class with you. It is as painful as you remember, you barely bothered with your homework beyond the bare minimum. Today's lesson is harder to follow than you expected, who would have thought that missing an entire week of school would make things so hard.

You're a pretty average student that managed to keep up by studying and working hard, but you've been slacking off lately. If this keeps up, then your academic standing is going to take a hit.

After classes end, you go up to the third floor to your club activities. You had told Azul to wait for you up there, but you wonder if he actually knew where he had to go. You swiftly ascend the stairs and make a beeline to the Supernatural Research Club room.

The hallway is crowded with students... Wait a second, you recognize two of these students. They're actually regular members of the Supernatural Resesarch Club.

You see 3rd year student Tadano Akira who is the resident horror movie specialist. He joined mainly because no other club focused on his passion on scary movies remotely other than Supernatural Research. You hate movie nights, mainly because you are a scaredy cat and hate scary movies in particular.

Also, there was 1st year student Kotani Miya who was obsessed with witchcraft, spells and charms. The younger girl was extremely perky and loved writing articles in the school newspaper focused on magic. She could talk your ear off about them all day if you gave her the chance.

There were also others too, you hadn't seen quite a few of them for awhile. And there are new people too.

Wow, did Aya go on a recruitment drive while you were away. They're too many people, they can't fit in the clubroom at all.

You accidentally bump into a girl standing by the door. Wait, you recognize this girl. You saw her at the Osaka Jewelry store during the monster attack. She got controlled and started attacking Sailor Moon, and later you saw her at the hospital.

"Oh Houseki-sempai. Sorry, let me get out of your way!" The girl says as she tries to make room for you.

The others let you in, they probably had all heard strange rumors about the jewelry store attack and about your injuries from it.

The room is stifling with the sheer amount of people, but inside sits President Kagawa Aya. She looks surprisingly imposing despite being so short. There is no hint of soft amusement and is totally focused on writing on the white board on details on the latest information Sailor V and Sailor Moon.

You hadn't seen Aya during the week you were off from school. Could it be that she had focused on investigating and researching about Sailor Moon and Sailor V the entire time?

>>4924687
"Oh Ruka, come here. I want you to sit right by me. It's going to be a very informative meeting today." Aya orders you when she realizes you had arrived, her face is grim and totally lacking in humor.

There are 8 people in total, including yourself at this meeting. You never imagined a day would come that the club room would be too small to hold everyone. 4 members are forced to sit by the door.

Azul is there too, in the corner where he's out of the way. No one can see him it seems despite his rather conspicuous seating. He seems to be reading something. As you approach closer to where Aya asked you to sit, you see that your penguin is looking at a nudie magazine. His gaze is so intense he does not seem to realize you have arrived.

How can no one in the room see there is something odd going on? Do they not see Azul reading? Or the pile of magazines? Or could it just be that everyone is focused on other things and just didn't realize that there was something odd in the corner of the room?

You are absolutely horrified. There is a gigantic pile of dirty magazines right next to him of all sorts. You can see that there are nude women, nude men, barely clothed men posing, leather wearing women whipping other women, and on and on it goes. You blush bright red and refuse to look at the pile of magazines.

Why was there porn? Was this the rumored Supernatural Research Club banned 'research' material? It can't be, you've never seen them before! You have handled a lot of the material in this room with Aya and the others.

Aya notices your bright red face.

"Ruka, is it too hot in the room? Should we move to somewhere else?" Aya asks concerned.

>"YES! TO ANOTHER ROOM!"
>"NO... I mean, it's fine. Let's get on with the meeting."
>"Ah, I don't feel well. I'm going home..."
>'DAMN IT AZUL! GET RID OF THAT SHIT' you mentally command your penguin
>write in

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>>4924690

>>4924690
>"NO... I mean, it's fine. Let's get on with the meeting."
>'DAMN IT AZUL! GET RID OF THAT SHIT' you mentally command your penguin

Don't do that shit out in public. Maybe while we're in the privacy of our own home, but not at school. And don't get snippy and tell us that you're "reading it for the articles", either! Besides, what if you lost one or someone stole one of them while you weren't looking?

>>4924690
Supporting >>4924744

>>4924744
+1

"NO!... I mean, it's fine. Let's get on with the meeting." You choke out an answer. The redness of cheeks just won't go away. Aya looks less than convinced but she starts the meeting by assigning Miya to take minutes and getting Akira to take roll call.

Was this your future? An endless stream of weirdness and embarrassment? You don't care where the porn came from any more, you want him to get rid of it.

'DAMN IT AZUL!' Your mind is blazing with raging indignation. If your penguin can hear your mental commands, then there is no way that he can ignore your orders.

'GET RID OF THAT SHIT!' You mentally command. The penguin serenely looks up and just waves one of his flippers dismissively at you, as though to tell you that it's going to fine because no one can see him. He merrily flips the pages of his magazines with what you can only assume to be pleasure.

You have just now learned that your companion can in fact ignore your orders. This probably shouldn't have surprised you, but it did.

'At least hide it,' you resort to mentally begging the penguin. At this, Azul moves the pile of magazines to a more discrete location rather than leave it out where you can see it. You are amazed that no one realizes that there are magazines being moved around in plain sight to behind a desk. It appears that Azul can disguise physical items he carries or has close by to be invisible as himself. That's your theory anyways.

"We convene our meeting for today on the possible Sailor Moon and Sailor V investigation. I'm happy to say club officer Houseki Ruka is back today after being away for a week. We have here, a live witness to the mysterious Sailor Moon and the monster attack that happened at Osaka Jewelry." Aya announces the subject of today's meeting in a crisp efficient voice.

Wait a second. Does the entire school know the story? Crazy, you're surprised that no one tried to bother you to get more details from you. But then again, there were enough students at the school like Naru who could answer questions to any who were curious.

You don't say anything as the meeting gets into reviewing what has been discovered in the last week you've been away from school. It seems the core members of the Supernatural Research club had been digging into Sailor V and Sailor Moon as part of club activities, and that the new member had joined because they had got caught up in the attack and wanted to figure out what was going on.

You learn that the girl you passed at the door was one such victim, she was Denda Arika, a 1 year student. Seems she was recruited specifically by Aya to see if there were any after effects from the attack. Nothing to report on that end.

>>4926115
She's apparently completely fine and can't remember anything about the attack.

You feel bad as you hear more information at the meeting. You could have done some work yourself, maybe even called up Kakutani or even just listen to the news but you didn't do anything at all. You answer a few questions of your fellow club members have on the incident. Magic obsessed Miya is particularly curious and asks the most questions.

"Absolutely no information on Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask beyond what Ruka had reported. These two are too much of an unknown." Akira notes as they went down the very brief description that you had provided. Kakutani's article was posted on the white board, it is a super brief article on your eyewitness account.

"And you're saying that you couldn't figure out the physical details of Sailor Moon?" Miya presses you as she writes down notes on the 'magic' you had witnessed. Even asked about the weird monster able to turn its head 180, fly and stretch its limbs out to attack and turning to dust as it got destroyed. You even mentioned the dust disappeared as though it never existed.

"All I know is that Sailor Moon is a girl... but no details on height, weight, skin color, hair color, and all that. I mean, I don't want to brag but I tend to pick up on small details real easy. But every time I thought I saw something about her, it changed or I felt this huge wave of doubt hit me."

"How fascinating, that means she must be using something to baffle the senses and disguise herself."

The most information you heard was on Sailor V. It seems she had been hanging around Japan for at least a year. There were strange monster attacks and other weird events in various cities in Japan. Then 6 months or so of silence, then her reappearance in Tokyo stopping a robbery.

Even then, there wasn't too much info on Sailor V either. Some rumors of working with the police to stop crime and fight monsters.

"It seems Ruka will have to contact the reporter Kakutani directly. I tried to visit the Daily Report and let me just say it is not an experience I'd like to repeat." Aya says as she closes the meeting.

