>>39713237
Has Masami looked at herself yet?

>I'll go to school and find someone else who will help!

>>39713237
>I'm probably just lost! I'll look around until I find someone who does!

>>39713237

>I'll go to the mansion! Maybe someone backtracked to there!

>>39713237
>I'm gonna stay here and not move until she opens this door!
Unless it takes, like, SEVERAL minutes. We're still a panicked kid after all.

>4-way tie
Sasuga anons.

Rolled 3 (1d4)

Rolling for it.

1. I'll go to school and find someone else who will help!
2. I'm probably just lost! I'll look around until I find someone who will help!
3. I'll go to the mansion! Maybe someone backtracked there.
4. I'm gonna stay here until she opens that door!

Writing!

>>39713651
Well, it could mean progress at least.

File: Ryo-kun.jpg (145 KB, 574x800)

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That's right, Aiko probably got out and is still spooked about what happened earlier.
I don't blame her, that was pretty scary.

What's more important is finding someone who is still around that could help. I think a good place everyone might regroup at would be the mansion.

I turn around and start to leave. Quickly I turn back to see if she's opened the door or gotten over her panicking, nothing.
Hmph!

I storm off toward the subway, I could make it to the mansion in about twenty minutes if I-
..
Wait, Something just appeared in the corner of my vision. I spin around to see if I'm hallucinating, but I can't see anything. Everything about this is just too weird.
It looked... green. Like a green leaf just outside my field of view.

I walk down the street toward the subway, on the way I pass a group of children just leaving their weekend club meeting.

Or at least, I would have passed by them, if they didn't immediately stop what they were doing to point and scream at me.
"E-EEEEEK"
"R-RUN!"
"GO GET THE TEACHER, GO!"

I stop, and slowly turn my head to survey my surroundings.
I'm certain someone is following me. It has to be.

I'm almost a block away from the subway station before I hear a shout behind me.
"STOP!"
I turn to see Ryouta running down the street. He skids to a halt a few meters away from me.
"Vile beast! What are you doing scaring innocent kids in broad daylight!?"

>"Oh good! Ryouta! Can you explain what's going on?"
>"I'm not a beast! You're a jerk!"
>"Why aren't you at Fortune?"
>Just run away from him.
>"Why are you acting like this!? Are you and Aiko in on some cruel joke!?"
>Other?

>>39714083
>"Oh good! Ryouta! Can you explain what's going on?"

>>39714083
>"Oh good! Ryouta! Can you explain what's going on?"

>>39714083
>"I'm not a beast! You're a jerk!"
>"Why are you acting like this!? Are you and Aiko in on some cruel joke!?"

>>39714083
>>"Why aren't you at Fortune?"

>>39714083
>"Oh good! Ryouta! Can you explain what's going on?"
>"Why aren't you at Fortune?"

>>39714083
>"Oh good! Ryouta! Can you explain what's going on?"

>>39714083
>"I'm not a beast! You're a jerk!"
>"Why aren't you at Fortune?"
RUDE

>"Oh good! Ryouta! Can you explain what's going on?"
>"Why aren't you at Fortune?"

Writing!

File: 44764711.jpg (142 KB, 595x842)

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"Oh good! Ryouta! Can you explain what's-"
"How did you know my name!?" He seems supremely shocked.

Rude!

"Er- anyway! Why aren't you at Fortune?"
He, laughs?
"I think a better question is, Why aren't YOU back at Fortune with the rest of your kind, demon?!"
"I'M NOT A DEMON! I'm a person just like you!"
"I don't know any 'people' that have wings!"

Wings?

I reach my arm upward, over my shoulder. I can feel something tugging on my back.
"W-when did that happen!?"

He doesn't let me finish, instead he rushes straight toward me!
"EEK!" I yell and bring my fists up to block. He hits me full-force right against my guard!
I... barely feel it?
"GRRRGH" He grumbles as he struggles against my usually really-weak defense.
I bring up my arms and push him away, "STOP THIS!"

I may have been a little too forceful, he gets shoved away from me and sprawls out against the sidewalk!
"R-Ryouta?!"
He coughs, but he slowly tries to get up. I can tell he's really hurt.

Oh no.
Before he can even charge at me again, I turn around and run as fast as I can!

