001 - dear future (reprise)

[keptwaiting]

[ He was dead. Yamashita thought he was fairly certain of that. After all there had been a bang, crashing glass, sharp pain, a short moment mid-air, people screaming... Yes, laying on the pavement like that, with each feeling slowly numbing through a strange fog, even a cheery boy like Yamashita had been sure he was dying. It's not like he had comprehended what that meant, but the feeling of 'this is it' is not something easily pushed off when you were sure your heart could stop beating any moment. 

So when he wakes up, Yamashita feels off to say the least. Alive? Dreaming? Is this reality at all? ]

Ah...?

[ It's a school. That kind of hallway is just too much of an universal sign for learning facilities as that it could be any other way. He sits up, rubbing his head. No blood, no injury, no pain. He's wearing a school uniform too... Strange. Yamashita gets up to examine the scene, looking through the hallways for people. Too bad he's arrived after classes ended and most NPCs aren't around anymore. With careful but feathery steps he runs through the school, dramatically bursting into rooms and leaning around corners. ]

Hellooo~? Is anybody heeere? I'm looost, can anybody help a poor guy out?

[ He'll be wandering about all over the school and campus, feel free to encounter him at any place, just specify where! ]

Comments

[nothisbrother]

[With classes over for the day, Naoi and his secretary both decide to head to the student council room to discuss some things for the upcoming festival and future meetings. As they head that way though, Yamashita runs right past them from around a corner towards one of the classroom doors.

This kid can't be a NPC but hell if that's going to exclude him from God's discipline. So in an annoyed voice:]

Is there a reason why you're running around in a school building? [Hi, you've just run into the Student Council President, the one in charge of enforcing school rules and disciplining those who break them c:]

[keptwaiting]

[ Oh hey, a person. Yamashita stops and spins around on his heels and jump-steps back over, clearly relieved to at least have met someone. He's a bit too confused about the general situation to pick up on annoyance from Naoi just yet. ]

Thank goodness, I thought I was completely lost! You go to this school, right? Can you tell me where this is? I'm not a student here, you see...

[ Nevermind that he wears this school's uniform in this very moment. ]

[happyends]

[ Even though the archery club doesn't meet today, Madoka is still practicing - if not just because she doesn't want to fall behind everyone else, and she often feels that way because of her insecurities.. so she's standing at the archery range by herself, pulling back the bow to fire..

But then she hears someone call, and she shrieks, accidentally firing the arrow which lands way off the target against the wall. ]

W-.. wah..!

[keptwaiting]

[ Yamashita clearly didn't expect to see a cute girl all on her on with bow and arrow. This was getting more and more unreal. When he enters the hall, he at least slows down a bit, feeling a bit sorry to have startled her this badly. ]

Excuse me, miss! Practicing here all on your own?

[ Curiosity about her person might just have made him momentarily forget that he was going to ask where this was. ]

[happyends]

Y-yes!

[ She quickly bows. From what he's asking now she thinks he's an NPC, so she can't help but quickly get a little awkward, since her conversation with Otonashi she doesn't really know how to deal with them.. ]

I'm sorry, it isn't a club day today, but-- um, I.. I just wanted to practice, I'm sorry..!

[keptwaiting]

Eh? Eh?! What are you apologizing for?

[ He waves his hands as if to indicate he's unarmed and therefore harmless. ]

I was just wondering, it's such a rare sight to see one cute girl in a clubroom all on her own....

That reminds me, do you know the name of this school? Lame as it is... I don't think I know why I'm here.

[happyends]

Um.. thanks for the compliment..? [ Okay, that was the easy part, got that out of the way first. But she's still stumped on the rest and she blinks a little blankly as she thinks..

.. but then she slowly realises. This guy isn't an NPC. It's someone who just arrived here, isn't it.. Oh no, she doesn't have to tell yet another person they're dead, right?! The very idea already makes her look a little wibbly. ]

[keptwaiting]

[ For a moment he waits for her to reply, but when she doesn't he leans forward a bit, curiously. ]

Hey, are you alright? Could it be that you don't go here either?

