shslnun-blog

[shslnun-blog]

Various Storms & Saints † Ch. 4 † Open

The supermarket is the next best place to refill on her various medicines. Snow falls, and winter begins in the town. Agatha finds with winter, her gardens die and she has to begin anew once the weather lifts up. Sadly, Agatha did not start any garden here. Well, asides from some plant box she holds in her room near the window, but she supposed with the sun going away, it will die too. 

With this news, she prepares to buy some new things. Some more medical equipment if allowed, the clinic still provided no use for her. A useless place was not ever meant for Agatha, so she goes to the supermarket. 

Going down this path, she recalls the storm that took place. Things are mainly in repair, she inspects by walking down to the supermarket. Insides of places must be a little messy, and when she enters the supermarket, she finds it is. Shelves knocked over, the ground is stained with the water that probably flooded through and cracked pieces on the surface.

She immediately takes a mop, and some cleaning supplies to restore the area. Agatha takes off her scarf and gloves, putting them with her bag on a shelf as she cleans up an aisle. Cleaning is no chore for Agatha, she’s quite used to simple tasks like this. In fact, this is just the same as cleaning up the chapel. She doesn’t mind, exactly. 

As she’s mopping up, she hears someone come over the corner to the aisle she’s cleaning up in. She couldn’t find any warning signs for wet floors, but she calls out before the person can go too far into the dirt mess that accumulated from her cleaning. 

“Watch your step before you continue. The floor is wet, I am not risking anyone falling and getting bruises. Perhaps, cracking your head open. I don’t own any remedies for that.” She stops mopping to lean on the mop, staring ahead, hoping the person would show themselves.

“State your purpose.” 

[shslnun-blog]

The first thing Agatha does is bundle up. She’s not entirely used to weather as cold as snow, sure the rainstorm was harsh and cold, but snow is different. It bites at you, reddens your complexion faster, and tenses the muscles. Nobody is at ease when it is winter, but it is new beginnings. Someone will be reborn, but that will not always mean good things. People can take advantage of the chances they have, and put it to bad will.

Not everyone in the world is a saint. Not even Agatha. 

Now sporting a grey scarf to match her already dull look, and grey gloves, Agatha stands out still in the white snow. Her outfit, entirely in black with red accents, she contrasts heavily against the surface. Holding her usual big bag full of medicine, jars and her tools for medicine, she looks no different in the winter. 

She walks through the snow with relative ease, it’s not like a snow storm or anything. It’s just wet and piles on quickly, she doesn’t like it. While she walks, she thinks. Perhaps, she is lucky that she never happened to break her code. Agatha is even luckier she is confused on what her secret exactly entails, but she prays it is perhaps something minor. Her sins were forgiven a long time ago, and she accepts that fully. 

There is some sense of pity for those who did get their secrets released, she still feels bad about Hayashida’s situation and how she caused it. It wasn’t entirely her fault, she didn’t know it, but the guilt remains. She wishes she could do more for the poor giant, but she can’t do much for him in the first place. She’s only good for physical injuries. Not personal hurt. 

She finds herself at the weather station at the end of that thought, lifting down her scarf, she opens the doors to find a familiar face. “F--” Didn’t she get her name revealed, in the time of the bracelets? She pauses, the hesitation dying down as she speaks out. “Fuu. Is that what you prefer?” Agatha is straight to the point, she stares at her with the same expression she always has.

Her eyes direct down to her still shoe-less form. She hisses out. “Doesn’t it hurt, are you in any pain?” 

weather report | open

The first snowflake lands right on the tip of her nose. Kazae looks up, up into the greying sky, grey with the density and multitude of snowflakes. She exhales. It feels like forever since she last saw snow. And it snows in the winter, in her prefecture. Northern Honshuu is like that. It reminds her of home, now that she thinks of it. She hasn’t thought about home in a while.

She shakes her head. She doesn’t like it. It’s abnormal and when abnormal things happen in Tiramisu Town it means bad things happen. An unexpected thunderstorm meant two deaths. What does an unexpected snowfall mean? Three deaths?

Not to mention it’s unusual for this time of year. Snow in… wait, what month is it? She’s not sure. She’s not sure how long she’s been here. She lost track of the days a long time ago. Sometime around when Ene died.

Well, if the weather’s weird, there’s a weather-related place in the new district of town. She heads toward the weather station, not at all sure what she’d find inside.

She’s… recovering from everything. She’s less shaky now. She still gets upset when she hears her name, but the pain isn’t sharp anymore. Dulled. Recovering. The wound is slowly closing. That’s good, right? She hopes so. The temptation is always there to retreat completely, but she knows she shouldn’t. She has to push forward. Somehow, anyway. But that’s what she’s always done, is push forward.

She makes it to the weather station and pushes it open. Immediately she gets the sense that she doesn’t want to be here. The sense of bad things. The sense that pervades all of Tiramisu Town, but has been dulled by repetition and adaptation. But for some reason it’s fresh here. Like the weather station is trying to tell her something.

There are ghosts here, in Tiramisu Town. Not just Kirihito and Haku and all the rest. Other ghosts. She can’t hear them, but she can feel them. And they do not feel good. There must be ghosts here too.

She looks around, first finding the lights. Cabinets, papers - is this really a weather station? 

[shslnun-blog]

Agatha held little memories from she was a child. She didn’t recall a lot, dreams often overlap her real memories and make it difficult for her to recall. But she is fairly certain of one thing, her mother used to lecture her on snow. When it comes, although rarely, it means a new beginning. Winter means a fresh new restart into their lives, a signal of hibernation for them to be reborn. Though, with how religious their family was, the weather could not work in the ways the Lord did. Snow did not forgive your sins, that was just foolish.