--

That was scary.
I think I lost him, but I really didn't stop to check. The fact that he was mindlessly attacking me without even listening is scary enough!

I reach my hand back and feel along my shoulders. There's definitely something sticking me in the back. I tug on it and feel a sharp pain echo down my spine.
"Huh..."

I don't know how, but I'm almost at the mansion already. This is definitely the neighborhood.
At least maybe someone here can tell me what is going on.

"WHO ARE YOU!?"
I spin around to see a familiar face.

"Kaori!" I feel my face beaming with joy.
She's holding a bag of groceries from the local convenience store, and she's wearing a strange black dress I haven't seen her wear before now.
"I don't know who you are, why are you so close to Father's house?! Did Fortune put you up to this?!"

>Hug her.
>"No! No! We're sisters, remember?!"
>Run away!
>Cry.
>All of the above!
>Other?

>>39714958
>Cry.

>>39714958
>>All of the above!

>>39714958
>Cry.
>"No! No! We're sisters, remember?!"

>>39714958
>>"No! No! We're sisters, remember?!"
>>Cry.

>>39714958
>"No! No! We're sisters, remember?!"
>Cry.

>>39714958
>"No! No! We're sisters, remember?!"

>>39714958

>"No! No! We're sisters, remember?!"
>Cry.

>"No! No! We're sisters, remember?!"
>Cry.

Writing!

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"Kaori! Something really weird is going on and I think-"
"Stop calling me Kaori!" She steps back from me.

But..
"Kaori! I'm your sister!"

"I DON'T HAVE A SISTER! WHO ARE YOU?"

Those words.
Out of everything that has happened today, those words hurt me the most.

"O-Of course I have a sister!"
"WE PHYSICALLY CAN'T HAVE SIBLINGS! What are you trying to pull!?"

That hurts pretty hard, too.

"Kaori! What are you doing?! I came here to find out why everyone is acting weird!"
"Sorry, but I don't know any weird girls with wings growing out of their back. None of them are my sister, either."

She turns away from me, and starts walking toward the mansion.
"I'm going to tell the guards that you're here, so don't follow me."

K-
"KAORI!" The tears, I can feel them burning at my eyes.
"GO AWAY!" She yells back, breaking into a run.

"Kaori.."
I sink to my knees.
No, no, no not the tears. I don't want to cry anymore.

Footsteps, someone just walked right next to me and stopped.
"Huh?"

It's.. Asai. He looks toward Kaori as she leaves.
For one, he doesn't seem to be manaically smiling. He almost looks a little sad, even.

>Attack him! With your fists! Demand he turn everyone back to normal right now!
>Plead with him.
>Run away from him, you don't need this now.
>Cry at him.
>Other?

>>39716219
>Attack him! With your fists! Demand he turn everyone back to normal right now!
Asai is a jerk, this is a fact no matter what illusory world we're in right now.

>>39716219
>Attack him! With your fists! Demand he turn everyone back to normal right now!

>>39716219
>Attack him! With your fists! Demand he turn everyone back to normal right now!

>>39716219
>>Attack him! With your fists! Demand he turn everyone back to normal right now!
AND WHERE THE HELL DID HE PUT MOM!

>>39716219
>Attack him! With your fists! Demand he turn everyone back to normal right now!

>>39716219
>Attack him! With your fists! Demand he turn everyone back to normal right now!

>Attack him! With your fists! Demand he turn everyone back to normal right now!

Writing!

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I don't even think twice when I see him.
Immediately, I spring to my feet and throw the strongest punch I'm able to!

And surprisingly... it connects!
He doesn't even bother trying to evade it! He takes the entire fist right to his stomach!

"OOF" He grunts, it's clear my punch is way stronger than it usual.
He stands back up, still staring at me.

So I follow up! A series of punches straight to his midsection! I finish it up with a straight arm right to his chest!
He coughs, staggering backwards.
But, instead of countering. He stands tall, ready for another.

"YOU TURN EVERYONE BACK THE WAY IT IS RIGHT NOW AND MAKE EVERYONE STOP HATING ME!"

He sighs, patting the place I hit him.
"I can make everything back the way it was, but I can't turn you into a human."

.. I don't see what the difference is!
I wind up another punch and hit him right in the sore spot! He coughs again, before smiling at me.
"Feeling better?"
"NO!"

