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"Hi, this is Tsukishima Kei. I'm not here right now, so please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
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"Hi, this is Tsukishima Kei. I'm not here right now, so please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
▶ CALL
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[His name catches in Yachi's throat as she chokes on her sobs. She sees him immediately, wide eyes fixed on the door, the trauma of the tentacled creature's attack so fresh in her mind that every person's entering and exiting the room was almost mistaken for another coming attack.
She's on her feet when Tsukishima finds her, but it looks like she hasn't moved from the spot since that... that thing came for one of them. The hand that he grabs dangles limply, the other hand barely gripping her phone tight enough to keep it from slipping when he pulls her to go. And when she does start to move, her knees hurt-- one step and then another-- it felt very strange-- how long had she been standing there that the blood slowly creeping across the cafeteria floor had already touched her shoes.
There was so much blood.]
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how do you even do that here, though? that blood isn't fake. someone, somewhere is crying. the other students were staring at them, their dislike absolutely visible in their eyes. he pulls her close towards him, a hand gripping her shoulder tight as he moves her away from the mess. truth be told, he feels like crying, too. feels like he's not gonna live long in this place enough to see himself go home, feels like there's a definite need to lash out in anger at someone, anyone who'll take it. this school. this goddamned school.
he gets her out of the cafeteria easily enough, after grabbing a bunch of kleenex for her, using his height and glare to basically move people out of the way. he doesn't know where to lead yachi. the gym seems obvious enough, but it's a fairly long walk at her state.
out in the courtyard, then. far away from where the regular students of this school seem to be stalking the halls in packs. he hands her a kleenex to wipe her tears with, and then gets down on his knees to wipe the blood from her shoes. quietly, he tells her - ]
I'm working with a few other students to figure out what's happening in this school.
It's slow work, and I admit, we don't exactly have much. But - we'll find a way out. I promise.
[ he doesn't exactly sound confident in it, but he's calm enough as he says it, even as his hands shake as he throws the bloody tissues away before returning to her side. how does one fight against a monster. how. is that why the doors have been opening and closing all this time? that thing - had that thing been looking for those students? he doesn't know what to think. he has too many thoughts in his head, none of them good. ]
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...Yachi is quiet as she listens to Tsukishima talk, his voice sounding so far away. Eventually her eyes are dry, and too many tissues pass under her nose to stem the flow and try to hide trembling lips. She needs to look at something that wasn't blood and that terrible screaming face and the room that she will never return to, so her eyes open and turn up at Tsukishima.]
......I want to help. I want to... [not fight, she doesn't think she could ever fight, or stand the sight of blood spilt, even from some monster undeserving of sympathy] be able to do something. Anything.
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[ he doesn't say it harshly; it's just a fact at this point that so many people are so confused, so afraid, and so worried about these students - he can't imagine what it was like for those who were close to them - and that a lot of them would move rashly. tragedy always makes people do terrible things.
he keeps his fingers pressed against each other as he leans against the wall, closing his eyes as he inhales, opens them again as he lets out a deep sigh. ] The problem is that the deaths are too recent for anyone to think clearly about what to do next - especially when we don't even know what we're dealing with. Or how to deal with it at all.
The other students clearly have it out against us, too. I don't know what happened before that those students were killed, but ... they must've known something. Or done something. Who knows. [ he frowns, and keeps at it, thinking through the events as far as he knows. ]
If it were just that someone or something was out for blood - surely more of us would've died. But the fact that it took it this long to move ..... it's clearly capable of thinking, somehow.
[ what a frightening opponent ..... ]
From now on, wherever you go - don't go alone. My class is near yours, and we're in the same club, so we can walk together for those, at least. You'll have to hire a girl to go with you to the toilets, but girls go to toilets in groups anyway.
[ AT LEAST. IN HIS EXPERIENCE. he may or may not be trying to make a joke, ah .... ]
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This courtyard, especially, wasn't somewhere she wanted to be, not after what happened to Tsukishima. The number of other students out here were few in comparison to inside the school walls, but the bodies clumped together like a pack of lions, and Yachi couldn't even look at their faces for the severe aura that emitted from them even across the flowerbeds.
