☆ WELCOME TO HELL, YE POOR SOULS.

[raisingproject]

Magical Girl Raising Project

Graveyard

The last thing you remember is dying. Whether it's by murder or execution, that's was all it. But surprisingly enough, you wake up in the hotel room that you were assigned in, as if you had never died to begin with. However, once you walk right outside, you'll start noticing that while this is the Town A you remember, there are some slight differences that you notice.

The first thing is the fact that while you can see those who are still alive, they simply cannot see you. In fact, they pass through you, as if you were a ghost. And spoilers: you kind of are one, now. The second thing is that sometimes, if you look at a building for too long or too closely, you'll notice that it fizzles a bit, almost glitchy.

But that's completely fine, isn't it? There is, however, one more thing to keep in mind: there are voices of other people, mumuring. Of course, these other people, unlike you, don't have a complete shape; they're just a silhouette of themselves, looking like static.

However: it wouldn't be Town A without an announcement, would it? Of course not. Hence why upon rearriving, there will be a message, typed out:

Welcome to the afterlife, everyone. This is a greeting message to introduce you to how exactly this works. You have the ability to send one message to the living a week, so choose your words wisely. Of course, there are limitations to what you can say! You cannot reveal the mastermind's true identity, even if you know it. You cannot reveal a culprit or a victim, even if you know it.

Also, all messages will be sent to all players during the trials. If there is no trial, the message shall be sent on Saturday. You may investigate as you wish. If you have any questions to ask of me, please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

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Comments

Monday Morning

[theotherother]

[It's the start of a brand new day! ..wait, that's not right. Kaine doesn't remember going to sleep, in fact...

Well, we'll skip over all that, thinking about that because then this tag would just be a ton of angry cursing from inside the inn. And kicking things in his room, but not really making an impact on them because of course he's not. He can't even throw a whole tantrum anymore, isn't that great.

So after all that mess, maybe later in the morning, he'll have moved from denial and skipped his way into acceptance, just wandering around over at the park, looking glum, and trying to figure out what his next move should be.]

[telecosmetic]

[Eliza's at the park! And hanging out in a tree, apparently. She's actually looking pretty pleased with herself at being able to make it up there.

So, got anything to say to one of the girls you killed, Kaine?]

[theotherother]

[He's kind of in his own little world until he happens to look up and just...stops.

Oh, that's uh...oh.

Sorry, he doesn't have the slightest clue how to start a conversation right now.]

[telecosmetic]

[She stares. He's...looking at her? She waves slowly.] You...can see me?

[theotherother]

[Not really the greeting he was expecting.]

...yes?

[telecosmetic]

[She still doesn't actually know you killed her, okay? Otherwise she'd have broken a plate over your head a while ago.]

Wh-what happened? It's...it's really early in the week, isn't it? There wasn't even a motive!

[theotherother]

I don't think the person doing this cares.

[telecosmetic]

...so, you know who killed you then? Oh, and, um, we've found out who the mastermind is. It's not really like what you'd think at all...

[theotherother]

Not a clue.

[And more importantly, to Kaine anyway...]

Yeah? Who?

[telecosmetic]

[She leaps down from the tree first.] Please...don't run off to yell at her or anything, okay? It's Zange. Everything M says is just her acting like a jerk to hide her identity. She was part of a previous game...and now she has to run them, or else her world will be destroyed. A lot of the stuff like the hostage motive and that duel weren't her idea, either.

[theotherother]

What the fuck?!

[He's definitely having trouble with this.]

You're telling me this whole fucking time, she was...

[He can't even begin to wrap his mind around it. To the point where the other stuff Eliza said just kind of went in one ear and out the other.]

[telecosmetic]

She didn't want to get targeted because of it, so she tricked everyone...but she's been revealing herself to everyone who arrives here eventually.

[selfloving]

[Are you sure you don't want to run into her while you're throwing a morning tantrum, Kaine? Are you sure? Absolutely positive?

Well, it was impossible not to hear that this morning, anyway.

One's here in the park, too, kneeling by that destroyed tree, her expression pitiless.]

Ah. Did you break another chair?

[theotherother]

[He really really should've expected this. And yet, he's just kind of at a loss because he's never really had to face the results of his bullshit before. Not like this. And today, it just keeps happening.

So sorry, One, he doesn't really have a quick response there. He's just kind of going to look over here at the ground, trying to figure out words.

...this could take a while.]

[selfloving]

[She doesn't make eye contact at first, letting him stew in the silence a bit. It doesn't make One feel awkward, anyway. He can flounder. If he wants to help people, he has to face the less savory consequences of his actions as she has. As she always has.

She'll give him more time to formulate his response, but she does eventually look straight at him, still dispassionate. Superficially, at least, she's not expressing any rage.]

