thenearshore | 006 | High School Debut

Entry tags:

006 | High School Debut

Who: Everyone!
What: Substitute teaching
When: All day April 5
Where: A large public school in Tokyo
Summary: There are too many teachers sick and the Far Shore residents need to help fill in!

For some reason or another, many teachers have gotten sick just as the new school year is starting! In a panic, the school is seeking out every substitute teacher they can find, which is still not enough, and so the gods have to step in as reinforcements. And the Heavens are insisting on Far Shore residents helping strictly because this sickness seems so darn suspicious.

So anyone who looks old enough is being asked to step in as a substitute teacher and anyone who looks young enough is being asked to blend in as a new student, all to help the school and find out what exactly is causing this mysterious illness plaguing only the teachers of this school. There are many subjects open to teach and all Far Shore residents are expected to act as if they properly belong in this school while conducting their investigation. That means you'll have to teach properly or attend classes, depending on which role you've taken on.

Some gods might even find it useful to try and get information out of students by possessing one of their own, therefore guaranteeing the trust of the others around them. It's all up to you how you choose to investigate!

Newcomers will find the following note in their pockets as they are transferred to the school:

Greetings and apologies for the strange introduction.

I am sure you have many questions and concerns, but you have appeared at a very inconvenient time. Please attempt to help us, if you can, and we will reward you to the best of our abilities.

If you have any questions, you can seek out the counselor. Too many students underestimate what a good counselling session can do towards helping to alleviate their fears and uncertainties.

Kindest regards,
☼ Amaterasu ☼

Classes

Being a big school, there are dozens of different subjects available. As teachers, you can practically teach anything you would like to, and as students you are facing a constant stream of completely different kinds of information. Maybe the school needs to tone it down a bit on how many different subjects they offer...

Hallways

The hallways are always a great place to mingle and get to know the other students in the school. You'll see all sorts in the hallways, ranging from the beautiful girls being followed by their fanboys all the way to the delinquents who are promptly making their way away from the classrooms for the rest of the day. Hopefully somebody around here will be able to give you a heads up as to what's going on.

Lunch

Lunchtime is the easiest time to gather gossip and information. Whether you are staying in the classroom with a bento or heading to the cafeteria to wrestle for some bread or spending your lunch in the faculty room with the rest of the not-sick teachers, you will find that both the students and the faculty are more prone to chatting during lunch. And a lot of them talk about a curse laid on the school because of the late principal...

Counselling

Surprisingly enough, there is a white-robed shinki in the counselling office of the school, and the golden chrysanthemum of Amaterasu can be found on her tunic as well as on the door to her small personal office. Oddly, all of the other students and faculty keep passing the door by, but the counselling shinki simply continues to smile gently all the same.

FINAL BOSS

Turns out there is something causing the illness in the teachers, and it's an exceedingly large ayakashi, one so large that no single god could possibly take it down. You'll have to all work together to weaken it enough for the rending to work on it.

The battle for the FINAL BOSS will be posted on the OOC date of July 17, all threads involving destroying him should go there when it is posted. All other events leading up to the FINAL BOSS battle should slowly build to figuring out that an ayakashi is at work.

In Summary:

Blend in
Make sure to go to class
Don't forget lunch!
Investigate the illness
Seek counselling if you need it
Defeat the FINAL BOSS
Have fun~

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Pretty much.

[ The room looks like an art studio, with easels and stools set up all around in a semi-circle. In the center of the room is a slightly raised platform. Konzen walks to the window and peers outside. It's sunny and so damn normal looking, with kids spilling out into the courtyard for lunch break. The sakura trees have already been turning green. ]

I saw Goku, [ he says, still watching the children. He might as well just get to it. ]

I'm sorry.

[ He feels bad saying something as cheap as that, there really aren't words that would help in a situation like this. Konzen, more than anyone in their group, must feel awful after finding Goku here... dead and without memories.

He plops down on a stool and lets his gaze drift around the classroom as he keeps talking. ]

I managed to learn some things about his situation after everything we went through but... like I said, it's all pretty shitty. You might be happier not knowing the details.