Though, she guessed, with snow, came more people. An odd feeling tugged at her gut as she stared at the unconscious girl from afar, people could tend to her. If the girl felt ill or unwell due to her new circumstances, Agatha would provide medicine. With winter, came the faltering of her gardens at the chapel. There were no gardens here, but her supply was running awfully low. She would have liked to provide her own homegrown ingredients, but she supposed she could buy some. 

Seeing how other people could tend to their new guest, Agatha felt her feet leaving the place. She moved without thinking, and she was outside in the snow. It was piling up fast, weather switches here were odd. Too odd, if she could note. At this point, it felt odd. Everything felt as if it were on a dial, switching to what they want, a sunny day, storms or rain clouds. A girl appearing out of nowhere, looking for a brother who died. 

Agatha wasn’t going to be the one to break the news to her, someone should eventually if they believe in good will and mercy. 

With the sudden snow, Agatha decided to gear up on her clothes. Wearing a scarf, gloves and heavy duty boots, she tread through the now dampened ground. She had never experienced that much snow first hand, Italy was not a place known for it’s brisk winters. She didn’t marvel at it, like any child who’s never seen snow would. It was no merry sight for her, and it surely was not Christmas.

Her grip tightened on her bag as she recalled the outside world for a brief moment, Christmas. How many holidays had passed in her time here, how much time were they gone for? Surely, if the robotic clones of them were so real, her fake self should be making up for things. Her grip loosened, feeling better now that there was a replacement for her absence. 

After stomping around, she found herself in the weather station. A dreary little place, the whiteness of the building doesn’t seem to stand out anymore with the snow, though with how much black and grey clothing she wears, it easily stands out the most. Slipping down her grey scarf to look around in the grey interior of the place, she found she wasn’t alone.

There he was again, Suishouryuu.. no, Hotaru Sumino digging in hands in places where they shouldn’t be. She wouldn’t scold him on that, she was here to look up any weather instances in the area to see if this was remotely normal. 

She regards him with a glare, nothing too out of place for Agatha.

“Unless you want me to develop more of an irritated attitude to you, we can both pretend you said nothing like that to me.” She pauses, crossing her arms. “What makes you so busy, you’re one for mischief. Speaking of the sorts.” 

Agatha pauses, the intense glare relaxes.

“Did you bypass that one area in the mirror maze, or not.”

File #010 [The Missing Persons Incident || Open]

Well, this was a twist alright.

A fresh new face… seems like she was no worse for wear but man, this poor thing’d gone right from the frying pan into the fire. Did she even know about the whole ‘let’s kill your friends, it’ll be awesome’ part? He was guessing not. Lately he’d felt less and less charitable so the others could catch her up. Honestly they were probably still willing to deceive themselves with this friendship game. He had too, briefly, but that’d been nipped in the bud recently. All the better. He would look into mystery girl’s story later but for now he wasn’t in the mood to go through all the preliminary conversations. As soon as those were out of the way, he’d have time aplenty for her. He probably wanted to be alone, he knew that much, but wasting time with self-pity was… well, a useless past time, and one he’d mostly left in the past. So the least he could do was make himself useful. Sure, maybe the chickadee was the key to this mystery but until he questioned her more he wouldn’t know. So for now he’d keep a cool head and have a look elsewhere. The weather station seemed as good a better as any so to the grey sad looking building it was!

He pushes the doors open and winces a little at the musty decor. The grey clashed against the white that was not all around his feet. Hard to tell if the place had been touched recently but… one thing was for sure, it didn’t really fit in with the usual town’s fare. Which is why it was interesting, really.

Much like himself, really.

And perhaps much like his position among his peers.

The truth of it was returning, being alive as a whole, would only trouble people. It’d certainly ruin his family’s story of him being tragically killed in the riots… and the people he worked with? Hell, they’d either find another broker or cheer the demise of another lowlife. So where did that leave him? Well, it left him wanting his survival. For no one but himself, he supposed. Did that new girl have people waiting for her? He didn’t know her, didn’t even get the name, but she probably did. They all did, no doubt. So they might be fighting for their own life even harder, with a passion he couldn’t possibly empathise with. Quite the disadvantage.

‘A brave mask for a weak little man’, was it?

Weak was a stupid word for it, in his eyes. Sure, people can hurl their stones and call him this and that. It didn’t hurt. It wasn’t disappointing she thought that, either. He was simply being smart. It was fine like this. Their fault for thinking sticking around and being supportive meant something. It was as he told Hina. Those who want to believe you will. Even if all the evidence says otherwise. That’s what a bond should be. A best friend. A girlfriend. A parent. Two parents. A whole school. How many people would abandon him? People were the worst. He was just making use of them, like they made use of him so where was the harm in that? There was no way he could just stick around and believe in someone sincerely, not anymore. Bearing your heart or whatever, it was impossible. Hell, he wasn’t sure he had anything left in him to give, anyway.

At this point, Suishou just shrugs off the intrusive thoughts. They won’t help him. And help is what he needs about now if he wants out of here. The group is thinning and if he doesn’t want to be next he needs to hurry up and MacGyver something that either makes him useful or gets him out of here. Honestly, preferably the latter. He peeks into one of the file cabinets and flicks through some of the envelopes before hearing the door creak open once more. It’s a good thing it’s so loud. He regards the person with a look and then tilts his head almost shrugging before going back to his searching.