My eyes are burning, still.
"MAKE EVERYTHING NORMAL AGAIN!"
"Masami, This is normal."

He turns to the mansion, he still rubs the soreness on his chest.
"For every monster that has ever lived, this is their life. You're getting just a small taste of it, right now. This is how it would be like if Empress never adopted you."

"Then bring me back the way it was!"
"Only after you see why Fortune needs to exist. Even if you see yourself as a human, you're still one of my kind."

That's insulting.
"You never say that again. I'm just as human as anyone else."


He laughs, "You're only human on the outside, many monsters don't have that privilege, and they need a place to call home, too."

>"I don't care. Please make everything the way it was or I will deliver my fist to your face!"
>Pout
>Just punch him!
>Go someplace else, his taunting only makes it worse.
>Other?

>>39717801
>Pout
>"Sure, some of them are nice. Everyone needs a home. But I don't see why you need to be such a jerkface about it!"

>>39717801
>"Can't we just make them human? Worked fine with the others. Then nobody would hate them and they could make their own families, like me and mom did!"

>>39717801
I gotta sleep, but thanks for running.
>Pout
>"And how are you gonna help that exactly?"

>>39717801
>Pout
>Just punch him!
and these
>>39717821
>>39717905
>>39717942

>>39717801

>>39717821
>>39717905
>>39717942
Everyone has good ideas.

>>39717801
these all sound good
>>39717821
>>39717905
>>39717942

and we already know some monsters can become humans, we saw it happen

>>39717801
>>Pout
>Then give them human forms so they aren't hated.

>>39717801
>Pout
>"Everyone needs a home. Now give mine back you jerk!"

>Pout
>Say lots of things

Writing!

>>39717942
Have a nice night!

File: pout_clear_border.jpg (23 KB, 160x192)

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I think about what he said for a few seconds.
Just a few seconds, my face contorts into a pout shortly thereafter.

"And what are you going to do that's so much better for them!?"
"I give them a home, a place in life, and a purpose." He puts his hands in his pockets. "All I ask is that we live the way we were meant to live, not as humans, but as ourselves."

Wait a minute.
"But we can turn them into humans! I saw it myself! I just need to-"
I need to..
Something, I'm not sure how I did it!

He sighs, "That's right, I know about that."
"You-"
Wait, he DOES?
"HOW!? How do you know about that?! Can you make them do it, too?!"

He ignores my question, "Making their exteriors human doesn't mean they're not monsters. They're still not humans, and trying to make them live like humans will not change that."

"Everyone needs a home!" My pout gets even stronger, "But I don't see why you have to be such a jerk about it! Now give mine back, you jerk!"

"You may be living like a human now, but inside you're still a monster. I know you're not integrating fully with your school."
"..What does that mean?"
"I'm sure you've noticed already." He turns to face me, "You aren't learning anything, you spend most of the day bored out of your mind, and everything they present to you in class is trivial and elementary."

That's.. completely true.
"It's because you're not a human, a human has to learn these things. You learned it from osmosis, through Empress."
"..Osmosis? Huh?"

"That means you learned it passively. The monsters, the cards, you, and I. We learn everything we need from taking bits and fragments of what humans already know. Our emotions, our knowledge, even how our bodies are made."

"..You lost me."
"What I'm trying to say!" He seems a little irritated now, "Is that all of us aren't made of tissue and blood! Trying to live like we are is silly!"

>"I'm still lost."
>"We're not 'made' of tissue or blood?"
>"I don't care."
>Punch him again.
>Demand to see Mom.
>Other?

>"I don't care."
>Punch him again.
>Demand to see Mom.

>>39718907
>"I don't care."
>Punch him again.
>Demand to see Mom.

>>39718907
>>"I don't care."
>>Demand to see Mom.

>>39718907
>"I don't care."
>Demand to see Mom.

>>39718907
>"I don't care."
>Demand to see Mom.

>>"I don't care."
>>Punch him again.
>>Demand to see Mom.
Writing!

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"I don't-"
He arcs his eyebrows.

Just as your fist connects with his stomach again.
"CARE ABOUT THAT!"

He staggers, before falling right on his butt. Good.
"YOU CAN KEEP ALL THAT TO YOURSELF, I JUST WANT MOM BACK!"