[ I'm sorry. That must mean that Kenren has met him already too. At least he doesn't have to explain that Goku is dead. But he still feels a pain, thinking about it. It's never going to go away. He stares outside for a few minutes, pondering what Kenren says.

Maybe he would be happier, knowing less. If heaven did get its way in the end, there's no telling how cruelly they have dealt with the one they labeled heretic. Konzen never knew the depths of their fear and hate before. He looks down at his palm, no longer chafed from the cord he grabbed hold of in that elevator shaft. Perhaps he didn't hold on tight enough. ]

... I know.

[ He finally turns around, looking at Kenren with sad but determined eyes. ]

Tell me.

[ Kenren holds his gaze for exactly five seconds, saying nothing, but simply thinking about what Gojyo had told him before is enough to make him lower his eyes. He fixes his vision on a random spot on the floor. ]

It's been five hundred years since we rebelled, and... after whatever it is that happened with you guys happened...

[ He takes a deep breath. Exhales. ]

Goku was locked in a cave. He spent those five hundred years there, until your double found him and let him out.

[ Kenren looks away and something foreboding drops in the pit of Konzen's stomach. He knows it must be bad and yet, nothing could prepare him for what he hears next. ]

What...?

[ Five ... hundred years. Five hundred years. For him it was gone in the blink of an eye. But Goku ... ]

I don't understand. He was ... he was ...

[ In a cave. For five hundred years. Alone? How could this have happened? His legs feel weak. He presses his hand to the wall behind him, but he can't. Konzen slides down the wall and to the floor. There are no words. He can't breathe. He presses his fingers to the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes for a moment to stop his world from spinning. ]

[ He can see Konzen sliding down to the floor out of the corner of his eye and he hates it. There's nothing he can do or say to make Konzen feel better about this, so instead he keeps his eyes fixed on the floor. Konzen would probably hate being seen like this. ]

Yeah... I know.

Gojyo—the guy who looks like me said Goku didn't remember anything but the cave when he was found.

[ He sits there for a few minutes, trying to get his head around the whole mess, but it's not really helping. He's devastated. Even more so than when he first realized that Goku was in fact dead. A punishment so prolonged and cruel, he can't even imagine the things Goku must have felt. It takes him a while before he finally speaks again. ]

Didn't remember ...?

[ Konzen pulls his knee up to put an elbow against it. He needs to feel grounded right now. His fingers slide up to press against his forehead as his eyes flutter back open. They gaze out into a spot of sunlight on the floor. ]

Was that part of his punishment, too?

[ Kenren doesn't know whether Konzen is looking at him right now or not, but he shakes his reflexively. ]

I don't know, I didn't talk much about it with Gojyo, so...

[ A beat. ]

The whole cave thing is cruel, Goku didn't deserve any of that shit when he never asked to be taken to Heaven in the first place, but him not being able to remember... that might be for the best. Even if it hurts.

[ Seiten Taisei or not, Goku was also a child. A child who had to see the people he loved slowly dying around him, all for the sake of protecting him. ]

[ In the end, it doesn't really matter if it was meant as a punishment. It is what it is. And maybe Kenren is right ... it's probably for the best. As much as it pains him to think so. Having so many die on your behalf can't be easy. He didn't want to leave him there, alone. ]

So even if he wasn't a shinki ... he wouldn't have remembered us anyway.

[ It still doesn't bring much comfort. He glances up to look at Kenren again. ]

And what about you...?

[ Konzen can guess what happened, and doesn't necessarily want the details. Bit he feels like he ought to ask, anyway. ]

Edited (added stuff, formatting) 2016-07-26 23:25 (UTC)

As far as I understood, yeah... he wouldn't have.

[ He hadn't wanted to ask more about it when Gojyo mentioned it. It wasn't as if they could do anything to change the past, so knowing more than that could be needlessly painful. ]

Me?

[ Kenren finally turns to look at him. He can more or less guess what Konzen is asking about, but he'd rather not assume. Moreover, he's pretty sure Konzen doesn't want to hear all of the unpleasant details about his death. Nobody should want to know that. ]

[ Somehow though, Goku remembers his name. Unless someone else named him the same way again, but that sounds too much like fate, and Konzen doesn't really believe in fate. No, Goku remembered his name and nothing more. A piece of him from his time in heaven that he keeps, no matter how unconsciously. It'll have to be enough.