“Ah, if you’re here you can pretend I said something very clever or charming I’m sure. So-rry, too busy to really think of something good.“

[shslnun-blog]

hayashidatrims:

Daiki rose from his bow when told to. His eyes darted around the church. Apologies - weren’t they most of what were uttered here? The confessional booth, of some sort, was supposed to be for apologies, he thought. But he didn’t dare say anything to challenge what she said.

“I trust you don’t,” he says, brightening a little when he sees the smile. She liked the package! … But she wasn’t completely satisfied, and that sort of mellowed his mood again. “I’ll get one for you, if this blanket isn’t enough, I-”

He’s cut off by Agatha offering to go back home with him. Of course he would be rained on every night, he knew this even when he was making the care package. But she wanted to break her code? Now? He stammers. “Erm…”

He looked away from her, starting to lose himself in his thoughts. Someone would kill. Of course they would. Many would kill just to keep a secret under wraps. But Agatha was willing to break her code twice for him, willing to broadcast her deepest secret to the world. He knew she would still be upset. No, it was okay, she was a nun, she was likely used to self-sacrifice, right?

This feud with himself went on in the moment of silence that occurred. He grit his teeth, unaware and unconcerned with how Agatha could be looking at him in this moment. What was wrong with him? Why couldn’t he be that selfless? In that moment he envied her strength of character.

… Wait, no.

His green eyes widen as he realizes what he’s felt. He glances at the code on his bracelet, then at the nun, before his expression turns to that of shame. “There’s no need to break your code for someone like me, Agatha-sama.”

And quieter, “I’ve… just committed a sin, you know.”

She’s all but glad to see him brighten up a little after bowing to her. She never likes to be bowed to, apologizes are always accepted from her, but not in a situation like that. This was her fault, she was to blame. She was causing him trouble by avoiding from being at home, she should be open to letting her secret out. She didn’t seem to mind, since she didn’t know what her sin exactly was. This nun wasn’t the one to keep any secrets from anyone.

Once she rambles on what she supposes she thinks is right, she notices him stutter out some words. Agatha can only watch him, and wait for any sort of response to her words. Did she say something wrong? She didn’t recall doing so.

She started to feel worry for him as he just went silent, looking over at him with less of a disregard she held for others.

Once he speaks, relief floods through her until he speaks once more, breaking her relaxed composure. 

“You’ve done what?” 

It sounds less of a question, or even a statement. It’s more of shock, as she steps forward, inches away from leaving. Her voice is now caught at the back of her throat, once the intercom turns on and she’s realized what she’s done. Her foot slids back into the church, further as she just stares at the sky.

She shows no reaction, but her eyes closing as she brings her hands together, a silent prayer. 

“There is no such thing, as no redemption for those who have committed a sin. Everyone deserves a break, Mister Hayashida. I forgive you for your sin, and if you do not believe in the Lord, I am sure he will listen to you.”

Her voice cracks at the end. This is her fault.

She breathes in.

“I am terribly sorry I have been the cause.. of your code breaking. I ensure you, that, if you feel I do not need to break my code for you, I will not. But you are forgiven. Keep that in mind.”

Hiding † CH. 3 † Open

[shslnun-blog]

hayashidatrims:

The Mayor’s final words left Daiki speculating. Well, after he’d finished panicking. Of all the people to be trapped in an area, it had to be his only roommate. Of all the people… to get rained on. It really had to be him? 

He was starting to get really sick of rain, or at least, unsolicited showers. It was beautiful at first, he acknowledged, until it tried to kill him. Or was that just him waxing poetic? He didn’t quite know. As it was, he had to stop his agonized thoughts and focus on chopping more vegetables. The sound of the knife hitting the cutting board could drown them all out. At least he hoped, as he glanced at the bracelet on his wrist. It was much more gaudy, yet it felt so much colder than the reminder that an energetic lacrosse player ever existed here.

… No, he couldn’t think of that either. He had to finish this up.

In a matter of moments, he was already packing some meals, a blanket, and… what else? Oh, right. Flowers. After stopping by the flower shop, he put it all in a picnic basket and navigated over to the church. He was sure the nun was waiting. In fact, when he did open the doors, she already had something to say! 

“… I’m sorry, Agatha-sama,” he mumbled, bowing politely. “The mayor has threatened us with secrets. If we fail to follow what the bracelets on our wrists say, our secrets… well.”

Daiki gazed down at the chapel floor. “They’ll be revealed to the others. Should we break the codes again, the rest of the world will know. I supposed, based on what the mayor said, that you would be here for quite some time.” He presented the neatly arranged care package to her humbly. “It is why I prepared this for you. It contains things you’ll likely need here.”

The words of an apology was not something she expected when she was greeted by Daiki, and even a bow.

She wasn’t fairly used to being bowed too, but she only saw it as a polite meaning along with the apology. Agatha threw up her hands, a surprised look on her face. The more he spoke, the more she glanced at the bracelet now hooked on her wrist. Right, everything always had a catch around here. A bitter feeling grew at the back of her throat, and she swallowed it down. 

“It’s fine, straighten your back, Mister Hayashida. There is no need for apologizes in the home of the Lord.” She frowns at her bracelet. “I see.. well, I may have to stay here for a while it seems.. the only concern I have is..” She pauses, thinking. 

“..I have nothing to hide, I have committed no sins but I don’t wish to find out if there is one.” She looks over at his package, a smile lingering on her lips. “Many thanks, I was going to ask for a sleeping bag, but this will do until I find more assistance. As I return to my earlier thought, my.. only concern would be..”