"Wait, you went to the offices? But those are located in near Kabuki-cho!" A new member of the club says as he gets up from his seat. You had no idea that Aya was that daring; Shinjuku isn't a place of middle schoolers.

Aya frowns.

"I tried to calling Kakutani but she kept hanging up on me saying she'd talk to Ruka and not me. I got pretty mad, so I decided to march over to the Daily Report."

>>4926118
With that the members get up and leave. They were asked to read up on monsters, magic and any newspaper reports they could find on mysterious girl warriors for the next meeting on Thursday.

You are left alone with Aya, and she promptly gives you a hug when everyone is out the door.

"Welcome back my precious minion, I missed you so much. Sorry for not visiting you during the week, I was chasing down info!"

"It's okay Aya."

"It's not okay. And I heard rumors. You have a scar on your face? Oh no, it's because of me..."

Has it really been a week since the monster attack? Things in your life has irrevocably changed since that day.

Also, you need to get her out of here, since you don't want her to stumble upon the piles of porn mags that Azul apparently found.

What do you do?

>Offer to walk home with her, you aren't ready to explain the new weirdness in your life yet.
>Talk to Aya about what's been happening in your life... Nightmares and penguins included
>Ask if she wants to go see a fortuneteller with you. You can talk about the recent info gathered.
>Talks to her about her situation with Tomio, maybe she needs help on that.

>>4926120
>Ask if she wants to go see a fortuneteller with you. You can talk about the recent info gathered.
>Talks to her about her situation with Tomio, maybe she needs help on that.

I'm a bit reluctant to speak about the spooky stuff despite her apparent closeness with our intrepid protagonist. Perhaps at a later time when things have settled, and when we've figured out more about the penguins and the supernatural theatre club.

But we can tell her about Tomio. Subtle hints don't really work for a guy like that. She might also want to try to ease into things so that Tomio is comfortable around her. She might be looking for a relationship, but something like that might scare Tomio to death for all we know. Things must proceed carefully.

>>4926120
Supporting >>4926133

>>4926133
>>4926120
Support

Rolled 1, 5, 2 + 2 = 10 (3d6 + 2)

Gotta make a roll first

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"Well apparently it makes me look roguish according to Tomio." You stretch the truth of Tomio's observation to make light of it.

"I hate to say this Ruka, but it makes you look like a delinquent. That is if you notice it in the first place... It's pretty small though. If you use just a smidge of makeup, you can cover it up. I don't think the teachers will notice or mind as long as you keep the makeup super light and don't mention it ever. Against the school rules to wear makeup after all..." Aya considers with all seriousness the necessary foundation and makeup required for such a project.

Well at least no one said it made you look more handsome. Despite growing your hair extra long and beautiful, you are aware that you're not the most feminine looking girl ever. You envy Aya-sempai's looks, she's a classic Japanese beauty. You can't understand why Tomio doesn't pay any attention to Aya at all.

"Hey Aya, let's close up and get going. I want to go and get my fortune told. There's some sort of famous fortune teller at the Juuban shopping district. Maybe he can predict your future too."

"Oh that sounds interesting!"

Aya goes to grab her bag by the desk. Oh no, please don't notice Azul and the porn.

A miracle, it seems that Aya doesn't see the pile of dirty magazines that the penguin had stashed away there. Azul waddles to your side, he is carrying a few select magazines under his flipper. You consider ordering him to leave the magazines in the club room but give up. There's a good chance that he would disobey and just keep them anyways.

At least you discovered another thing that he can do. You could ask him to carry stuff that you need to keep hidden like lock picks or get him to do stuff for you while you're off doing something else. There's a lot possibilities...

The club room is locked up and you leave the school for the Juuban shopping district with Aya and Azul at your side.

Ah, this is the perfect time to talk about things, especially about Tomio and Sailor Moon.

"I guess you had a busy week. Did you find out anything really weird that you didn't mention during the meeting?..." You begin.

"... A bit. Hey Ruka... Do you believe if people put a lot of effort in training, they can do something like 'magic'?" Aya asks with a great deal of seriousness.

Hm, does your friend want to be able to run around wielding 'magic' or something?

"That sounds like something that Miya desperately wants to be able to do... But I guess, yes? I mean, why not? We just had a supernatural event happen to us. Though that doesn't mean it'll be all that impressive or useful. People have been trying things like 'magic' for years and years and nothing happens."

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>>4927612
"I think... I want to be able to do 'magic'. Though I admit, I have no idea where to even start and I don't exactly want to get obsessed with it like Miya. Maybe it'll help with my problem with Tomio." Aya laughs darkly with frustration.

"That reminds me, how are you doing with him?" You actually don't want to ask, you can sense that Aya wasn't doing too well in her attempts to gain his attention.

"Why is he so dense? Does subtlety not exist in his vocabulary? I made him lunch! I pretended that you had taught me to cook even and wanted him to taste test it. He took a bite and commented that I must not have learned very well from you! A girl made him lunch, that should fire up a boy's imagination with implications." Aya grouses, she stomps the ground a bit in irritation.

"Huh? Why mention me at all? You could have just said you made him lunch and he should try it. You shouldn't bother with throwing up anything complicated that hides the facts. Trust me, being blunt is the only way to make him understand."

"You are far too knowledgeable about this subject." Aya mutters. Her eyes are a bit too sharp, as is her voice with you. There were times when you hate being observant, it means you end up picking up on subtle things that normal people wouldn't have.

Unwarranted suspicion and jealousy from her? You try to remember she's just frustrated.

"Stop right there, Aya. I don't like the sound of what you're trying to imply. I've known this guy since I was five years old. I think I can even rightly claim that I am party to certain unsaid rules of the Bro Code with him."

Aya is silent and fuming for a bit.

"Sorry Ruka, it's just... He's a really handsome and interesting guy, I mean he does Jazz trumpet, is trusted by classmates, teachers respect him, he has plenty of friends..." Aya begins to list his qualities.

You tune her out and let her ramble on. She needed to get this off her chest.

You look at Azul and see that he is keeping up the pace. But he has to move his feet at triple the usual waddle to match your strides and is beginning to tire. It must be difficult for him to move around quickly, this is something you'll have to keep in mind in the future. He's not very tall either, things that were high up and out of reach would be quite difficult for him to get too.

"... but he doesn't talk to any girls willingly other than you and maybe the girl members of Band Club!" Aya is sort of ranty now.

But it ends when you arrive at the alleyway where the fortune teller had set up. It's amazing, there's no line up at all today.

"Huh? What's going on? Yesterday it was so busy..." You marvel at the disappearance of the lineup.

"Ahaha, you're the second girl to say that to me." The old fortune teller points behind you and you immediately see a very gaudy shop front advertising fortune telling.

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>>4927614
That place wasn't there yesterday. In fact, you remember that it was a pretty dilapidated building that had not been occupied for a while. When did they put up that gigantic sign?

"I have a competitor, and since she's new and beautiful, everyone has gone to get their fortune told by her." The gray haired old man looks like he's about to give up for the night. You'll probably be his very last customer if you decide to get your fortune told by him... Or maybe you could get your fortune told by the new one?

What would you like to do?

>Get your fortune told by the old man, he uses palm reading and yarrow sticks! Classic fortune telling, you're a fan of tradition
>Get your fortune told by the new beauty of Juuban fortune telling! Seems she uses tarot cards, and that's pretty new
>Let Aya decide where to go. You don't care either way...
>Write in

>>4927618
>Get your fortune told by the old man, he uses palm reading and yarrow sticks! Classic fortune telling, you're a fan of tradition

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>>4927618
>Get your fortune told by the old man, he uses palm reading and yarrow sticks! Classic fortune telling, you're a fan of tradition

Tradition is best. I bet the new hotness is just some dumb but pretty amateur who doesn’t even know what she’s doing.

>>4927618
>Get your fortune told by the old man, he uses palm reading and yarrow sticks! Classic fortune telling, you're a fan of tradition

>>4927655
who is that?

