Saturday, July 24, 2021

Chapter 12 Episode 6: Infection 3

Have you heard? Has anyone told you? Someone woke up and chose literal violence over at Kabukicho again. That's been happening a lot lately. It's almost like terrorist level lately, so I dunno what'll happen if it breaks out at school too. I can't even sleep at night anymore. All the news has been terrible lately, so maybe something else has been happening. Some freak has been going on about Tokyo being destroyed soon and having a prophecy that save them from it, but there's no way anyone can know what the future has in store 100% correctly. If you've got something like that, then you may as well give me the week's weather and sports lotto numbers. Or maybe tomorrow's stock prices. Though...maybe this one guy is legit? They say he's been right on everything. On another note apparently all the violent crimes happening are because of actors pretending to be natives and Transients. Have you heard? Has anyone told you?
 
Ellie then starts taking over narration, and she describes herself as a student who attends Kabukicho Academy where all the local onis go to. At least that's what the school records should say. Maybe. Not that she's proud of the fact, but she doesn't really have any memories of diligently attending class. She's a vampire, so she's stronger than any teacher or student. But she was formerly a human, so she figures the other students and teachers are confused about how to actually treat her. Ever since she became the way she is, she's been aware of how people get suspicious of things that they can't place in one category or the other. It's made her uncomfortable, so she doesn't go to her school much. There is however one teacher who sticks by her to give her guidance, she thinks. He keeps saying stuff like children shouldn't walk around at night by themselves. But isn't that what nightwalker means? He also goes around at night looking for students like her. What was his name again? Oh right...

Things then tune in back to the story where Kresnik disarms a bunch of high school oni girls feared as demons back in their homes without taking a single hit, almost like he's playing with a bunch of kids. Time skips a bit as he and Ellie make their escape, and eventually Kresnik comments on how the mob girls made no hesitation to attack after they get far enough away from them for now. He thinks about how unusually determined the yakshas were in attacking Ellie, and he feels something is wrong since this is usually impossible. It's generally hard to go all out against someone you recognize the face of, but the way the mobs struck out was like they were convinced they were in the right.

Kresnik wonders aloud about how someone has to act to get a student to listen so closely, since he'd like to know how to do that. He's struggling to make just one student listen to him as it is, then notices Ellie is quiet and asks if she forgot who he is. That, or he suggests she might not be used to being protected by others despite protecting people herself. Ellie stays quiet a little longer before before noting that he really is Kresnik, and Kresnik jokes he wouldn't be able to hide his shock if she did forget about him. Ellie however gets impatient and asks about what Kresnik did earlier and where he learned to move like that.

Kresnik's earlier actions are noted to be clearly the moves of an experienced veteran, but Ellie's impression of Kresnik is that he's just some random teacher at her school. There shouldn't be anyone who could do what he did even with Kabukicho being as big as it is. Ellie asks out loud if he's not a regular teacher, but Kresnik claims after some hesitation that he's just a teacher who gets looked down on by students.

Ellie asks why Kresnik doesn't just use his power to make himself get taken more seriously, so Kresnik says he's had enough of onis (and races in general) fighting against each other, both in terms of seeing and doing it. You could also say that he doesn't want to repeat his past mistakes again. Ellie doesn't have a response to that, so Kresnik suggests moving again before they're found. There seems to be some strange people among the students. Ellie stops Kresnik to ask one last question, which would be why he saved her. Kresnik actually stops and turns around at this, surprised, but he answers by turning the question around and asking if teachers need any special reasons to save their students.

Scene shifts to your end as you go over pretty much all of Shinjuku Academy looking for Sandayu, which includes the front gate, the hallway, the classroom, the back of the dorms, the classroom, and the roof. This takes pretty much all day as evening sets in by the time you give up, and you lean on a rusty handrail on the roof out of fatigue. It gives out under your weight and you fall over. You twist around to try to grab something but fail, so you either freak out, call for help, or try to get into a breakfall position as best you can.

