[School Repeat Investigation Log]

[sweetdeath]

Who: Tsuzuki Asato and all other planned participants!
Where: The school from the April 5th ayakashi attack
When: April 18th
What: Log for Tsuzuki's planned school investigation. There are still questions he'd like to see answered. Here is where they'll go work it out!
Warnings: None at the moment; will update if this changes!

[It's a normal-looking Monday morning at the school... so normal that it's as if the events of a week and a half ago never happened. It seems like there are more students here than before, and the rest of the teachers have returned from their sick leave and can be seen in the classrooms or keeping order in the halls.

The school year is winding swiftly down towards its end, as the last of the Near Shore cherry blossoms fall and tulips bloom in the flowerbeds on the school grounds.

But what really did happen here? And why?

There are a few new faces here, ready to find out....]

Comments

[leggierissimo]

Ah, is that so? They seemed enamored with him before. That must have been brainwashing.

[Nothing surprising, though. Joshua lifts a hand, waving it off.]

Lots of gossip, but unfortunately nothing that pertains to our investigation. The teacher's lounge is like a TV drama waiting to happen, though.

[sweetdeath]

Maybe so. It could've been part of the spell... I guess.

[He half-grins at the mention of the teacher's lounge, and glances over at Joshua.] Just from all the gossip, huh? You can't even have been in there that long! We just got here an hour ago.

[leggierissimo]

I guess we'll just have to see what we can find out, hm?

[Coming back from the waving motion, his fingers stop at his hair, pushing at a curl.]

I don't need long to pick up on that sort of thing. So much of it is unspoken, but a skilled people-watcher can pick up anything.

[sweetdeath]

Oh yeah? Maybe I should be getting you to help me out, huh?

[He laughs, rubbing a hand over the back of his head.] Though if somebody's using magic to change their minds about this guy, I guess we can't rely on what they feel about him now any better than what they used to.

[leggierissimo]

Well, if there's still someone here capable of changing the minds of other people, we just need to weed them out. Otherwise, if no one turns up with that capability, we'll know that the students and remaining Near Shore faculty were brainwashed before. It might not hurt to check the students as well as the teachers, too, and possibly cross-reference memories and actual records to see if there's anything regarding students or teachers leaving since the attack.

[Joshua smirks, tilting his head and glancing back at the teachers' lounge.]

Besides, you did say you wanted a demonstration, didn't you?

[sweetdeath]

A demonstration, huh?

... Sure, I could go for that. [Tsuzuki raises his eyebrows in interest. Joshua's thinking through this pretty well. Students and teachers leaving since the attack...]

You know, if we find somebody who's left and come back, that'd probably be all the proof we need. They wouldn't have been there for any of the brainwashing.

[leggierissimo]

[Hmm...]

I'd say a teacher would be your best bet for that, really. There were more teachers gone than there were students. Though, I'm interested to know what exactly that 'strange illness' was...

[He motions with his head at the lounge door.]

Take your pick. I think it would be easy enough to find a face that wasn't here before.

[sweetdeath]

Well, yeah, but the strange illness hit right before we got here. If the new guy was using some kind of spell that didn't work on everyone...

Let's give it a shot, though! C'mon.

[He heads for the teacher's lounge door, pulling it open and gesturing Joshua through.]

After you.

[leggierissimo]

I suppose we'll just have to see.

[Joshua nods, moving through the doorway and standing to the side. The teachers seem to generally be too preoccupied to notice, at least. And here he thought that the door opening would be enough.

Ah. Well, now that he's seeing it, he has to agree with the one teacher that had disapproved of another's fashion choice du jour. Those colors don't match at all.]

[sweetdeath]

Hey! [Tsuzuki steps towards the teacher nearest the door, a guy in a plain suit with a really unfortunate tie, and raises a hand to wave a friendly and hopefully attention-getting couple of times.] Hey, sorry to bug you between classes like this. Did you catch that nasty bug a week and a half ago? You know, around exams?