>>4927895
That would be Rainbow, a character out of a fan made game called JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The 7th Stand User.

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You're a fan of traditional fortunetelling. The thought of trying out the newfangled fortune teller with the tarot cards doesn't even register in your mind at all.

Straight away, you sit on the old man's stool in front of his small table.

"I'd like a reading, yarrow sticks please." You request politely and the old man smiles with pleasure as he takes the fifty yarrow sticks into his hands to the reading of your future. You had never actually had a yarrow stick fortune telling done, so the process is quite interesting.

The fortune teller first asks you to concentrate on what you desire to know or whatever is troubling you. You find that easy, you're worried about the recent craziness of your life and troubles, and if you'll be able to deal with it. As you're doing this, the old man begins to explain some of the things he is doing for the reading.

One stick is taken and is put aside since it won't be used in the reading. That is the observing stick.

As for the remaining 49 sticks, they are divided into two piles to represent heaven and earth or primeval forces of ying and yang.

One stick from the right pile is then inserted between the little finger and ring finger, this represent the three powers of heaven, earth and man.

Then there is the division, he swiftly removes sticks by four in the left pile first until the remaining stalks are 4 or less. It is done by four to represent the 4 seasons. He puts those stalks between his ring finger and middle finger, this position is the intercalary month

He then works on the second pile, he discards sticks by 2 and 4 since it is represents the second intercalary. This continues until the remaining stalks are less than 4 too. The stick will be inserted between his middle finger and index finger.

This is the first part. He will then repeat the process 2 more times with the remaining sticks. He'll add up the numbers depending on the yarrow sticks in the piles. That's one line of the hexagram.

The first is done relatively slow to let you see what he's doing as he explains. With that over, he then speeds up, his fingers fly with ease and confidence of years of practice and work. Then the first hexagram is created for you in no time.

The hexagram you got he notes represents youthful folly and discovery.

"Ignorance and progress. It is not me seeking the ignorant youth, the ignorant youth seeks me. The first oracle informs, the second and third muddies the water. Since it is muddied, it is uninformative but it is beneficial to persist." He recites from memory the elements of the hexagram, he considers how to read it in a way that isn't so cryptic.

"Despite not knowing anything and still ignorant, you are making progress to understanding. But you're not in a position to make demands, whatever answer you have already received; it might be good working on them instead of demanding more answers." The fortune teller interprets the hexagram for you.

>>4928885
Then he does the mutation, you get another hexagram. It's 'Revolution', a change that will be the foundation for progress after persisting he explains.

"It will take time to adjust, but things will have changed for the better if you just hold on. Your initial discomfort and aversion will go away."

Either this fortune teller is quite good at his job or he's good at figuring out what your concerns were about. In any case, it was a really interesting to see this reading being done.

"Hey Aya, why don't you get a reading next?" You call out to Aya who had been watching the entire reading with avid attention.

"What was the question you were trying have answered? You didn't say at all and the fortune teller just drew the sticks." Aya asks puzzled. You had only concentrated on your question in your mind, never verbalizing what you wanted answered.

"That's a secret!" You can't help but feel entertained by the frustrated look on Aya's face. Your sempai is so entertaining to needle sometimes.

"Hmph, in that the case I'm going to keep my question secret too."

She decides on palm reading, and she offers her hand for a reading.

"Hm, young lady you are chasing after too many things at once. Love, influence, respect, and more. As they say, you cannot chase two rabbits at once, you'll lose them both." The fortune teller says after looking at the lines on her palm.

"But it seems like it's worth trying to have it all." Aya sounds amused by her fortune.

"Ahaha, the folly of youth and the temptation of having it all. It can backfire, so please be careful."

You pay up and depart. The old fortune teller begins packing up for the night.

You take a look at his rival fortune teller across the street, there had been a steady stream of people coming and out of the building during your reading. Heck, you even saw a few of your classmates come out earlier. Business must be booming over there.

"Hey Aya, I'm going to check out the rival for a second."

"Getting another reading?"

"Nah, not interested. I just want to see what's being offered."

You approach the building across the street to take a closer look. The building is surprisingly spacious for such a strange business, and there are still people inside lined up to have their fortune read. You can't imagine fortune telling is a very profitable endeavour, I mean, you paid 1500 yen for your complicated yarrow stick reading. You're out of money for the week but you feel it was worth it to hear some supportive words regarding your troubles.

This lady was charging far less than the old man. 500 yen a reading. She'll be out of business if she keeps up those types of prices. Something about this bothers you.

>>4928887
The sudden appearance of this gaudy place, the absurdly low prices that couldn't possibly cover rent, and the number of people drawn to come here...

It seemed really weird. Could it be that the lady doing this is just a bad businesswoman and doesn't really realize business failure?

Azul has remained utterly disinterested throughout all this. In fact, he had been reading the magazines he had brought with him during all the fortune telling stuff. But his attitude changed as you approached this building. You realize he was no longer interested in his magazines and is instead staring through the glass doors, searching for something.

You look through the glass doors too, but all you see are people lined up waiting to have their fortune told.

"Sorry Ruka, it's getting late. I want to go home and get my homework done, are you going to hang around here?" Aya asks, mystified by your very intense searching look on your face.

Oh yeah, it was getting late. Your dad is probably not going to be home until late at night though because of work...

What will you do?

>Walk Aya home, and then go back home yourself
>Tell Aya that you changed your mind, you're going in for another reading. Say goodbye her.
>Ask Aya if she thinks this place feels sort of off...
>write in

>>4928889
>>Walk Aya home, and then go back home yourself
>Ask Aya if she thinks this place feels sort of off...

>>4928889
>Walk Aya home, and then go back home yourself
>Ask Aya if she thinks this place feels sort of off...

Rolled 6, 3, 3 + 2 = 14 (3d6 + 2)

>>4929200
>>4929218
Okay, let's get started again!

File: hale1.jpg (72 KB, 450x630)

72 KB JPG

You had given some thought about going in and casing the place by pretending to go in for another reading but there's not enough of a compelling reason to do so. You'd rather spend time with Aya on your walk home. Whatever it was that was so interesting to Azul is probably something not very interesting to a human. You wish that he could talk and explain but give up on the thought.

Azul is a penguin, it's just how he is.

But still...

"Hey, what do you think of this place. See anything about it that catches your eye?" You ask Aya as you start to turn to walk away from the building.

Aya takes one last look and stays remarkably still. You had to pause in your stride, as Aya isn't following you. Her eyes are on the building, but doesn't seem to actually see it.

"... Tomio was here.... So were a bunch of boys from our school." Aya says dreamily, as though not quite aware of what she's saying.

"Huh, what? How do you know that?" You ask. Did your friend see them go in to this building while you were focusing on your reading?

"Oh. Uh, how do I know? It just feels like they were here." Aya snaps out of her reverie, questioning herself.

"Well... it's not important, not as if they are actually here right now. Let's get going Aya, I need to make dinner for myself."

That was weird. The walk through the Juuban shopping district was nice but the hour was getting late. You say goodbye to Aya at her condo building before taking off for your apartment.

You don't know when your dad is going be home, but at the very least you can prepare something he could heat up and eat just in case when he does get back. You predict he's coming back home after 9 pm, his section chief was an asshole who sometimes hazed employees who took unexpected days off. That meant taking up the free time of his subordinates by forcing them to go drinking and eating despite having families waiting at home.

There were times you wish your dad had a better job, but given the economy and the state of the family finances, there wasn't much choice but to stick with it.

When you arrive home, and cook up some miso soup, cucumber salad, grilled fish and rice for dinner.

Oh yeah, does Azul even eat? Or need to? He spent all day at school without a single bite to eat...

>>4930068
You make him a small portion too which he eats with gusto. He even does a happy waddle dance that is incredibly entertaining.

In turn, he lays out the magazines on the kitchen table and points to them. You assume it is supposed to be a gift for the food... You knock the magazines into the garbage and he is left open mouth with shock.