Sandayu shows up conveniently in time to save you as he tells you to keep your mouth shut and grab onto him, and you react to his presence in shock, say you'll do as he says, and/or silently obey. You get the feeling of being embraced by Sandayu in midair, and Sandayu proceeds to do a wall jump by kicking off the side of the building. Time passes a bit, and you sneeze a few times and mention how cold you are as Sandayu had landed in a pond, though that did help you guys. Sandayu laughs about how you still have your life, then claims it was lucky he was just passing by at the time he showed up. You either agree, be suspicious of the timing, or ask if he'd been watching you the whole time. B and C gets extra lines where Sandayu laughs the question off and says he doesn't have that much time on his hands.

Anyways, Sandayu says he just happened to see you fall, so he went to rescue you. He then asks if you were looking for something up there, so you answer that you were looking for him since you wanted to ask him something. Sandayu is surprised by this but prompts you to go on, then asks if you're going to confess your love. You either deny the idea, start to say yes before changing it to no, or cop to it straight up. In A, Sandayu acts shocked that you took that question seriously before joking about looking for consolation money from you. In B, Sandayu initially blushes before realizing you said no and says you're surprisingly quick to go along with things. In C, Sandayu laughs and says he didn't expect you to take that seriously and says you're cuter than he thought. He offers to show you his special Zokkin Hiseidan booklet before laughing and saying it was a joke, commenting that he just can't stop teasing his students.

Sandayu moves back to the main point and asks again why you really wanted to talk to him. You fumble your words for a moment, but he waits patiently. You then ask Sandayu who he really is, ask if he's hiding something, and/or ask him to tell you anything and everything. Sandayu is baffled at the question and goes quiet for a while, but eventually starts laughing uproariously.

Scene shifts to Tsathoggua's room down in the casino, and Licht wakes up in a fit and asks where he is. Melusine is glad to see him awake since she's been worried, and Licht processes that she and Tsathoggua are around. Tsathoggua is glad to see him up too and tells him he's in his safe house. Licht is confused about this, but then things start coming back to him about the riot from the other day.

Flashback kicks in to explain how the rulers of the Tycoons lost their properties and corporations one day. It all happened way too quickly, and while they tried their hardest to find out who did it from the outside, they didn't manage to figure anything out. So the next thing they did was start looking for the perpetrator within the guild. Someone had started yelling that there must have been insider tradings going on, and violent paranoia broke out. Barely any time passed before factions started to split and attack one another.

Back to the present, Tsathoggua explains that he used his teleportation to bring the three of them there for an emergency retreat. Licht nods to this as Melusine starts making some food, and Licht thanks Tsathoggua for what he did. Tsathoggua waves it off saying they're friends and part of the same guild. Licht thinks on that and says that kinda makes him feel guilty as he remembers what he once did. Specifically, the time he tried to get Hakumen, Ophion, and Lucifuge to get rid of each other. All that time he spent, all the goading he did, and all the understanding he made was what made it all possible.

Licht starts talking about manipulating other people's states of mind is the one thing he's as good as the best are at it. But in this incident things got a little too much even with his presence, and they also went a bit too quickly. It made him almost sure that someone was on the inside causing all of this, so how did they manage to read the Tycoons that far? A pain in the head makes Licht briefly stop and hold his bandaged head, so Tsathoggua tells him to not worry so much since it'll affect his injuries. Licht weakly agrees and says it may be time to rest, so Tsathoggua invites him to lay around and do nothing with him. There's tons of things to play with in the room, so if he wants to play with or read something then Tsathoggua says he's welcome to do so.

Licht decides to ask what Tsathoggua has been watching on the phone this entire time, so he answers it's some Youtuber that's been trending lately that his gamer friends told him about. He's pretty popular, and Tsathoggua asks if Licht wants to look too. Licht leans in, and Tsathoggua spouts some catchphrases the web show mentalist has been using, like "this will absolutely fit your mentality" or "I can show you whole future." Licht laughs and says that sounds like a classic spiel by a charlatan, and he thinks about how nothing is absolute in the world. Anyone who would say so would have to know about everything in the world, but if that were true he doesn't get why they'd need to make videos. Someone who manipulates others would need anxiety and the unwillingness to be tricked by others in those people to take advantage of. He's surprised when he does see the video, saying he recognizes the uploader from somewhere when Tsathoggua thinks he's interested. The uploader is Masanori, and Licht says it happened that one time when he was coming back from one of Kuniyoshi's award ceremonies and went to Akihabara.