Konzen's eyes meet Kenren's and a long moment passes in silence. He knows. Litouten had said as much. He hadn't been sure what to believe then, but he can be more certain now. His expression is somewhere between sadness and gratitude and maybe a touch of annoyance, because that kind of heroism -- it's one thing when you're the one throwing your life on the line for someone else; but another altogether when you're on the receiving end of it.

Does Kenren know how hard it is for those you leave behind? ]

... thank you.

[ And fuck you. But he doesn't say that part. ]

[ Oh.

That actually leaves him at a loss. He wasn't wrong in his assumptions, but he also wasn't prepare for... well. This.

He chuckles nervously and then covers his mouth. If Konzen is paying close attention he might be able to see the upper part of his cheeks turning bright pink. ]

Nnnn—mmfhh. [ Incoherent mumbling. It's hard to talk when you have your hand on your mouth. ]

[ Even if things didn't quite turn out the way they had hoped, it doesn't diminish the fact that Kenren tried. Goku doesn't even remember, so Konzen will say the words in his place. He does see that pink on Kenren's face, and he blinks in surprise. What did the idiot expect? But Kenren shouldn't get too uncomfortable, because this isn't the sort of thing Konzen plans on speaking very often. ]

Took you advice, by the way.

[ When in doubt, go for the nuts, Kenren had said. It worked, in a pinch. It got him and Goku past the guards and into the gate room. Konzen might be smirking, just a little. ]

[ Kenren blinks, he feels like he should know what Konzen is talking about just from his smirk...

—wait, did he really?! ]

Did you...?

[ Konzen tilts his head at that. Why should Kenren be that surprised? He's the one who told him to. Or did he think Konzen didn't have it in him? ]

What? It worked.

[ Kenren snorts at that. ]

Well, of course it did! Man, now I'm sad I missed it—the beautiful image of Konzen Douji crushing some asshole's nuts.

You'll have to do it again while I'm around.

[ Somehow, he can't be mad at Kenren for wanting to be amused by Konzen's crotch kicking skills. As far as Konzen's concerned, he's earned the right. Still, his eyebrow twitches a little. ]

Maybe I will. I'm sure there's enough assholes here.

[ Which isn't even a joke. If heaven is involved in this in any shape, that means shit will happen eventually. ]

You have any ideas on who's running this...whatever it is?

Talked to some shinki earlier. I guess "Amaterasu" is in charge, whoever the hell that is.

That's one asshole you could kick. I'll help.

[ Amaterasu is no god that Konzen has ever heard of. He frowns a bit. ]

Hn. If they're in charge, then they're obviously up to no good.

[ And if any of them had a hand in bringing Goku here... ]

Yeah, we'll need to look more into it when we can.

[ No "ifs" about this, they all have too many feelings on broken systems to shrug all of this off. ]

From one rebellion to another...

[ Tell him about it. Konzen isn't sure what to feel. At least their last rebellion made some sense. This one ... he's not even sure who's they're fighting, or why. Just that everything is screwed up. ]

I want to help, [ he says, with the kind of determination that he's never really had before. Before Goku, anyway. What he can do, he doesn't know. But he's not going to sit back and let things just happen, this time. ]

[ They may be far from what they used to call their home and Goku may not remember them anymore, but one thing's for sure: The way he changed Konzen is permanent and that makes him happy. ]

Yeah, of course. We'll need all the help possible.

[ But particularly the help of trustworthy people, like Konzen. ]

[ For a moment, he thinks that maybe Kenren might say to him the same thing Gojun did. What can you do? But Kenren doesn't.

The fact remains that his abilities are limited. But they don't always have to be. He nods at him, feeling appreciative. ]

I should try to get in touch with the hag, if she's still around.

The Merciful Goddess?

[ Kenren blinks in surprise. Well, that's one thing he hadn't considered before, but which could really clear up a few things. ]

[ Yes, the Merciful Goddess. How many hags do you know, Kenren? ]

She might have some ideas of what's going on. She usually does.

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