"Damn it Azul, I can't believe you're offering me those magazines to me!" You say as you watch the penguin fish out the magazines from the garbage. He's giving you a disapproving penguin look for trashing his treasures.

"Come on, leave them in the garbage!"

Instead, he picks one of the magazines and slaps it on the kitchen table in front of you with a huff. Then goes into your bedroom, possibly to stash them somewhere.

"GAH!"

You are not amused. You note that the title of the magazine is 'Bound and Tortured!".

You are about to throw it in the garbage, when you note a subtitle on the cover that has nothing to do with porn and more to do with ridiculous tabloid titles.

THE SILVER KINGDOM OF THE MOON! PART 5 OF THE DREAM! by Anonymous Reincarnation.

It was because of the 'Moon' and 'Dream' in the title that makes you pause in throwing it out. It definitely wasn't because you were interested in the other parts of the thing. Seriously, your penguin read all those porn magazines for the articles? You refuse to believe it. And what do they mean by Anonymous Reincarnation?

You hesitantly pick up the magazine by the corner as though it was a dangerous snake. You can't leave it in the kitchen, you'll have to hide it in your bedroom somewhere.

Oh god, does Azul expect you to flip to the article and read this?

You enter your bedroom and realize that Azul is nowhere to be seen. Did he go back to where he came from? Or is he just hiding somewhere? In any case, if you need to hide 'Bound and Tortured", you can stash the magazine in the mess of books where you keep your notebook.

What will do you before bed?

choose 2

>Watch the news and just relax
>Do your homework and study
>Examine your lapis lazuli stone
>Read the magazine in your bedroom... for the article, just the article!
>Work out, you'll have to give these weights back to Tomio soon
>write in

>>4930072

>Read the magazine in your bedroom... for the article, just the article!

>Do your homework and study

>>4927895
>>4928185

She’s an extra boss in the game that was mentioned. Basically, she’s a fortune teller who hates stand users and hypnotizes delinquents to antagonize the main character. She thinks she’s some kind of hypnosis/fortune-telling prodigy, but she is actually unconsciously using her stand to do that, and is unaware of her own status as a stand user. In a later update to the game, she tracks the MC after she’s beaten, and begs/demands money from the MC so she can fly home to Egypt. She’s kind of considered a bit of a joke character for this reason.

>>4930304
Seconding. Ruka has to fulfill her own obligations while seeking enlightenment. By reading bondage magazines for the articles.

>>4930072
>Read the magazine in your bedroom... for the article, just the article!
>Do your homework and study

>>4930072
>>Do your homework and study
>Work out, you'll have to give these weights back to Tomio soon
imagine if you will how funny it would be if we could arm-wrestle monsters or just straight up suplex them

>>4930072
>Read the magazine in your bedroom... for the article, just the article!
>Do your homework and study

>>4930304
>>4930349
>>4930366
>>4930420
>>4930610
Studying and porn (ie further reading) has been selected.
Starting to write

You're not a fan of homework and studying, but you can't put it off any longer. Today's lesson in class was a struggle because you didn't bother to really pay attention to what you were supposed to learn in the past week with the notes prepared by Gurio and homework that was assigned to you.

You decide it was best to sit at your desk and start seriously reviewing those notes and study a bit to get up to speed on school.

Also, ugh, to read up on that article in the magazine.

As you get started in studying, you realize you should probably thank Gurio for the homework notes. They were quite concise and clear. And he had kindly summarized each days' lesson from Monday to Friday to be given to you. That was a lot of effort he didn't need to go through but he did. They were delivered to your apartment with the homework by fellow classmates each day too now that you think about it.

After an hour or so, you take a break from studying to stretch and relax a bit. You look at the clock, it's about 7 pm, and your dad isn't home yet.

I guess it's time to crack open the magazine. You feel dread unlike anything you felt before.

You go to the table of contents and quickly discover that the story about the Moon Kingdom is on page 14. You count the pages without opening the magazine and discover there are pages missing from the magazine. Could it be that the story has been removed?

You quickly open the magazine, and discover that the story was left wholly intact. Someone had carefully snipped out pages and removed them. You reread the table content and discover that the missing pages are focused on rope tying techniques.

... You decide not to think on that too deeply.

You begin to read...

You've read a lot of terribly written stuff in your short life because of Supernatural Research Club... but this was on a whole different level of bad. It was not an article but rather a serial story about the lost Silver Kingdom of the Moon and its tragic lovers; the Moon Princess and the Prince of Earth. It was purported to be the memory of a writer who claims to be the reincarnation of an astoundingly beautiful lady in waiting. It proceeds to write of her romantic encounters with the handsome courtiers of Moon Kingdom court rather than on the supposed main subjects; the Princess and Prince that she claims is the true tragedy and focus of the recollection.

Writers of truly bad fiction tend to be utterly sincere and earnest even as they're massacring the Japanese language with their incompetence by writing hilarious gems of unintended humor, plotholes, meandering digressions and clear bias to certain characters in their writing. You recall particularly enjoying as a kid a terrible shoujo manga whose main characters got chucked to the sidelines because the sideplot about completely different characters had grown like a tumor that it completely displaced the original plot.

>>4930721
You loved the crap out of it for its terrible plot, ridiculous unsympathetic romantic characters and cheesy melodrama that happened each and every day in that story.

The story you are reading was not as charming as that because it becomes clear as day that the writer was humorless and pompous. No question about her importance or beauty was allowed, and those who did were just jealous because they couldn't write as beautifully as her.

The purple prose is dense and confusing. You take extra effort to get past quickly the badly shoehorned scenes of bondage that the magazine had clearly shoved into the story at odd points.

You used a bonus dice Will to not lose patience with the story

It does lightly touch how the Moon Court was unaware with the romance between the Princess and Prince. When it became known, there was a scandal since the Earth was but one mere planet while the Moon ruled practically the entire solar system. The Guardians who were also court ladies to the Moon Princess were heavily criticized for the entire thing.

The story ends on that note and promises to continue in the next month print. The entire thing was a strange mix of fantasy, bizarro scifi, unromantic romance, fictional history and epically bad bondage.

People paid to read this story and there are four previous parts to it? Was this what Azul wanted you to look at? Or was it something else?

What the hell are you supposed to take away from this?

... You got trolled by Azul, this is the only conclusion you can reach. You believed that your penguin had given you this magazine in particular for a reason but in truth, there was no real reason. You just assumed there was something more to it...

Ugh, could it be there's something else in the magazine that you should have looked at. You got to the cover of the magazine and read through the lurid sub headings below the gigantic 'Bound and Tortured'.

"ROPE TYING SECRETS OF THE CHINESE POLICE!"
"HOW TO PROPERLY SWITCH!"
"WHIP REVIEW, BEST OF THE YEAR!"
"ATLANTIS DISCOVERED!"
"FAMOUS SINGER MARRIED TO THREE HUSBANDS!"
"THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF FRAUD."

This was a weird magazine; it seemed to be half bondage magazine, quarter scandal rag and quarter tabloid dreck.

You can't stand to read it any more, you go back to studying.

You call it quits at 9 pm.

You dad isn't home yet. You aren't too worried, this has happened before, but you feel lonely. Being home alone in the evening is typical; last week was an exception when you got to eat dinner with your dad every day. You double check to make sure the food you left for your dad is saranwrapped on the table and get ready to bed.

What do you do?

CHOOSE ONE

>Read the magazine article again? DC 12, roll 3d6, no bonus dice
>Go to bed, you have school tomorrow
>Search your room for Azul, where did he go?
>Update your notebook
>Write in

>>4930722
>>Update your notebook
>Search your room for Azul, where did he go?
>Go to bed, you have school tomorrow

>>4930722
>>Search your room for Azul, where did he go?

>>4930722
>Update your notebook

if we get closer to things; its gonna be hilarious to come back to this magazine later; especially if we further befriend the main cast.