Her facial expression wrinkles, her smile brief.

“Until this is over, the house will sprinkle on your every single day. I do not believe.. I will condone this happening to you. I wish to break my code, for your sake, if I could. And I will, if you grant me permission to.”

Hiding † CH. 3 † Open

[shslnun-blog]

shslrockgod:

Try as he might, Mr. Mayor won’t be getting any secrets out of Hokori, although he certainly knows what makes the rock star tick. Was that stupid scarecrow rubbing salt into the wound and poking fun at Hokori’s deepest secrets, trying to make him snap? Or was it simply just karma for his ego? Really, why was he so special? Well, of course Hokori knows that he’s special, but if he’s stuck with being the mayor’s errand boy because of it, this is the one time that he’ll gladly be left out of the spotlight. If he’s being laughed at, there’s no point in being center stage. Whoever said that there’s no such thing as bad publicity probably never got any publicity- and he’ll gladly perform a mundane task or two to keep his bad publicity out of sight and out of mind- although he’ll still complain about it a little.

He approaches the chapel, dragging a broom through the dirt behind him. His favorite person is right there, and he isn’t sure at all what he expected- it’s all probably just another joke from Mr. Mayor. What was the nun’s code, anyway, be super annoying? Man, okay, that’s one secret that he knows that they’re never getting, for sure. He stands at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at her, as he tamps the bristles of the broom into the ground and holds the staff proudly.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he teases, completely failing to hold back a telling grin. “I just gotta clean this place up and you’re in my way, so move,” he demands, gently poking her in the stomach with the end of the handle.

It’s obvious what happened. They all fell into an alternative universe where Hokori is somewhat responsible. But still a dick.

If anyone could visit Agatha, at her new home, which was the chapel now, it could have been someone else. She could have prayed for Hina. For Daiki. Suishou, even. Tadao, maybe, if she got not as lucky as the previous three choices? 

And here comes the most unpleasant person in the entire town, hauling a broom and placing it’s bristles onto the steps for Jesus Christ himself. Her eyes narrow at the end of the broom first, her eyes scanning upwards to stare him dead in the eyes.

“Great. I am gifted with an imbecile, thank you Lord.” She lets out a tch-- crossing her arms. “I can be in the chapel while you clean, there’s not some sort of rule saying I have to leave upon cleanup.” She glances down at the handle poking her stomach, and she moves to grab onto the handle. She yanks on the handle, pulling him in.

“I am certain you won’t burn upon entering the Church. It may sting. Just a little.” 

Hiding † CH. 3 † Open

[shslnun-blog]

Hiding † CH. 3 † Open

An inconvenience.

Agatha sat in the chapel, eyes closed, her knees to the ground with her hands together. She prayed, for those lost in the heavy storm, and for good to come to those alive. It likely for her to voice her concerns to the Lord, especially after a devastating loss to those around here. By telling the Lord, who listened to her woes and wishes, she thought she was really making a difference around here.

She was starting to doubt herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Mr. Mayors voice and with that, she was about to get up to gather her things. Until, something haltered her from getting her bag and she just stared at the ceiling. Was this her big break? Someone finally letting her pray in peace? She thanked the Lord and went right back to her usual prayers.

Then, a police bot whirred into the chapel, and she turned to look at it with a blank expression. 

She didn’t understand why she was even left in the Chapel to pray if the Mayor was just going to send a police bot after her. Agatha just decided to admit to defeat to whatever crime she did, until this bracelet was locked onto her wrist. Right underneath the one that was given to her, long ago.

A nuisance.

She squinted at the coloured bracelet, different from the one that was underneath it. The two bracelets burned into her skin, why hadn’t she removed the other one yet. She was about to ask about the bracelet, and the robot just left. She decided to not care about it, and just gather her stuff to hopefully meet the others.

Agatha typically spent most of her time in the chapel, it wasn’t a home to her, but she did spend time there tending to the place. Pretending it wasn’t used to punish them in the past and she had to tend to people bleeding on the floor. On the floor built for the Lord. 

“Tch.” She spat out before slinging her bag over her shoulder, heading out until she was stopped. Wait, her.. bracelet contained something.

She glanced at it, her eyes widening. She sat at the entrance of the chapel, waiting for anyone to pass by. Once her victim was chosen, she stared at them.

“Now, if Mr. Mayor was really kind, he would inform me of this as soon as possible. Sadly, the scarecrow can’t seem to offer any worth, so I fully expect for you to tell me what happened.” She gestured to them with a simple raise of her eyebrows, crossing her arms. 

[shslnun-blog]

Her hands went numb as she gripped on the umbrella handle, staring at the corpse at her feet. She held out the umbrella for Hina and herself, but she couldn’t seem to move. All Agatha could do was stare at the innocent girl in front of her, the body just a hologram now, but the object on her head, was almost dressed like a veil. She handed the umbrella to Hina, willing her body to move in order to confirm the time of death. She couldn’t be dead. She would never die, she was too naive, too.. too..

She was too young.

Too young to die, to be deceased, to be dead. Yet, when her fingers inspected the hologram, it seemed to confirm all of it. 

She wasn’t even here. 

Agatha slammed her fist in frustration into the ground before her, before seeing the sight of Fuu trying to sit up next to her. She eye’d at her wounds and the blood staining her hands and she moved over with some type of towel, clearly soaked with not only rain now, but a disinfectant. Her voice was cool, collected and calm as she gently took her arm. “Don’t move.”