Scene shifts over to your end as you and Sandayu leave the night watch teacher's office having dried off your clothes. As you two start walking out of the building Sandayu admits he's not actually a native and asks if you'd believe him if he said he was a worker from the shadows sent to protect you. You either disbelieve him, say you'll believe him if it's true, or stare at him. Sandayu laughs whatever you pick, saying it should be fine and that you ought to believe him. He's not sure what he actually can tell you and says it'd be a problem if you asked him to spill everything. Wouldn't it be the same if you were told to tell him everything? You either admit he has a point, hem and haw for a bit, or say you could actually do that. C gets an extra bit as Sandayu laughs at the response and says he can tell you next time then. He does warn you it'll be sad as hell though.

Anyways, Sandayu asks if you're still projecting bits of your old teacher onto him. He was someone who went as far as being your guardian and close to you, and now he's gone. You believed in him, but some unease still exists within you like he betrayed you. And now you have a shady old man as your new teacher, and Sandayu asks if you're on guard against him thinking he might do the same thing. You either awkwardly deny it, say that might be true, or silently stare at him. A gets an extra line of Sandayu laughing as he says he can tell when kids are lying. B has Sandayu laughing as well as he comments that he likes it when people sass him.

In any case, Sandayu looks right into your eyes like he's looking deeper into you. He eventually sighs and comments that you really were special to the previous teacher. He knows how it is, and he looks off sadly into the distance as he thinks about the time he was teaching Goemon. Since he goes quiet for a while, you ask Sandayu if he's alright, and he just brushes it off as nothing important. Sandayu then starts talking to you about how the heart is a thing that changes, which goes for everyone. He might say he'd never betray your feelings towards him, but there are no absolutes in the world. If you happen to damage something important to him, would it be wrong of him to hold that against you?

You are put off by the subject and ask why he brought it up, so Sandayu laughs after a bit and says it's just a hypothetical. He goes quiet for a second, then makes a point of telling you that his work isn't about getting you to believe him. All he'll do is what's asked of him and doing it when necessary. Believing everything he says just because you two are teacher and student would be as dumb as a chicken walking into a fox den. No one really knows what's going to happen next, so he advises that if things seem vague to you, it's fine to take them that way.

You ask Sandayu to explain more clearly, say you feel like he's pulling something over on you, or ask if he's just saying he's just shady. Sandayu laughs and says that adults are people who are good at pulling tricks and misdirection. If that's all for the day, he suggests you head home quick since he's still going to be busy with other things as he starts shooing you away with his hand. You however ask for a moment longer, so he asks you what's up. You either thank him for saving you, politely say you'll look forward to seeing him in class, or decide against saying anything after all. Sandayu is surprised, then bashful whichever way you go.

As the night time falls, he laughs to himself about how you asked him questions earlier thinking no one else would ever do it like that. He stops when he picks up on something happening, which he notes is coming from the dorms and that things are starting. Scene then shifts to your room where you are doing your best to evade and block attacks with whatever is in reach from other Shinjuku students, and you yell for them to stop. The attack was sudden, and the students yell about you being the source of things. You try to ask for an explanation, but no one is willing to talk.

Scene then shifts to the front of the dorms where Shirou has just arrived as he calls up Shuuichi. Shuuichi tells him that he and everyone else needs to get away from there right away. Shirou however asks Shuuichi to slow down and explain what's happening since he still doesn't understand what's happening, but Shuuichi admits that he doesn't know either. He does however suggest that you guys cut back on intraguild communication as as much as possible, disguise yourselves, and lay low somewhere else.

While this is happening though, Shuuichi wonders how you guys would even do that. That One Video is already making the rounds and must have a view count in the order of millions, copied near limitlessly and spreading around. He understands why Balor kills everyone around him, because there's no other alternative when going up against the Invaders. Shuuichi then tells Shirou that you have become the enemy to all of Tokyo. There's no telling where enemies are lurking and where they'll attack, and you are the only ones to not know what will be happening on the game board. It's like trying to play chess blind. Shuuichi then comments about not wanting to say things in a particular way, but as he looks up he thinks about how there's absolutely no way for you guys to win as the episode ends.

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