I especially expect, and would bet money on, Minako to be especially dejected about whats clipped out

>>4930732
>Update your notebook
>Search your room for Azul, where did he go?
>Go to bed, you have school tomorrow

>>4930722
>Update your notebook

>>4930732
>>4930742
>>4930750
>>4930935
>>4930975
Update the note book wins.
Remember, you only had time to do one thing before bed.

It's getting late, the most you can do is update your notebook.

You incorporate your notes on the Osaka jewelry attack from the notepad you got from Kakutani a week ago. You left those particular details out of your main notebook for too long.

Also, about how you saw the Shadow Players at the aquarium and the start of your Dream...

Then you write how it turned into a Nightmare with absolutely NO sketches. None! You don't care if someone other than yourself reads this and doesn't understand what you saw. That Eye and Mask didn't do a lot of damage to your notes but you put that down to luck.

You also write down the odd abilities of your blue penguin buddy complete with a cute little sketch of him and a short summary of the Silver Kingdom of the Moon.

A very short summary.

It is amazing how much you've written so far in this little notebook. Things have just been crazy. You begin to realize this as you write more and more in it about recent happenings.

You don't know where Azul went, maybe he went back to his own penguin dimension to rest? Sleeping on your pillow wasn't the most restful of places perhaps.

You put everything away when you finish and realize you can hear some very bad off-key singing outside your apartment.

It's your father, he must be wrecked. The door to your apartment opens with a bang and the very off-key singing stops.

"RUKA! I'M HOME!!"

Oh crap, the neighbours definitely can hear him. You got to get your dad to be quiet, it's almost 10 p.m.

You get out of your bedroom and help your dad remove his suit jacket and shoes.

"I tell ya kid, budget meetings are a curse when you get less and less money to do grand stupid ideas that your bosses have when they're with cronies and suckups." He never complains unless he is drunk. The smell of alcohol is strong, and he has clearly vomited on the way back home. His suit is going to have to go to the wash straight away in the morning. It's a good thing your dad has plenty of spares.

You manage to help him into his small bedroom, whereupon he lies down on the soft bed covers and begins snoring. He hadn't even removed his dirty suit.

You don't bother to get him back up, you pull the bed covers over him and let him sleep it off. He has to wake up for work tomorrow and needs the sleep. The life of a working member of Japanese society is tough if you're constantly having your time dominated by the workplace. You remember hearing how some kids never see their dad unless it was the weekend because of the punishing work hours and office culture.

You go to sleep at last, it's later than expected and you're exhausted.

The moment your head hits the pillow, it seems the Memory starts up again.

You're glad, you aren't particularly keen on having a Dream. The familiarity of the unchanging Memory is truly comforting.

>>4931244
Walking down a long ornate hall at a steady pace to the wide double doors at the end. Footsteps brimming with purpose and pride when striding down the hallway. Boots clicking on the polished stone floor.

In two steps, you pass by a vase of gorgeous bright red roses and pause a moment to take in their scent.

A second latter, you'll look down and see that you're carrying a tray with 4 crystal tumblers filled with fragrant yellowish liquor. Man, oh man, you hope these things don't taste like that beer your dad poured for you.

Soon enough you're before the doors, and your dreamself is fussily checking that everything is in order again.

Your dreamself releases a soft sigh of relief that everything is perfect. Then you feel the squaring of shoulders and the straightening of the back. All this as you prepare to knock on the doors itself to announce yourself.

You can see your gloved hands curled into a half formed fist to rap the doors.

knock knock

The sensation of the hard wood on your knuckles and the sound of the knocking is still incredibly novel. You watch intently to see if you get past this point but no, the Memory ends.

You slowly wake up and realize that Azul is right in your face. His beady penguin eyes are staring into yours, bare inches apart. It takes some effort not to scream with shock from the suddenness of seeing him. You carefully grab him and set him aside, you don't want to knock him off the bed.

"Oh wow, jeez, don't do that." You say to Azul.

Azul tilts his head and points at your alarm clock.

It's 8 a.m. School starts in 30 minutes. This isn't enough time to throw your dad's dirty suit in the wash, or cook a full breakfast or pack a lunch or any number of things that you could have done if you woke up early.

You panic and begin preparing your day. You can't hear your dad, you realize he has already left for work.

When you enter the kitchen, you note that he has eaten the meal you prepared last night as his breakfast.

There's an apologetic note to you, he didn't get up early enough to cook breakfast and prep lunch for you. He tried to wake you up but you insisted on sleeping in longer. You vaguely remember someone trying to shake you awake but the memory is faint.

There's a bit of money on the table, he says he wants you to use it buy something to eat.

"Well, shit!"

You washed your face, brushed your teeth and are in your uniform. The clock says it is 8:15 am.

You are going to be late! It's only a question of how hate

How are you going to get to school?

>By bus, the next bus is at 8:25 a.m. You'll be late but only by a few minutes
>By running, you'll be late but at least it won't be super late.
>By walking, you're already late. You mind as well be super late...
>Do the thing, ultimate shortcut route! If you do well, you might just arrive in time. But screw up and you'll be super super late!

>>4931246
>By running, you'll be late but at least it won't be super late.
The classic.

>>4931246
>By running, you'll be late but at least it won't be super late.
at least appear to give it some effort

>>4931246
>By bus, the next bus is at 8:25 a.m. You'll be late but only by a few minutes

Work smarter, not harder. Though a delay in the bus schedule could result in super lateness.

>>4931253
>>4931308
>>4931327
Seems we are going for the anime classic

You weigh the cost of the bus and the time saved from taking it versus running to school.

The end result, is that you will still be late.

And the punishment from Ms. Sakurada will be the same.

You decide to run; it will be good exercise too. You may have been lifting weights but you've been neglecting cardio.

That being said, you could have avoided all this if you just woke up early enough. You can't imagine how your dad must feel when he woke up this morning. Hangovers seem to be a super killer and not fun at all.

You dash out the door, and discover that Azul rockets out the door at the same speed as you do. His penguin eyes alight with fierce determination to match your pace.

You run down the stairs of your apartment, occasionally skipping steps by jumping until you reach the bottom. Then on to the streets at a punishing pace, it is a good thing you are a physically fit girl. If you had been someone like Usagi, you'd be out of breath and want to die from all this running. The shops of the Juuban shopping district are still mostly closed and the crowd on the sidewalk is fairly thin so you don't have to dodge people.

You arrive at school at 8:40 am. You ran faster than you expected, but you are sweating like a pig. You take a few seconds to breath and try to wipe off your sweat at the entrance of your school. You're lucky that your school isn't the type to close the gates once the morning bell goes. You heard of nightmare stories where if you're late, some schools will lock up and keep you out until lunch time.

That being said, if you just walk in to school at the front entrance right now, you are going to be chewed out by the student guidance counselor who doubled as the truant officer of your school. Usagi always adds to her lateness to Ms. Sakurada's class because she always gets caught and then subjected to a lecture on tardiness.

You could try to sneak into the school but the issue at hand is your shoes. You need to exchange your outdoor shoes for indoor shoes in the entrance hall.

Azul pokes you for your attention.

Oh yeah, you had this guy... he's invisible unless he touches people.

There's a few possibilities that are open to you because of it.

>order Azul to make a distraction, and you'll sneak through the front to get your indoor shoes and exchange outdoor shoes at the shoe lockers. After make your escape up to the second floor. Fastest but most riskiest because you aren't sure if the guidance counselor will take the bait or for how long.
>order Azul to get your indoor shoes, and then take your outdoor shoes to the locker. You can sneak into the school through another entrance. This will take more time than the first option but is safer.
>Just go in and suffer through it, you're already late. What's another few minutes added on that with a lecture?
>Write in

>>4931443
Oh yes, sorry forgot, roll 3d6+2 if you're taking the sneak option.