[It takes two waves before the teacher's eyes focus on him, and he frowns in mild confusion. Almost the entire faculty was out, he answers. Yes, I was too. Who are you?]

-- Oh, I'm from, uh, the Ministry of Health! It seemed like a highly contagious strain. We're just tracking it down. Can you tell me if anything unusual happened before you got sick?

[Not that I can remember. The principal was pushing to close up our extracurricular classes in favor of academics, but you wouldn't care about that--

Tsuzuki waves a hand to stop him.]

Yeah, I would! How did the student body feel about that?

[We were losing enrollment, the teacher says, with a scowl of remembered disapproval.]

... And he's gone now, right? Did he resign?

[That time, the teacher frowns, as if he can't exactly recall. After a few seconds, with a new note of hesitation in his voice, he says, Well... he's gone now. Good riddance.]

[leggierissimo]

[While Tsuzuki talks, Joshua stands off to the side, listening in on the conversation. Their general invisibility is a blessing, since he doubts any "students" would be allowed in here, but inside like this he can see exactly who is paying attention and who he needs to tune in to.

Tsuzuki can handle the verbal answers just fine, but Joshua is listening for the mental responses. Not only the teacher that's speaking, but a nearby teacher that has also noticed the conversation and is simply listening in. The teachers had been extremely disapproving of the principal even taking the position, it seems... And he really can't agree with what it seems the principal was trying to do. Academics are all well and good, but not giving creative outlets is a terrible idea. Maybe he's just biased.]

I bet the principal caused the illness to keep the teachers from fighting his decisions. Ask about the students that didn't enroll. Have they all returned?

[sweetdeath]

What about the students who left? If he's gone now, are they back?

[Yes, mostly, the teacher says, nodding. I don't do enrollment but I know there were a few in my homeroom who showed up again last week. Wait a minute. A frown slowly works its way across his face, as he stops and peers at Tsuzuki.

What does this have to do with the Health Department?]

Uh -- tracking ... um, infection vectors...? [Tsuzuki improvises hastily. It doesn't seem to have much effect on the suspicious scowl on the teacher's face.]

[leggierissimo]

[... ah. He's catching on. Joshua figured it would happen sooner or later. One moment, let him do a little maintenance work. A bit of clever clipping here and there... It's more difficult than it normally would be, but he can manage. With enough effort, it's like the teacher didn't even catch that quick improvisation.]

Try again. Let him know you're investigating whether any of the students had taken ill, too. If none of the students that remained took ill, and if the ones that left have returned unscathed, they must have all avoided infection. Thank him for his time and information before he gets more suspicious.

[sweetdeath]

[The suspicion has leaked out of the guy's expression, replaced by that same helpful concern he'd had to begin with. Joshua'd done something just now. Tsuzuki's sure of it -- but he's not going to waste the effort.]

Hey, thanks. We're trying to see if any of the students caught the same thing. Those kids who came back to your class -- none of them seemed sick, right?

[This time, the teacher doesn't look suspicious. He slowly shakes his head.

All of the students seem well. Oh, we've seen a few colds, but nothing serious.]

Okay -- thanks for your time!

[He darts a did-I-do-that-right glance at Joshua as the teacher nods and turns back to his desk.]

[leggierissimo]

[Perfect. Joshua nods in approval, lifting a hand to the bridge of his nose and pinching it. That could have gone worse if he didn't still have certain benefits from home.

He at least gives a moment for the teacher to forget that Tsuzuki was even there before he goes over anything.]

Well, I guess we found out something, at least.

[sweetdeath]

Yeah, I think we can pretty much say the illness was deliberate at this point. If the kids didn't get sick but almost all the teachers were out, they have to have.

Psyche saw some charms in here on the desks when she was looking around last time. [He glances around.] I think she's checking for leftover charms. Those could've been part of a spell.