[theotherother]

I...

[Give him a second, this is tough. Usually he either doesn't care or just runs from his problems, he's good at that. It's not really an option here though. Nor does he want to.

So let's try again, not an apology, not yet, instead, he'll just look up at her, looking completely guilty because...he is.]

...you figured it out, didn't you?

[There we go. Words.]

[selfloving]

It wasn't hard. [Not afterward.]

I didn't know when I voted. [Even that's kind of a lie; she suspected, especially at the end, hadn't quite believed it, panicked.] No, that isn't true. I expected more of your desire to help people.

[He looks about ready to bolt, and watching him squirm is just a little bit satisfying.]

[theotherother]

[He won't bolt. Even if he wanted to, there's nowhere for him to really go at this point.]

I was...I thought if I took that piece of shit Fav up on his offer, I could do that.

[Which doesn't make sense, so he'll explain.]

I thought if I got rid of someone in our group that was unstable, it might make things better for the rest of us. It wasn't supposed to be her. Or you. And...

[He frowns.]

There's this girl back home I'm supposed to be protecting. Some really bad shit's come after her. Really bad. I'm not going to say it makes this look like nothing, but I'd rather go through a hundred weeks of this shit than tangle with some of that again.

[The frown deepens, if that's possible.]

I've already died once trying to keep her safe. I thought...no, I knew I wasn't the type of guy to get through something like this, so I thought even if the wish was bullshit, it's...something. That way, she might have something when I don't make it back.

[He just sighs, this is all stuff he hasn't really told anyone.]

I know that's not an excuse for what happened, but...

[He managed to actually get a bunch of words out, but then it just kind of came to a screeching halt.]

[selfloving]

[Shut up, is on her tongue, but she swallows it. He couldn't even rely on himself to achieve his own wish, had to gamble on lies. Enough of this town is fake; what's the point of a wasted wish?

She lets him talk, the most she's ever heard him say at once, and is silent for a while after that.]

I suppose you were right about one thing. [He didn't make it through.]

You should take some more responsibility for it. [She doesn't want his apologies, his repentance, doesn't even really care that he won in a fight against her when she's known for months that all of her fighting ability was given to her by that monstrous flower.] You took it upon yourself to take action. Do something horrible to save someone. You carried out exactly what you planned to do.

[theotherother]

[Oh boy, responsibility. There's a word that just stabs anyone with Parker DNA.]

What more am I supposed to? I tried avoiding them all after that, it didn't work, I tried helping and that sure as hell didn't fix anything. It's just...

[He's completely clueless about things like this.]

Christ, I don't even know if it'll actually help or not.

[And then just because he's not done kicking himself.]

Pete was right, I am garbage.

[Peter also said for Kaine not to use his guilt and all this as a crutch in the same conversation, but he's choosing not to focus on that because of course he's not.]

[selfloving]

By all means, continue to flagellate yourself.

[Not today, scarlet satan. She has no interest in listening to him condemn himself like he's kicking his own sadness around, like he's the only one who tried to protect and failed.]

You got what you wanted, so I don't want to hear that you hate yourself now because it wasn't the right person. [The right people. One comes out of her kneel slowly, standing, though he still towers over her. There's no violent intent in her stance.]

You either want me to say, "No, you did what you thought was right," or "Yes, you are garbage."

[theotherother]

[He's not even going to dignify that with a response because he definitely will. Everyone hope there's no ghost bar because he will go drown his sorrows and never leave.]

I'd think you lost your mind if you said that first one.

[No one ever thinks anything like this is right. Even Kaine doesn't really think it was the right move, just the only thing he could think to do at the time.]

The second one though, I'd understand. If anybody deserves to be more pissed off about this than Eliza, it's you.

[Because that makes sense to him.]

[selfloving]

Shut up! I'm not going to say either and give you the satisfaction. [From her tone of voice, it's definitely not just because she's feeling magnanimous. 'Garbage' probably wouldn't be her word of choice...But. He's not a child and doesn't need to be coddled into his pain. She thinks of Eliza, shrugs dismissively.] Her reasons are her own. At least she died for the sake of protecting someone else.

Protecting just one person... [Her voice lowers.] How wasteful. [Is One talking about Eliza's motivations or Kaine's?]

[partyleader]

[Nanami's heart clenches when she sees him. The look on his face...] Kaine-san... [Her voice is quiet, only a murmur really, but it's not like he can hear her anyway...

It's Monday and there's been no announcement, so he's still alive, right?]

I wish I could say something to you...

[theotherother]

...I can hear you.

[He'll just own up to that now. He doesn't really want to, but...well, it'll be obvious quickly enough anyways.]