DC 13 for going in for shoes yourself (1st option)
DC 10 if getting Azul to do the back and forth with shoes (2nd option)

Rolled 5, 4, 5 = 14 (3d6)

>>4931443
>order Azul to get your indoor shoes, and then take your outdoor shoes to the locker. You can sneak into the school through another entrance. This will take more time than the first option but is safer.

>>4931443
>order Azul to make a distraction, and you'll sneak through the front to get your indoor shoes and exchange outdoor shoes at the shoe lockers. After make your escape up to the second floor. Fastest but most riskiest because you aren't sure if the guidance counselor will take the bait or for how long.

>>4931679
Need to roll 3d6+2 to get past a DC 13

Rolled 4, 4, 4 + 2 = 14 (3d6 + 2)

>>4931902

Oh, we have a tie! I'll wait until evening.

Rolled 2, 4, 1 = 7 (3d6)

>>4931443
>order Azul to get your indoor shoes, and then take your outdoor shoes to the locker. You can sneak into the school through another entrance. This will take more time than the first option but is safer.

>>4931499
>>4931679
>>4932261
Guess we're going with the conservative sneak option

File: shoelocker.jpg (1.12 MB, 3648x2736)

1.12 MB JPG

You consider the riskier option of entering the school but realize that it depends on Azul's abilities to make a distraction and how long the student guidance counselor will remain distracted. You have no idea how effective or reliable Azul is or if the target would be away long enough to do what you needed done.

So instead, you decide to go for the option that relies on Azul's proven abilities of invisibility to other people.

And it works like a charm, it is surreal to watch the penguin open the locker and take out your indoor shoes right in front of the teacher. Not a single look of recognition is in the teacher's eyes when the door is opened and the shoes removed.

You exchange your shoes and pass your outdoor shoes to Azul who waddles away to put them in your shoe locker.

Now to get to an alternative entrance. You know there is a window on the ground floor with a busted lock. It's by class 1 - 3, is easy to open silently and is near the stairs going up to the 2nd floor. It's your best bet, and you walk on grass to avoid dirtying your outdoor shoes.

This is all too easy.

You slide open the window and enter the school easily. To ensure that no one realized that this was your entrance, you close the window behind you before going up to the second floor. You are now standing just outside classroom with Azul who was to rendezvous there after he finished his task of storing your outdoor shoes.

'Good job buddy!' You can't help but send a message of praise to him. He waves with flipper as though to say 'piece of cake'.

Now came the second part... how are you going to sneak into class? Was that even possible? You don't think so...

???

File: schoolhallway.jpg (162 KB, 1500x844)

162 KB JPG

>>4932724
You are struck by how noisy the classroom is. There is a great deal of talking despite the fact that class should have started 15 minutes ago. You look at the clock, it is 8:45 a.m. and you can hear Ms. Sakurada struggling to bring order to class and take roll call.

"Harada, Tomio..." You hear Ms. Sakurada call out.

HUH?! By this time, roll call should be over!? Why is it still going? Wait, she's at the HA part? She's still in the middle of the hiragana table, after this it's HI, HE, HU, and HO. She hasn't even reached your name yet!?

"Harada, Tomio. You will answer, you are present!" Ms. Sakurada calls out with frustration.

"If you have two eyes to see, then just mark me down as present! You're not blind, Missy Sakurada." Tomio answers, you can hear it distinctly from within the class.

???

Was that really Tomio? He was sassing the teacher? What's with him?

Well in any case, you got to get into your classroom.

How will you do so?

>Just walk in, you're late...
>Sneak in? Just for fun to see if no one notices? Ms. Sakurada knows clearly you're not in class, but you want to see if you could sneak in better than Usagi. You probably won't succeed. Roll 3d6+2, DC 15
>Tag team sneak in! Get Azul to knock loudly on the second door to the classroom nearest to Ms. Sakurada as a distraction. She'll go to open that door while you slip in. You might succeed without anyone noticing! Roll 3d6+2, DC 13
>write in

Rolled 2, 5, 3 + 2 = 12 (3d6 + 2)

>>4932726
>Sneak in? Just for fun to see if no one notices? Ms. Sakurada knows clearly you're not in class, but you want to see if you could sneak in better than Usagi. You probably won't succeed. Roll 3d6+2, DC 15

Rolled 1, 1, 5 + 2 = 9 (3d6 + 2)

>>4932726
>Sneak in? Just for fun to see if no one notices? Ms. Sakurada knows clearly you're not in class, but you want to see if you could sneak in better than Usagi. You probably won't succeed. Roll 3d6+2, DC 15

If she does catch us, we can play it off by saying that we didn't want to interrupt her or something.

Rolled 5, 5, 6 + 2 = 18 (3d6 + 2)

>>4932726
>Tag team sneak in! Get Azul to knock loudly on the second door to the classroom nearest to Ms. Sakurada as a distraction. She'll go to open that door while you slip in. You might succeed without anyone noticing! Roll 3d6+2, DC 13

>>4932726
>>Tag team sneak in! Get Azul to knock loudly on the second door to the classroom nearest to Ms. Sakurada as a distraction. She'll go to open that door while you slip in. You might succeed without anyone noticing! Roll 3d6+2, DC 13

>>4933225
Hm? No 3d6+2 roll to see if you to an even better roll? Well not that it matters, we have a tie!

I am going to roll odds and evens later if there is no tie breaker!

Rolled 6, 2, 2 + 2 = 12 (3d6 + 2)

>>4933339
fine

Rolled 2 (1d2)

Okay, seems I'll have to tie break.
1 for daring sneak
2 for tag team sneak

I'll post much latter though, probably around 11 pm atlantic time as I have to cook dinner and such

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Ms. Sakurada already knows that you are not in class. After all, she saw the empty seat right in front of Tomio when chewing him out. So this entire exercise was just for fun and making fun of your teacher a little.

You have a wonderful seat, the 2nd last desk by the window while Tomio has the last desk by the window. Everyone in your class envies the prime location of your assigned desk and it will allow this little caper to go off without a hitch.

If everything goes according to plan: Sneaking into class while it's in session and not letting almost anyone know.

You give instructions to Azul to place himself by the door closest to the teacher while you put yourself by the second door that opens to the very back of the class.

Timing is critical in the gambit you are about to partake.

You imagine in your mind a crude plan of action to Azul to give him an idea of what you have planned. It is simple, Azul knocks on the door. It is natural that Ms. Sakurada is going to go and open the door to see who it is. Given the chaos in the classroom, she's likely going to think it was a fellow teacher coming to tell her to quiet her class somehow. There's no way she wouldn't go to open the door.

As she reaches to open the door at the front, you are going to open the door at the back as swiftly as possible and slip in. With luck, the sound of the door will be muffled and the breeze from opening it won't catch the attention of the student sitting nearest to the back door.

As she's distracted and trying to see who knocked by going into the hallway or looking out, you are going swiftly walk to your seat and sit down at your desk. You don't know how much time you have before Ms. Sakurada gives up but you can't be too fast, your body will cause a slight breeze while moving that can catch the attention of people sitting at the back.

The only student who should know of what you pulled off at first, will be Tomio and he will definitely keep quiet. In fact, if you manage to pull this off he'll be very impressed and probably give you a thumbs up.

Ms. Sakurada has no reason to not follow your assumptions. You're reasonably sure of her actions.

It is so nice to have a partner in crime helping you out. If you tried this all by lonesome, chances are that it would fail miserably! It's kind of exciting to try this out.

'Okay Azul, let's get this going!'

The blue penguin salutes you to wish you luck, and he enthusiastically begins to knock on the classroom door at the front.

"Ah, who is it?! I'm so sorry for the noise!" You hear Ms. Sakurada cry out and swiftly walk towards the front door. You hear her foots steps and hear exactly when she stops.

That's it, right now! You open the door swiftly as possible without causing an air disturbance and slip into class.

It was an unqualified success. Not only did no one in the class realize the back door had opened and you slipping in, they are all focused on the front where Ms. Sakurada is.