Nobody knows what to do. It is dangerous here, and they didn't have the luxury of time. But she trusted in Tsukishima-- he was smart, he could figure something out.
She stands closer now, speaking softly as to not allow the native students to hear for suspicion. He wasn't there when it happened, but maybe he could make something out of the little information there was.]
The boy they took...right before it took him, everything fell quiet, and I could hear his scream too clearly. It was high, like his voice cracked, and he looked small. The thing came out of the kitchen, and he was standing nowhere near it, and it went straight for him, threw him against the wall, and... That. ...If it's because he knew something, then he must have told somebody else if it was important, but it was just him who... got caught.
[It can't be because he "looked weak", right...? Because you know who else looked weak? This girl here, shaking in her shoes as if she'd gotten caught in a blizzard without a coat.]
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he doesn't have time to finish that thought, however, as he notices some of the more regular students walking towards their way, and he gestures for yachi to follow him again and make their way to the gym. it's no use making themselves visible to them by staying in one place; at least the gym is more or less populated by people they know. ]
We won't know now. But .... I suspect it won't take long for more of us to be taken by this creature, too.
[ he's doing a good job of keeping calm for her, but he's tense, the line of his muscle visible along the side of his throat as he grits his teeth quietly. he wants answers from someone responsible, someone from the staff, no matter how futile it feels to question them regarding this damned school.
he considers yachi's suggestion of a fort earlier. ] We'll do what we can to secure the gym, with whatever equipment we can find.
[ he looks at her, lips pursing in a thin line, and then, very gently - ] I can't promise we'll be safe. You've been there, you saw what happened to that guy. And I highly doubt we'll be able to figure out a way to kill that thing anytime soon. The least we can do is to support each other and make sure that our lives go on just fine, despite everything else.
It's not much, but everyone needs a bit of something normal right now after that event .... it won't cost us much to provide, either, so it's well worth the effort to try. Whether through volleyball or otherwise.
[ a tilt of the head. ] I think I remember someone offering first aid stuff back in the bulletin board. I'm gonna check on that again; it might be useful in the future. [ might be something she'd want to learn, too. ]
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She doesn't know whether hiding would be effective either; they could move the desks out of the second floor classrooms and barricade the gymnasium door, but they could only last so long without food or water and sending scouts out to retrieve supplies would be like sending them to their deaths.
And the faceless students were definitely not their friends, but it had always been indifference, ignoring any attempt to talk or touch, not this open hostility and the look of those out for blood. Yachi suddenly felt an intense fear of those students, congregating about the garden exits looking to grab another sacrifice for their demon overlord. But we are the ones who are scared, we are the ones who should be angry... Look what happened to one of ours...
She was always like this, she couldn't help but think of the worst. And now the worst has come. Who knows how many deaths were piling up as they speak, the monster finally on the loose? She had to-- Think!! Someone who could help, somebody who--]
The gardener! He might-- he was spraying the garden before, right? You don't need that much for bugs, if it can make people sick so fast and so badly, but maybe he was trying to kill the monster and it ran and got loose inside the school?? Maybe he knows about it?! Maybe he hasn't turned mean yet??! We should talk to him!
[She is scared and babbling and who knows if the guy would be any help but what if it helps??]
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and as far as he knows, despite all the fights, and the fact that someone just died in the cafeteria that day, none of the staff seems to care .... no, that's not right. a crime has just been committed in the cafeteria; surely someone will come? someone will help?
yachi isn't being as unresponsive as before, however, and her worrying about whether or not she was right or wrong about the janitor is better than just watching her cry, so at the very least, even if kei thinks it's not really worth the effort - he nods. ]
There might be something in that.
We'll ask. [ he looks her over, and hands the last bit of kleenex that he'd taken from the caf to her. ] But not right now. [ rather simply, ] I'm worried about you. Oikawa is running after everyone else, trying to make sure nobody's alone or hurt.
