week 5, friday

[digestif]

[ not long after the bodies are announced, Mizuki goes to seek out Connor. They're working together now, after all - they owe it to him to share the information they have. And they feel badly for him. Foolish, perhaps, considering that he's an android, but they know that he and Zoe were friends, however that word might be defined for him. ]

Connor-kun. [ their attitude is more somber than usual when they approach. ] I'm sorry about Zoe.

Comments

[tootsiepop]

[Would it be insulting to Zoe if he tried to brush off her death, saying there's no need to apologize? Probably. It's that thought alone that keeps him from immediately dismissing Mizuki's apology, but it takes him a moment before he can think of another response. A second's delay, before he gently shakes his head.]

... Death is a natural part of this competition. [Voice even. Expression carefully blank. There's no polite thank you to be found here.] We both knew something like this was an eventuality, rather than a possibility.

[digestif]

[ So that's how he's going to take it. They find themself thinking he's putting up a strong front rather than simply being incapable of feeling something over it. ]

I wouldn't go that far. [ if they didn't have insatiable killers and irresponsible gods running around still, Mizuki thinks they could probably end things in a few days - but they're not that lucky. ] ... And even if you were right, that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.

[ does it? For him? They can't answer that. But they leave it alone. ]

I need to tell you about something. I'm being targeted by somebody.

[tootsiepop]

[He's not going to argue about that. He's too drained to even lie about the fact that he's unable to feel hurt, honestly. But thankfully? He doesn't have to. Not when Mizuki goes right ahead and mentions something else he can focus on.]

... Explain. Why do you suspect someone's targeting you?

[digestif]

[ this is probably confusing for him, considering how heavily in denial he was earlier about emotions - they're more than willing to shift focus. Besides, this is what they came here to talk about in the first place. Mizuki sighs, then rolls up one of their sleeves.

There's no point in not discussing this with him ahead of time, seeing as he's the one who does their injury checks. Their skin is marred by several long cuts - not too deep, but certainly not accidental, either. They wince a little bit. ]

When I woke up this morning, my arms were slashed up like this. I was in the inn on Thursday night - Majima-kun was with me, so he can vouch for me. But someone here certainly wanted to make it look like I was up to something worse. [ a pause. ] If I didn't know better, I'd say this was Ruin-san's ability at work, but...

[tootsiepop]

... But Ruin is dead, so that's no longer a possibility.

[He won't touch Mizuki's arm, but he will take a moment to inspect the positioning of the cuts. On which parts of their arms are they?]

This is troubling. Trials are already difficult enough with Ambition's abilities in play. If someone took the steps to further muddy the evidence by incriminating specific members of our group...

[digestif]

[ any part, really - although they're on the parts facing outwards rather than inwards, which is to be expected if someone else did this to them. ]

The alternative is either that someone received an item of some kind that would let them do this, or that - somehow - they managed to sneak in at night and injure me without waking either of us up.

[ they wrinkle their nose at the thought. considering the... circumstances... they don't really like that idea. ]

I've heard that we're magically constrained to sleep after curfew hits, so I suppose it's not impossible.

[tootsiepop]

It's not impossible. Curfew forces us to stay asleep unless we have a hand to play on Thursday night.

[Like, you know, murder.]

You haven't experienced any feelings that aren't your own, correct?

[digestif]

[ they sigh at that. Well, these injuries are now twice as troubling. ]

No, I haven't. Just the cuts and a bruise on my neck. That's why I've been discounting "Strung Red" -- although I suppose that the person I'm hypothetically connected to could just be very cool and collected.

[tootsiepop]

Even if they're cool and collected... Excluding myself, everyone left here is capable of human emotion. If it's Strung Red, you would feel a trace of something at bare minimum.

["""Human emotion""".]

[digestif]

[ he's still on about that, as expected. They raise an eye at his pointed exception, but don't make mention of it. That's a battle they don't feel like fighting with him. ]

I know, Connor-kun - it was a joke. [ THEY PROBABLY SHOULDN'T BE TRYING TO JOKE WITH THE ANDROID... it just comes naturally. ] In any case, I wanted to let you know about it ahead of the trial so you don't get surprised. I'd rather not be suspected as a child killer.

[tootsiepop]

[Oh.]

I apologize. I didn't realize.

[It completely flew over his head. Maybe in part to his current mood, but 90% of it was still due to him being oblivious to the little details.]

Thank you for your honesty. I'll see to it that the others understand what happened when the time comes to check for injuries. [A beat, and. Hm.] In the meantime, please be sure to take proper care of your injuries... Though I believe Ray and Jude had most of our medical supplies.