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>>4934417
"Huh? Who is it? Where are you?" Ms. Sakurada exclaims with surprise. She is being greeted by what looks like an empty hallway, Azul being utterly invisible to everyone but you.

You swiftly and silently walk towards your assigned desk. There's no chance of being heard or noticed. You take a quick look to see what's exactly causing all the chaos in your homeroom class. A number of the boys are lounging in their chairs and not at all being respectful in class.

You can see that Yuuji is eating his lunch at his desk despite the early hour and not giving a damn to his neighboring seatmate who is trying to convince him to put it away.

Wait, was Gurio wearing some sort of suit? Why a suit? He's reading a manga magazine and not paying attention to anything at all too. Occasionally he bursts out into laughter upon reading something funny in the manga.

You don't have time to ponder on what you see, you've got to sit down before Ms. Sakurada decides to give up trying to figure out who knocked and comes back into class.

Approaching your desk, you pass Tomio who is utterly startled by your sudden appearance while you just sit down at your desk quietly. You take out your school stuff and place it on your desk, as though you've been in class this entire time.

Tomio is desperately trying not to laugh aloud and simply gives you a smile.

"Okay, I'm impressed." He whispers to you as you get everything set up.

You smile and feel immensely proud. This was quite the accomplishment, you don't know if any other student in the school had managed sneaking into class while it was in session.

'I owe it to you Azul! Thanks! You don't have to hang around, just come back when it's lunch time! I'll get you a treat!' You mentally tell your penguin, and you feel that he acknowledges your sincere thanks. You sense that he is wandering away from your class, though you don't know where he is heading. Maybe he is going to the clubroom again?

... He probably is, there's porn up there that he left behind.

Bond Azul is up!

You sit and wait at your desk as Ms. Sakurada slams the front classroom door shut and comes back to her desk. She angrily looks down on her roll call list. She isn't even looking up, she didn't see you yet!

She starts calling out names, and when she finally reaches your name.

"Houseki, Ruka... Absent." Ms. Sakurada angrily mutters and is about to mark you down as absent with her pen. That's when you call out.

"Present, Ms. Sakurada!"

The reaction of the class is something you aren't going to forget any time soon. Ms. Sakurada drops her pen in shock and looks up to see that you are sitting at your desk. The class is utterly shocked by your seemingly sudden appearance; no other student other than Tomio had realized you were at your seat. There's absolute pandemonium.

"When did she...?"
"How the heck?"
"She wasn't there earlier!"
"Wow, she really is the ninja of the school."

And so much more.

>>4934418
Tomio is desperately keeping his face as straight as possible.

"RUKA!!!! YOU WEREN'T IN CLASS EARLIER!!! I KNOW IT!!!" Ms. Sakurada sounds super pissed.

Oh wow... you did not think that your little sneak in was going to get her so mad.

"What are you saying? She's always been sitting at her desk Ms. Sakurada. I guess I was wrong, you are blind!"

Some of the boys laugh and give nasty smiles to Ms. Sakurada.

There are definitely tears of frustration in your teacher's eyes; she is red in the face with anger and dismay.

I mean, you just wanted to have a bit of fun at her expense... not make her cry.

"Wow, to think our teacher would resort to tears. The last refuge of a girl!" Tomio jeers.

Whoa, what is with Tomio this morning?

"Hey, what the hell!?" You can't help but turn around to look at Tomio.

"Come on Ruka, she's being so unfair. You've been here since the start of class..." He eggs you on to gaslight your teacher.

He seems... different? There's a harder and crueler look in his eyes. He is really enjoying upsetting Ms. Sakurada.

What do you do?

>Admit to Ms. Sakurada you snuck in... it was for fun! No harm, no foul!
>Play along with Tomio, I mean, it's just a little joke....
>Bap Tomio in the head, remind him, you are a girl...
>Say absolutely nothing
>write in

>>4934420
>Admit to Ms. Sakurada you snuck in... it was for fun! No harm, no foul!

We didn't want to get shouted at since she seemed so frustrated at the rest of the class, that's all.

>Bap Tomio in the head, remind him, you are a girl...

Also, he's being a huge dick in general. That's not cool, bro.

>>4934420
>Admit to Ms. Sakurada you snuck in... it was for fun! No harm, no foul!
>Bap Tomio in the head, remind him, you are a girl...

>>4934420
>Admit to Ms. Sakurada you snuck in... it was for fun! No harm, no foul!
>Bap Tomio in the head, remind him, you are a girl...

>>4934420
>>Admit to Ms. Sakurada you snuck in... it was for fun! No harm, no foul!
>>Bap Tomio in the head, remind him, you are a girl...
"having a bit of fun is fine but i was not trying to make her cry, blockhead"

>>4934485
>>4934739
>>4934900
>>4934931
Due to unfortunate circumstances, the next post will have to be friday. Lots of work lately.

If you have any questions or comments on the quest (like how to improve on it) please tell me. I'll see you friday!

>>4935734
QM, where are u?

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Who are you?

This was the question that immediately pops into your head as you look at Tomio. The voice, the face, the way he gestures and everything else are almost exactly like your childhood friend.

It is the 'almost' part that throws you off. You feel you are looking at a stranger because of all the minor differences that your powers of observation are pointing out to you. The strange arrogant slouch as he sits at his desk, the deliberately cruel words directed at your teacher, the... the...the...

You force yourself to turn away to address your teacher.

"Whoa, calm down Ms. Sakurada. I admit it, I snuck in. I just wanted to see if I could do it and it was for fun. Just for fun. No harm, no foul!" You reassure your angry teacher who calms down but still looks miffed.

She marks you down as present in her roll call and doesn't order the usual punishment, otherwise you'd be out standing in the hallway right now. It seems that your immediate admittance to sneaking in and not joking about how you've always been in class saved you.

"Tch, I'm so disappointed in you Ruka. I thought you had a sense of humor, I guess I expected too much. You were always weak when girls are upset." Tomio mutters to you, .

Your hand is like a guided missile and reaches its target with pinpoint accuracy: the forehead of your childhood friend.

A light thud from the quick bap. There's barely any force in the blow, a painless dope slap. You've given dozens of these to Tomio when he is dumb. In return, Tomio has given dozens of these to you when you do something ridiculous too. The reaction is not the usual though.

Instead, you get an angry glare.

"You trying to pick a fight with me?" Tomio demands in a whisper. You hear Ms. Sakurada continuing with roll call, ignoring how you and Tomio whispering to each other, with grim determination.

"Dude, what is with you today? Why are you being such an edgelord? Did the 2nd year disease finally hit you?" You are confused, just what is wrong with your friend?

"Let's just say I had a strong revelation of the truth yesterday. Real enlightening, like I saw the end of the world and came back." Tomio explains.

"What the heck are you trying to say."

"Girls suck. They're all a bunch of liars. They gossip behind your back, and are completely unreliable. You get mad at them, they cry. They look at me as if I should be flattered by all their attention when they're so annoying and self-centered and..."

>>4939796
Tomio doesn't get to continue on his exposition. You bap him again, with slightly more force behind it than the first bap.

"... Dude, I'm a girl. I never stopped being one." You are more than a little pissed. This isn't like him.

He narrows his eyes at you.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Guess everything I said applies to you as well."

You give him a truly withering glare. You actually consider decking him with a punch but Ms. Sakurada announces in a loud voice that they are finally going to start class.

The two of you don't speak to each other again in the classroom. There is a wall of silence that is impossible to penetrate due to mutual hostility.

As class continues, the behaviour of a Gurio, Yuuji and Tomio do not improve at all. Gurio tosses a volume of manga he finished reading to Tomio and pulls out another one to read. Tomio naps or reads the manga in different intervals. Yuuji just talks or works on drawing stuff at his desk. The three do not pay a single moment of attention to Ms. Sakurada.

Ms. Sakurada finally has enough when Gurio starts laughing hysterically at something in the manga he had been reading for the fifth time.