[ It's the only explanation he can think of for the moment, but it's still fairly unlogical seeing she's perfectly aware when club hours here are. ]

wow my small tag just died there

[happyends]

.. I.. I do go here, but.. um..

[ Oh gosh, oh gosh. How does she even explain this again, it's so awful.. stop shaking, Madoka, you got to at least look normal or he'll catch onto it either way! ]

This place isn't just a school.. It's.. i-it's.. it's the afterlife..

[keptwaiting]

Oh.

[ For a moment he just pauses mid-movement, staring on. That memory was a little too vivid to be a dream, he should have known. It's kind of a let down though. In his head everything's a bit of a mess, but he instinctively knows she's right. ]

Well, that explains... a lot...

[strawberrytart]

[ As always, after classes were out that was the perfect time for Ichigo to run off to get baking anything she could think of. At the moment, she had left something in the oven and went to go get some extra ingredients, then gotten distracted and was presently barreling through the halls at top speed (which still wasn't incredibly fast-- it was honestly more a miracle that she hadn't tripped yet). So she nearly runs into him as he's peeking into the home ec room that she'd been working in and trying to get back to. ]

Ah! Excuse me!

[keptwaiting]

[ The instincts to jump backwards to let her pass better and to lean forward because cute girl almost conflict enough to make him trip himself, but luckily he lets her pass just fine and then enters the room after her because he's curious, lost and also... ]

Hmh~ It smells good in here!

[strawberrytart]

[ She puts down what she'd been carrying in her arms, then rushes over to the oven and puts the gloves on to pull out a full tray of lady fingers and set it over on a cooling rack, closing the oven behind her. It looks like there's another item in the oven, but it's not done yet.

She smiles back at him once she checks to make sure they're not burnt, sighing in relief. ]

Thanks! I thought I was going to accidentally burn them, hehe..

[keptwaiting]

[ He leans over to eye the bakery curiously and then smiles at her. ]

They look good, too!

[ Cute girl who can bake. First useful contact is made. Which reminds him of his original purpose again. ]

Ah and before I forget.. Do you know where this is?

[strawberrytart]

[ Ah...

Ichigo stares at him for a moment when he asks that, looking a little hesitant to answer .]

Umm... well, it's sort of--

It's not anywhere that we know? This is pretty much the only place here besides a little town, but it's not Earth so it's hard to say exactly where more than that.. What's the last thing you remember?

[keptwaiting]

[ Well, this is awkward. Really awkward. Yamashita scratches his neck and laughs at the according level of 'wow awkward'. ]

T-this may sound really crazy... but it was... you know...

I got hit by a car and lost consciousness when I hit the pavement? Uhm.

[strawberrytart]

Well it's not so much that you lost consciousness um...

[ Deep breath. Her pitch raises and she says it really quickly, closing her eyes tightly ] ThisistheafterlifeI'msorry!

[keptwaiting]

A... fter...live?

[ Don't mind him as he repeats that extra slowly just to make up for her speed. ]

I.. certainly had a feeling I was dead. But that I am. Haha... it's... a let-down...

[honestmana]

[ Mana peeks out of a room, and smiles when she sees someone. She flaps the long sleeves of her white sweater as a waved greeting. ]

Mana gets lost all the time toooo. Hellooo~

[keptwaiting]

[ Wow, cute. This really starts feeling like an anime plot and he'd be more excited if he wasn't so confused. ]

Good to know I'm not the only one! [ He seems actually excited about that for a second. ] Being lost together is at least more fun and less lonely.

[honestmana]

[ Anime? What's that? Either way, Mana is happy that the people she meet here are nice. ]

Yes! Mana has trouble learning even thought she's been here for over a moon now! [ Whoop! ] And doing things together is always more fun!

[keptwaiting]

Moon?

[ He tilts his head exaggeratedly ]

You mean month?

[honestmana]

[ She waves her sleeve in a circle. ]

Yes! A moon!

[keptwaiting]

I didn't know there were people that called it that...

[ He raises his hand to his chin in consideration ]

It sounds pretty though.

[honestmana]

Mana had never heard any other word for a moon before coming here!

What dooooes?