She pressed the towel to wipe away the blood, and didn’t even make any sort of eye contact with Fuu, focused on her wounds. “Don’t sit up too fast, lay back for a while and keep your breathing even.” She took out some bandages to wrap it up. 

Once Agatha was done, she glanced back at Hina, who she left the umbrella with. “You can come with us.” 

Blood in the Water | Open

Ene… Her brain swirled. Ene? Ene was sunshine. She was sugar and laughter. Those things didn’t just… die. And yet, looking down at the girl, lying at her feet, the world seemed to say otherwise. She was dead. Dead, dead, dead.

Fuu’s knees buckled under her, she slipped on the wet grass, and she fell, lying on the ground. She twisted around and looked up to the sky, stared straight up, letting the rain strike her eyeballs. Let her face get wet, her hair get wet, but what did she care? Dead, dead, dead. It was always like this here. It was always going to be like this. Fuu didn’t fear it herself, hadn’t feared it in a long time, ever since that had started, but the others did fear it. It didn’t seem fair that they should leave before they were alright with leaving.

Her eyes watered under the raindrops and it was swept down her face and away before anyone had acknowledged it was happening. She could almost forget about her own injuries.

She lowered her gaze again, at the blood dribbling down her hand, already dissipating into the world. She closed her eyes. It stung. But it paled in comparison. She sighed and didn’t want to move, wanted to feel the concussive force of the rain against her body for a little while longer.

Not much longer. Voices. Sung-min, and then others. Someone screamed, and she sat up. Tried to sit up. Her brain swirled. She staggered, and slowly brought herself to standing. Blood dribbled down her hand. She blinked at the assembled crowd, her heart constricted.

She didn’t say anything. What could she say?

[shslnun-blog]

“Do you even listen sometimes, you fool.” She doesn’t do much when he sits right up, going against her advice. Agatha does bother when he seems to mutter out something rather idiotic, in her opinion and she presses a hand to his chest to lower him back down. “You must lay down some more so you don’t get a sudden headache, or head rush.” 

She only squinted at his words, and the smile remaining on his face. She went back to work with treating his wounds, ignoring what he said. Once he seems ready for the medicine, she prepares it in a simple spoonful, a wooden spoon she carries with her it seems. “Don’t mind the bitter taste, but two spoonfuls are the required amount. Don’t choke on and it make this situation worse.” She eyes his peace sign, or really, the number two. 

“Not only you are a fool, but a liar.” She doubts his words, every single thing he says she thinks is a lie anyway. She goes and squeezes a part of his arm, where it was especially bruised. It doesn't help afterwards, she goes and dabs more disinfectant on the pesky cut marks on his cheeks-- which should sting with the sudden contact.

If he lies to her about his pain, might as well be rough with her patient. “Now, access that on a level of one to ten, please, so I can give you the proper treatment and medication.” 

What Kind Of Man † CH. 2 † Suishouryuu

The real punishment here was how he dropped in front of everyone. At least, that’s how it feels in his mind. The last few images in his head are still a blur, a mess of familiar colours of his acquaintances, bright pinks from Hokori, Ene’s bright orange hair, the blues of Fuu… it all just melds together to make a kind of abstract art. And then, that’s it. He doesn’t even feel the ground when he falls down. Still, the pain doesn’t quite stop when he passes out. His mind is happy to complete the process by sending him on a trip to the past. Is this that damn room’s doing too? … No, probably not. It just triggered it back. In his dreams, if you can call them that, he’s greeted by a familiar set of eyes. Orange eyes to match his own, light hair the same shade… and a smile. A rare one from her.

“Bye-bye, ■■■■■■.”

The laugh he hears after wakes him right up, snapping up and, in doing so, going against Agatha’s advice as well as giving himself a hard time. Damn it, Tadao’s little run-in, though brief and better than expected, was still giving him grief and now there’s this. He immediately regrets his drowsy decision-making.

“FFffffuuuu… nnnn… times…”

Nice cover-up. But seriously after being voted out as the town’s biggest nuisance and then subsequently wrecked the last thing he wants is more trouble. It takes him a good few seconds to place himself and try to figure out just what’d happened specifically. His head was still spinning and every part of him wanted to get up and get out of here but he doubted his body would cooperate to that extent… and that Agatha would approve. What was she doing here, anyway? Helping him? … Why? She didn’t really have anything to gain, did she? Besides, part of him was morbidly curious about if he had died. Would the mayor have to execute himself? Good riddance, that would be fun. But he severely doubted that considering the guy was already kinda ducking around the rules. Besides, it wouldn’t be that easy. Never was.

“A hùshì tiānshǐ comes to my rescue, huh… maybe I’m more cut out to be a damsel in distress than I thought.”

… Unfortunately being skewered a few hundred times wasn’t going to damage his mouth. So much for don’t sass. Goodness me, she really does look bitter, maybe she should take some medicine, too. Medicine to make you smile! Maybe he’ll suggest that to her later. Suishou eyes her medicine and reaches out to take it, his other hand giving her a peace sign… or rather, the number two.

“I’d say a two! Why, I’m the picture of health. Just… tinted a bit black and blue. And reddish, I guess. Anyway, no worries. I’m sure you already knew that through your professional diagnosis! As for the sass, no worries, I’m a changed man. I’m repenting.”

The very idea he’s saying all that, and whilst smiling too, is proof-positive he is not that and is not doing that. Towards the end he coughs, having probably smiled and toyed around a bit too much but tries to remain as unfazed as he can.