The transformation of Gurio is extreme. Was this really the rule-abiding, scholastic loving nerd who made copies of his own school notes for you to study with? You haven't even thanked him for his efforts, and you don't really want to get anywhere near him right now. He's personality has done a complete 180, like Tomio who is acting like a girl hating asshole.

As Ms. Sakurada breaks her chalk in half and begins to stomp towards Gurio, she falls. Yuuji had stuck out his leg to make her trip.

"Better watch where you're walking Ms. Sakurada."

This was insanity... Just what the hell was going on? Ms. Sakurada is outraged; the worried looks on your fellow classmates who were not acting like assholes are obvious.

After that, the three boys just up and ditch class while there was still an hour left to go. Class is impossible to concentrate on.

Time goes on and it finally becomes lunch. The students are allowed out to eat. You see Naru talking with Usagi, they're probably planning to eat lunch together.

You miss you Tomio, usually he'd be part of your circle of friends at lunch...

What do you want to do:

>Buy and eat lunch alone, you need to stew in anger
>Try to search for Tomio and confront him
>Hang around Usagi and Naru, they probably want to talk about the weirdness
>Buy your lunch and eat with Aya, you need to vent

Hm, I forgot to say I would post around 8 to 9 pm atlantic time on 4chan but did so on twitter. I'll have to remember to do both.

>>4939799
>>Try to search for Tomio and confront him
Let’s solve the case

>>4939799
Perhaps we can tail Tomio stealthily? He might just be doing delinquent stuff, but that would be too big of a coincidence given all the spooky shit that’s happened to everyone lately. We should be discreet in case there’s a ringleader or mastermind behind this sudden boost in asininity.

as per my tweet
As for posting time, I hope to be awake tomorrow at 8 am Atlantic time and write out the next post.

>>4939799
>Hang around Usagi and Naru, they probably want to talk about the weirdness

>>4939853
>>4939941
>>4940209
I guess we are chasing after Tomio to figure out his deal!
Writing

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You exit the classroom in a foul mood. You are going to track down Tomio and investigate what was wrong with him. Once you can figure out the problem, you can start working on a solution.

As you exit, you see that Azul is patiently waiting by the classroom door. When he sees you, the blue penguin does a happy dance with shining eyes of excitement.

Oh yeah, you had told him that you'd reward him with a treat. Good thing your dad gave you money. You'll do a quick purchase from the cafeteria before snooping on your childhood friend.

Making a quick trip to the cafeteria, you can't help but overhear that the topic of the day is about the weirdness surround a number of boys at school. It affects all the grades from year 1 to year 3 with no discernible pattern.

"Taka dumped his girlfriend, said he needed an upgrade."
"Mitsuya and Kazuno ganged up and fought Tomoki."
"Enta sassed back to the teacher, Mr. Kumata."
"Kagawa-sempai got mad at Horiyama-sempai after that."

Did something happen to Aya? You don't have time to track her down and talk to her.

You've got more reason to figure out what's going on with these boys who suddenly turned delinquent then. Too many, too suddenly, and too weirdly. They have barely anything in common, yet they have banded together to make trouble throughout the school.

You grab curry bread for Azul. It's the most expensive school cafeteria item as his treat. You settle for something healthier. But the key characteristic of both purchases is that they are quick to eat. You don't have time to waste on lunch.

'Hey Azul, we've work to do. Gotta find some idiot boys who turned weird.' You mentally communicate to your partner in crime.

The penguin waves his flipper in acknowledgement as he swallows the curry bread with a rapidity that makes you wonder if he tasted any of it.

Both of you search the school grounds for the Tomio, it seems that he is hanging around Gurio which was extremely odd. The unpopular school nerd and the popular band nerd are not a common duo even if they both came from the same class. It's so distinctive that when you ask around fellow students if they had been seen, every single one of them remembered seeing them at such and such place.

Then those students ask you questions on what was going on with Tomio and if you really managed to sneak into your own class while it were in session.

Oh... Your little stunt is wending its way in the rumor mill. You think you overheard it while you were grabbing lunch. Luckily, you're always able to cut them off and not answer by immediately leaving.

You manage to track down Tomio and Gurio quickly; they are with a gang of boys and standing outside the large windows of the teacher's lounge. You're not quite sure what they have planned but whatever it is, it can't be good.
"Hey, Tomio!" You call out.

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>>4940494
It is eerie to watch the entire gang turn to look at you as though they were all a group of puppets. You had only expected Tomio to. You press on until you get right next to Tomio.

"Oh, it's no-fun Ruka. Just in time, maybe you can redeem yourself. Here." Tomio says and shoves a rock into your hand.

"Why are you handing me a rock!?" You turn the large rock in your hand to look at it, it's a heavy stone with a very sharp edge. You could hurt someone with it if you tried to smash it on someone or throw it.

"You'll see soon enough!" Gurio crows and he tosses the first rock into the window of the teacher's lounge. The sound of shattering glass is quickly increased by the other boys tossing their stones into the windows.

A teacher opens the window in anger.

"What are you doing!?" He demands but he rapidly retreats when he realizes the boys are about reload to throw more stones at the window.

"You sure act big for an utter incompetent!" Gurio shouts back with a nasty laugh before throwing another stone in the window.

You stand with your stone in hand, you've been taken entirely off guard at Gurio's sudden desire to vandalize the school.

"What are you waiting for? Take a toss Ruka! You mind as well, you've been seen with us." Tomio grins at you and points towards the shattered window.

Wait. The teacher saw you standing here with them, rock in hand... Does that now mean all the teachers think you're a part of this? You've been set up by your friend Tomio. You are motionless with shock and disbelief.

You don't give a reply or act until you see that Naru and Usagi are running full tilt towards you.

"Stop right there!" Usagi cries out in indignation.

"Oh no Ruka-chan, don't tell me you've gone crazy too!" Naru says as she sees you still have your rock in hand.

"WHAT?! No!" You drop your rock and point accusingly at Tomio.

"He shoved a rock into my hand. I had no idea they were going to do this!"

The boys all laugh while Tomio just frowns.

"Feh, I guess I was expecting too much from you." Tomio scornfully says.

Gurio on the other hand is now focusing all his attention on Usagi.

"Heya Usagi, why don't we have a kiss?" Gurio smarmily says, he grabs Usagi's hand suddenly to pull her closer. Then places his hand on Usagi's shoulder and leans in for a kiss.

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>>4940495
Usagi looks utterly shocked and frightened; there are tears in her eyes.

Gurio has forgotten a very important fact about Usagi...

But you might want to intervene anyways before it reaches that point, you're not sure.

What do you do?

>You're strong enough, bodily lift Gurio and toss him. roll 3d6, dc 11
>Stop Gurio by sweeping his legs and knocking him down roll 3d6 dc 10
>... Usagi is about to do THAT THING. Cover your ears
>Write in

Rolled 3, 6, 4 = 13 (3d6)

>>4940498
>>You're strong enough, bodily lift Gurio and toss him. roll 3d6, dc 11
"no more ms nice girl, you crossed the last line, jackass"

Rolled 2, 2, 5 = 9 (3d6)

>>4940498
>>You're strong enough, bodily lift Gurio and toss him. roll 3d6, dc 11

>>4940498
>... Usagi is about to do THAT THING. Cover your ears

I may need to cut this short and see a doctor. If you don't hear back from by 10 pm Atlantic time, consider the thread done for the weeks.

Rolled 4, 3, 1 = 8 (3d6)

>>4940498
>You're strong enough, bodily lift Gurio and toss him. roll 3d6, dc 11
Handle him like a bag of potatoes

>>4940694
Don’t die on us qm, take care

>>4940694
DM, where are you, we miss you

>>4945734
The QM has a twitter to follow: >>4920511

Basically, he had to go to the doctor and had to recover for a few days. The continuation of this thread will occur hopefully on this Friday.

>>4948256

New thread for our quest!
Join us there!