It might be better if we just rest for a bit, and then we'll see what we can find out about this ... this murder.
[ because that's what it was, really, even if the word gives him chills as soon as he'd said it. they're staying in a school that's capable of murdering its own for no discernable reason. it makes his heart beat crazy in fear and his palms sweat even as he'd balled them into fists earlier. ]
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I'll be fine in the gym-- there's open space where They can't sneak up and corner others easily. I hope Oikawa doesn't run into trouble finding people...
[Like they would be soon, if they didn't get out of the courtyard. People were already trying to break down the kitchen door, lashing out at the faceless students in the cafeteria, but Yachi didn't want confrontation here. The closest thing for a weapon or something to defend themselves would be a handful of dirt as smokescreen, or a tree branch if the sakura tree wasn't so far away and right in the middle of the courtyard she didn't want to get caught in the middle of.]
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[ he wonders if the equipment they have will be enough to hide from this monster. would it even make a difference? he doubts it does. but it gives other people a reason to move and to feel like they're doing something, and that's better than cowering in the shadows and being afraid of every single student that didn't seem to be just all there.
the random violence against some of the regular students continues around them as kei watches a group fight amongst each other in the distance. he walks briskly, slowing down every now and then to make sure yachi can follow , as they head towards the gym. ]
There doesn't seem to be any teachers or staff around that's stopping them. [ he's a bit worried about that. if this isn't enough to alert the teachers to something, then what will? ]
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She would feel better being surrounded by people-- people with faces, with rational thought and compassion and none of this meaningless blood thirsty drive-- so the thought of getting to the gym sustains her, as if it were a save point in a game right before the boss battle.]
Maybe they're busy inside the school... There's a lot more students than staff... [But that didn't excuse the lack of announcement over the speakers; surely the staff can acknowledge the problem through that, even if they were hindered elsewhere? The teachers don't care. She feels so lost at that thought, it can't be right, they were going to help, they were just caught up in something bigger. ...Bigger than the cafeteria murder? It scared her.]
Tsukishima.... What... happened at the library? [It was one of the first things he said before they met up. But did she really want to know?]
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[ or when someone's been dragged to their deaths. there's protocols for these things, right? as there always is every time something tragic happens, whether an earthquake or a stabbing. there's letters that are printed from the main office to be handed out to the parents. teachers herd them to their classrooms and offer an explanation or a talk in the end about how times are changing and people have to be more careful than ever, and so on. inugami's no academy he's ever heard of, but surely even a regular school as this one should have at least something to address recent events?
because those small gestures of normalcy are what keeps the school and staff functioning healthy, normal lives in the school, that's why he's counting on inugami to do their part, except that it's not happening, and what does that say about this school? too many things to note, none of them good. he's worried about everyone.
despite being in the same boat, he can't help but think that not all of them who weren't regular students in this school mean the same thing where survival is concerned. some of them - must want it more than others - and some of them are a lot stronger than the others are -
he purses his lips into a thin line, presses his fingers together as he recalls the incident in the library. ]
There was a stabbing. Someone's eye was gouged out. [ to name a few.
the students were vicious. not unlike wild animals. it makes him nervous just to think about it, but he didn't want to add more given that yachi was already stressed out to begin with. ]
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[They probably didn't even have one.
What school kidnaps their students, hires unintelligible teachers, doesn't even provide dormitories, etc etc etc?? It was clear right from the start that Inugami was just a school by name, but to messed up to this extent? Not even all the scary movies Yachi's watched (eyes closed) or books she's read (pages skipped) to harden herself against this sort of stuff could prepare her for this.
A stabbing, somebody losing an eye, her imagination is always so vivid and spot-on on recreating scenarios she might have to face in the future (she doesn't want to think about it, not this), but they were students! Students harming students! Not the usual schoolyard tussle between hotheaded guys trying to show off, but students their age out for blood, out to kill.