[shslnun-blog]

That’s one slimy smile Agatha wishes she never saw again in her lifetime. Especially directed to her, her facial expression only wrinkled in response to his smile. She didn’t expect anything else remotely good or intelligent coming out from his mouth now. It was almost like she was looking off to the side to wait for him to shut up.

“Nobody takes a stroll through a Graveyard, be respectful at the very least.” She literally dusts off her shoulder and ignores the baby part as much as possible. He’s even close enough to hear her mutter “vermin” in the corners of her mouth.

And then he’s laughing. If anything, it feels like nails on a chalkboard. She even winces in response. 

“My damage, you dolt? I believe all you do is break rules and disrespect me as a person. Why would I threaten you, when all you’re doing is running you’re mouth like you’re looking for a fight. Now then, signore. If you will excuse me from your distasteful actions--” Oh no. What did he just do.

She clenches her fists, gritting her teeth. “You will never find my lips on yours, ever. Nor my fist on your face, mind you. I’d rather suffer from a night in jail than excuse what I did, anyway.” 

Make Up Your Mind † CH. 2 † Open

Hokori almost barks out a laugh at the way that the nun is so quick to chastise him, but he manages to hold his tongue, although he can’t fight off a smile as it creeps its way onto his face. It’s such a satisfied smile, ever growing as the adrenaline fills his veins even further.

“Well, nothin’ wrong with me takin’ a little afternoon stroll, or so I would think. Oh, and keep sayin’ my name, baby. It gets my ego goin’ somethin’ fierce, man.”

The laugh finally manages to escape him as she says that what everyone’s been thinking. It wasn’t like it was rocket science or anything, but that calm demeanor was really starting to grate on his last nerve. It was nice to hear her just come out and say it. After all, it gets the adrenaline pumping even faster, and it’s basically free ammunition. The rock star’s practically bouncing on the balls of his feet now.

“Ouch, man! I gotta ask, what is your damage? I didn’t do anything to hurt little ol’- well, not so little, but tall ol’ you! So, like, is that a threat, or something? What are you gonna do, go full-on Catholic School on me? So you’re like that, huh? That’s why you’re so meeean?”

Still giggling, he fetches a nearby fallen branch on the ground, passing it to the nun.

“If you get me real good, then we gotta kiss and make up, too,” he says, making a few kissy noises into the air.

[shslnun-blog]

It appears the stranger who appeared was nobody other than Hina, a girl she never interacted one on one with, but she found her to be a rather timid girl. Less of an owl, like the appearance she had, and more like a quiet mouse who got tumbled around a lot. 

They both had rather.. damp appearances, due to the sudden rain. Agatha herself had her hair sticking to her face, most of her clothes gently sprinkled on with water drops. She places a hand on her hip, smoothly turning to face her more. 

“Yes, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to let up any sooner. If I had to say so myself, but it’s the weather. Nobody can control climates.” Not even God. She noted her formal manner, and it seemed like she went here for the same purpose as Agatha. “I believe so, actually I have a slight proposition if you don’t mind. I don’t wish to spend anything on well.. umbrellas, so would you like to share one perhaps? I think it would leave more for the others, too.” 

Agatha bows in return.

“I am Sister Agatha, you can refer me as either name. It is nice to meet you as well, MIss Fukunaga. You are excused.” 

All This And Heaven Too † CH. 2 † Open

[shslnun-blog]

The nun only rolled her eyes and sighed to the response to his words. She didn’t want to be exactly caught up in some petty argument, especially when she was just done with treating another idiot who somehow got himself voted. At least she was there to help, but if she was even more bitter than she thought she was, she would have left him. But it was good to be generous, good to help others in need. 

She didn’t believe in helping Hokori Aoki raise his ego at the moment.

“There’s other places to be, Mister Aoki. I doubt you happened to stumble upon the graveyard, where I happened to be.” She gritted her teeth. “Well, it’ll enlighten you then that I voted for Hokori Aoki with no hesitation in mind. Not for a sinner like you.” She was going to spell it out that she didn’t like him. In fact, she was going to dig this gap they both seemed to have even deeper. “Seems like it was a good choice from your selfish actions, but I won’t say more.”

She sighs, rubbing at her forehead. 

“I think we clearly both can tell we dislike each other.” She squints at him. “But if you dare vote for me again, Mister Aoki, I can promise you, you’re getting much more than a simple scolding.”

Make Up Your Mind † CH. 2 † Open

Seeing the bloodstains on the nun’s clothes, a pang is sent through the rock star’s heart, but he rationalizes it quickly enough. Agatha wasn’t his favorite person here, far from it, but it’s definitely not his style to actively wish for the laceration of someone else. The words that came out of his mouth actually carried very little weight, although that wasn’t something that he’d let Agatha know. He missed this, picking fights. Not that he’d ever hit a girl, but spitting vitriol was a step in the right direction. He begins to clench his fists.

“Nah, nah, I was just in the neighborhood, you know? I didn’t think anyone else had it out for you, anyway, so I guess it didn’t matter. Don’t know how, honestly, guess everyone’s just weak in the knees for these pretty, pious types. I just did it for me, you know? Blow off steam.”

Hokori figures that he shouldn’t have to spell it out that he doesn’t like her. In fact, he also figures that the feeling is mutual, and he has no qualms with hiding it. A little rivalry is healthy, right? Well, this goes beyond rivalry, at this point. They’re not necessarily on the same level. Just two personalities that could never mesh, no matter what, and would invariably always clash.

“I’m not gonna lie, man. Ain’t that wrong in the eyes of the lord, too? But, uh, you did the same, so I guess we’re even. There ain’t even any wrong or right here, man! I didn’t vote wrongly. We could vote for whoever we wanted. It wasn’t a quiz, yo.”

[shslnun-blog]

All This And Heaven Too † CH. 2 † Open

Was Tadao Myojin a martyr? A leader to the cause, an image in a war or more specifically-- a riot. Well, she knew from her past experiences Tadao clearly knew how to speak out against a cause, and to control a crowd. Sadly, she already had voted before hearing is somewhat insufferable but tolerable voice reach out the others. She wished for no such thing to happen in a holy place, and have one of the residents here involved. Agatha doubted she would be voted, besides one lucky person who she was sure who would vote for her no matter what.

Simply stating, she voted for nobody other than herself. She suppose he got what he deserved, but she didn’t feel any feelings of spite for him anymore. Well, certainly she didn’t think of him as friend, but more or less, she wouldn’t be punching him anymore. Agatha honestly believed his choice was foolish, but she suppose his actions in general were foolish. They never agreed, never came to a general consensus to the situation.

She found the current weather changes very troublesome, seeing how she herself had enough of getting thoroughly soaked, either due to sprinklers or natural rain from the sky. Her mother used to tell her when she was a child, when the sky rained, God wept for them all. Angels cried with him, and so did our loved ones long gone. Agatha never believed this notion, even after she became fairly involved with religion. She thought it was more of God giving them a gift, though the fact she didn’t have an umbrella with her bothered her.

If she was here in the second area, she might as well head to the supermarket to see what they had. After wandering the strange place, she found it odd for it to be so silent, rain muffled in the background whenever she came near the entrance. She suppose this was better than going to your local supermarket, it was fairly tidy and clean. Unlike most, she found. She sighed as she picked up an apple, noticing someone actually in the vicinity as her.

“..This rain isn’t going to stop anytime soon.” She placed the apple back down, don’t bite into anything you won’t purchase around here. Agatha turned to her new company, crossing her arms.

“Why do you find yourself at the supermarket, may I ask so kindly of you.” The bitter look on her face doesn’t exactly match up to her words, but she is at least making the slightest of conversation. 

[shslnun-blog]

Out of all people to show up, she expected it to be one of the people Agatha absolutely detested. Agatha did dislike about a solid half of the people she was residing with here, so it wasn’t hard to predict at all. It was a 50/50 chance she would have another horrible encounter with the rock star herself. She honestly hoped-- the bigger the towns got, the less she would see that smirk on his face.

Agatha took her time to stare at him, taking the words given to her and swallowing them bitterly. She stood up from her kneeling position, dusting off any sort of marks or dirt that may have gotten on her. With the amount of cleaning she did and carrying around the unconscious Suishouryuu, a few blood stains were evident on her clothing. She didn’t seem to care or mind though, she squinted at Hokori before her.

“I could say the same to you, Mister Aoki.” She crosses her arms, if she were to pick a fight, it better not be in front of a graveyard. 

“Are you implying something to me by confronting me like this? It almost sounds like a threat.” She closed her eyes for a brief moment. She recalled the moment she entered the chapel, a clear name in mind. Agatha never liked the Mayor’s methods herself, but if she were to vote for a sinner..

The cross with Hokori Aoki’s name was held up by her hand, and slipped into the box with no hesitation in mind.

“Are you saying you put my name in the box, Aoki.” She was back to glaring at him, uncrossing her arms to place one on her hip. “It’s rather disrespectful to wrongly vote in the eyes of the Lord.”

Make Up Your Mind † CH. 2 † Open

In the coming days, the conversation that he had with Fuu seemed to stick out to him even more. It rang in his head, making him question why he was so consistently drawn to the graveyard- when beyond the fleeting urge to spit on Toshishiro’s grave, he really didn’t care about either of the two people buried there. It wasn’t that he didn’t care that two people were dead. No, that scared the hell out of him. It was just that he didn’t know the ones that had been taken from them so soon. He managed to rationalize it, however, and he finally figured it out.

It was dangerous. 

Or, at least, it felt that. In reality, it was no more dangerous than walking into the coffee shop, or down the street, or slapping that scarecrow right in the face. But it felt like he didn’t belong there, and that’s what got his adrenaline pumping. It wasn’t inherently off-limits, but emulating the experience would have to be enough. Given all of the robots running around, it had been some time since he’d been able to do something illegal and feasibly get away with it, even if it were by the skin of his teeth. Now, even cursing was a crime, severely limiting his vocabulary. Musing on this, he approaches the grave site, and- speak of the devil. Pun one hundred and ten percent intended- Hokori struggles to not laugh at this as he approaches Agatha.

“Hey, you’re pretty lucky to be walkin’ around, not all cut up an’ stuff like that info broker dude, you know that, right?”

He wishes he could launch into a tirade of dropping every single word that she hates hearing, just to piss her off, but a piece of tape thrown over his mouth isn’t going to help him reach his end goal. 

[shslnun-blog]

Make Up Your Mind † CH. 2 † Open

Whatever Mr. Mayor was planning, Agatha seemed to have none of it. She didn’t like how the scarecrow ran the place, more or less. Even with the added chapel, a place for her to actually send her prayers to the Lord, she still had a dislike for Mr. Mayor. Well, she guessed nobody really liked the mayor himself-- perhaps the two idiots did. Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Ken and Ene. But she didn’t ever want to force opinions on other people, even if she didn’t even know how they felt. 