Her mouth opens. Closes. Tries to breathe. It's almost ridiculous, isn't it? This whole scenario? Too outlandish, she almost expects Tsukishima to wake her up at any moment and laugh and say she's been imagining things from staying under the sun too long.
aha...haha...
Forcing a laugh hurts, and tears spring into her eyes again. She was good at deluding herself and pretending everything's okay, but not like this. This was a riot situation, wasn't it? Keep your head down, lock arms with your family so you don't get separated, walk calmly and don't attract attention. This is common sense, Tsukishima knows this and it's what they've been doing, moving quietly and steadily out of the courtyard to the gym.
The only problem is, there is no exit.]
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[ he'd be angrier, but - he just lets yachi laugh, desperately, until she ends up crying again. he's got nothing else to give her now, having used up all the tissues earlier. so he decides to hide his anger better, to quietly fold his negative emotions into a tightly warped coil. he'll figure out a way to let loose later. right now, he needs to be strong, he needs to be calm. that's what people always look to him for, right?
what a nightmare. nowhere to run but the same little storage room they've learned to call home for days now. and a thousand different faces outside of the gym's walls who hate their kind, and whom they can't trust to not be clumsy with their lives. their only salvation was that they weren't alone, but that's not really that much considering they can die .... and the school will take whatever it wants in the end, by force if it has to, or through monsters lurking in the dark and in every corner ....
kei sighs. ]
All they're good for is to keep appearances. It's clear that as far as safety goes, the things the school reacts to aren't exactly the kinds of things that will protect us .....
.... we need to think about ways to outsmart them. But we have to be careful. [ even as they're making their way to the gym, where fewer and fewer of the regular students are seen, kei gives some of them a cold look as they pass by the classes. ] As far as I'm concerned, I don't think any of them are human, or even care enough to pretend to be one.
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[How to outsmart an unknown opponent that severely outnumbered them and had them surrounded? Yachi wishes she had her notebook so she can jot down ideas and organize her thoughts and try to be of more help to the others in their situation, but all she can do now is talk in a low whisper, speaking more to take her mind off the deathtrap of a school.]
You mean like a trap? Like littering the bulletin board and when the janitor comes to clean it up we can hold him hostage or try to get him to talk or, or dressing up a dummy in a uniform as bait so the monster takes it by accident, only it's filled with sharp stuff like pencils and rulers so it gets stuck in its throat like a fish bone and chokes, or lure the faceless students into the classrooms and we barricade the doors from the outside and reclaim the school, or--
[ah. she was babbling.]
................no, they'll just get mad. They'll definitely get mad. They'll kill me just for thinking that.
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[ a sigh as he finishes shooting down her ideas one by one, as logical and as reasonable as he can since yachi had gone off in her nervousness and had of course imagined the worst for everything. it's the problem of being smart, kei thinks. the problem is that you literally never stop thinking of alternatives, and of course if you're not careful things just keep getting worse and worse. so he decided to nip those concerns in the bud.
it's probably not the kindest way of managing things, but he doesn't feel like kindness is needed at this moment. some rationality, probably. they've had their moment early on. ]
.... we'll figure out something.
[ he'd add 'don't worry' but that'd be lying at its worst.
as it stands, the gym looms before them, and kei opens the door for her as they go in. ]
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She doesn't need somebody to indulge her in fantasy and humor her whims-- her words are simply means of comforting herself, after all, and she never expected to be taken seriously.
They were high school students, hostages and monsters are the stuff of movies and nightmares and the tiniest false move meant somebody could get hurt. But, looking around the gym at all the people who gathered there-- scared and lost, sure, but of all different backgrounds and experiences-- they weren't alone, were they? Yachi has never faced anything as large as this before, but even during the most dire moment of her life in joining Karasuno's volleyball club, she was not alone.]
Yeah. I'll... go talk with others too. We'll come up with a plan, somehow.
[Yachi will worry regardless, but worrying won't stop her. Gathering people, getting help, supporting a team so they can function with fewer worries were all part of a manager's job.]