She found visiting the chapel everyday was troublesome, so she found herself visiting there every time she visited the other town. She only did this occasionally, seeing how the train ride was long enough, and if anyone spotted Agatha doing this-- she had a pattern it seemed. She went to the chapel, then the flower shop, and then the graveyard. Anything after that was entirely different from the set up schedule she had. 

Though, her schedule was going a little differently with the plans Mr. Mayor had in mind. She had helped Suishouryuu the most she could, patching him up and reliving his wounds with the medicine she made herself. She seemed fairly stressed out, after re-bandaging him and making a medicine that would be swallowed after he woke up. After she was done, she needed a walk. 

So, she did her regular procedure. She went to the flower shop after praying to God to forgive them for their sins, and whatever occurred in such a holy place. She picked up her usual, and headed to the graveyard. The area was fenced off, so she just laid her flowers next to the fence, replacing the ones that already withered away. She put her hands together, getting on her knees as she closed her eyes.. 

But her time was short when she heard someone nearby, and she turned around.

“If you wish to speak to me, make it quick. I am not one for conversation.” 

[shslnun-blog]

What Kind Of Man † CH. 2 † Suishouryuu

Agatha’s methods of repenting for your sins are by no means, violent. She believes, if you tell the honest truth in the face of the Lord or confess your sins fully, asking to be repenting, that is the way to go. Of course, Agatha herself, being the extremely bitter person she typically was, she had a harder time forgiving people than the Lord, she believed. The Lord was always there to hear your prays, and to stay by your side. On the other hand, Agatha.. was just a nun. She had signed herself up for this, yes, but forgiveness from the nun herself never came easy.

So, following the trial she had mostly scolding Hokori Aoki, she put the cross with his name on it in the box. She didn’t like the array of crosses presented to her, her own rosary out in the open and around her neck. She expected Mr. Mayor to fully punish the one who had sinned, but she didn’t have any interest for the punishment itself. The mayor was already known for being cruel with his execution presented so far. Agatha wanted nothing to do with this, but it looked like she had no other choice at the moment. She wouldn’t risk the entire class with a disease she would struggle herself to fix. She was more of an expert on flesh wounds and injuries than illnesses. 

Herbs for those sort of injuries were easy to make, but illnesses on the other hand took a little out of Agatha herself. Speaking of injuries, she was not surprised to see Mister Information Broker was the one to be selected, but five votes. Yeesh, what a harsh thing to realize that five of your own residents of the town had selected you the most. She glanced at Hokori before staring at where Suishouryuu was going, but before she knew it-- he was gone.. and then, the noises started happening. She stared right at Mr. Mayor, squinting at him as she realized this was not your basic punishment. “Mister--” She was about to scold a scarecrow before the information broker himself stumbled out.

And hit the ground.

“Quickly.” She muttered, as soon as the Mayor was out of their sights. “Pick him up. There is no time.” She directed this to no one of course, she was the one with the medical knowledge here. She had to help, but she did not favor the man who was Suishouryuu. 

She got him laid out on the ground, moving her now empty bag underneath his head. The clinic in the other town was a train ride away, and he was going to lose a lot of blood beforehand. Thank God, the nun herself picked up several packs of bandages at the start. 

She went to work immediately, using a nearby row to set out several glass jars of what appeared to be herbs-- and ointments. She unwrapped his already torn and bloody bandage to fix up whatever damage the Mayor did to him. She rolled up his sleeves, taking care of any wounds left there. She noticed he coughed up blood earlier, so he needed to swallow something if anything left any internal damage. 

Once Suishouryuu was bandaged up, and all of the blood was wiped off, Agatha began to work on the medicine for that. Of course, if he were to wake up, he would only be greeted with her sour face. “Don’t sit up too quickly. Swallow this. Scale your pain on a level to one to ten. Do not sass me either, young man.”

[shslnun-blog]

Agatha notes Chie’s body languages, seeing how she wants to say something back to her, she remained silent until she spoke. A few seconds passed, and Chie’s response to her only made her eyebrow raise. 

“Has it happened before, in Japan? I live in Italy, but it was a worldwide shock it seemed.. the riots as well, for the time I was in Japan..” She shook her head, trying not to recall those times. “How many times, Miss Nojima? I didn’t take much note at the time, the motivations are supposedly less than mature if it’s happened before. The fact we’re lead around by a scarecrow is a little mocking.” She turns to her, surprised by her wanting to help.

A brief smile is shown, but quickly vanishes as soon as Agatha turns her head away at the same time Chie does.

“I am both thoroughly experienced with long term illnesses and life threatening injuries. I hope I am here to aid everyone in this investigation.” She turns to her, frowning. “I requested I learn more about the medical field really, while I was becoming a nun. You don’t expect a Sister to be more than just a nun. Alas, that is how the world is.”  

She looks over at where the corpse is, and nods back at Chie.

“I could do a quick run down for you. His expression at the time can confirm anything else, it looks like he was in shock when he did die. He was my house mate, correct, nothing odd happened last night than him not returning to the house. He was not at breakfast either. Seeing the time of death, it looked like a time anyone could be awake. I was home most of the time yesterday. Neither of my house mates were around much.” 

She nods one last time to Chie before going back to the body, attempting to see if she could move his sleeves to see any hint of a wound. She also tried to see if she could inspect any area of his torso as well. Once she did one more pat down of the corpse the best she could, she stood up to go back to Chie.

“Who was late to your home, if I may ask? I could be useful, though seeing his time of death..” She sighed, as they went to the police station. There, she checked if there were any stains around the floor or cells, looking for any hints of blood. 

no sum | chapter 1 investi | open