There's silence as he contemplates what you just said.
Slowly, he starts to laugh.
"You want to see your Mom again? You really want to see her?"

"YES! OH PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME HIT YOU AGAIN!"

He stifles a giggle, and stands to his feet.
"Fine, let's go see your mother."

A door appears on a nearby wall, he opens it and steps through. With me right behind him.
Where it leads us, is a big empty field. Rolling hills and green grass. In the distance is the edge of the city. And-
Wait.

"THIS ISN'T MOM!" I go to punch him, but he puts up his hand.

"Your Mom is here, Masami." He smiles, "This is where I saved her nearly fifteen years ago."
"You.. saved her?"

Wait, do I really care?
"It was just after she was freed from Emperor's rule. She decided to try living a human life. She contacted some of the humans that were fighting against him and offered to tell them what she knew in exchange for running away and disappearing forever. But, it was a trap."
"A.. trap?"
"The red one, that guy who is your principal? He was millimeters away from ending your mother's life. If I hadn't had anticipated the treachery of humanity; this world would have been your reality. Fortune wouldn't have ever existed."

He looks toward me, his smile is gone.
"If you want to see where your mother would be here, look down."
At my feet, there is a single yellow tulip growing among the field of grass.

I hear a door shut. Looking over toward Asai, I notice that he's missing.
My eyes are burning again..

>Cry.
>Try to break out of his illusion! (How?)
>Cry really hard.
>Feel extremely betrayed.
>Don't care! Because none of it affects you!
>Other?

>>39720166
>Cry.
>Cry really hard.
But Mom likes the guy now, so obviously Asai isn't telling us the whole story here.

>>39720166
>Try to break out of his illusion! (How?)
>Cry really hard.
>try to drift in the another world?

>>39720213
yeah, i really don't trust asai on this one either

>>39720166
>>Try to break out of his illusion! (How?)
Check other world.

>>39720166
>>Cry.
>>Try to break out of his illusion! (How?) Try to shift over into the magic world. Or try shaping this one, maybe we are in the magic world
>>Cry really hard.

>>39720166
>Cry
>Cry really hard.
>Try to break out of his illusion! (How?)
Cry Really Really Really hard.

>>39720166
>Cry.
>Try to break out of his illusion!
Try to shift to the other side.

>Cry
>Cry really hard.
>Try to break out of his illusion!

Writing the last post of the night!

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"Mommy.."
It's weak, faint. Barely audible over the sound of the wind and grass.

I can't take it anymore. My knees buckle from over me, and I find myself mashing my face into the dirt.
"I just want you back." I whisper, "I never cared about any of this. All I cared about was being with you."

The tears still flow, and they still burn. The tears burn worse than any pain I can imagine.
Each little droplet falls from my face and onto the tiny tulip.

Mom, Julie, Haruko.
"I'M SORRY I'M SUCH A BAD DAUGHTER!" I yell.

Deep down, it feels like I am, I really, really am. All I have ever done is give Fortune more control over Mom, and put my friends in danger.
I'm the worst!
No wonder everyone here hates me. I would hate me too!

"Mom.."

Concentrate.
It feels very faint, but I can feel a pair of hands wrapped around me.
I know this feeling. It's coming from the other side.
Something is holding me on the other side.
Don't think about Mom, don't think about what Asai told me.

Just concentrate.

--

"MASAMI!" Something yells. "MASAMI WAKE UP, PLEASE!"
My cheeks, I can tell that they're stained with tears.
I just don't think they're my own.

My eyes start to focus. I'm still inside the strange arrangement that Fortune has taken up. It's like I'm on a floating platform in the middle of nothing.
Except, there's someone holding me in her arms.

"Aiko.."
"MASAMI! OH THANK GOD"
She hugs me again, I can feel her tears roll down my cheek.
"I missed you too, Aiko."

I notice that she's not alone. Someone else seems to have accompanied her here.
"Aiko, how did you even find me? I had problems finding myself!"
"This girl here.. she helped me find you."

"What 'girl'?"

I look past Aiko, and see a girl with brown hair wearing a very well-cut uniform. It's something I would think a soldier would wear.
"Who are you?"

She leans down next to us, and smiles, "We can talk all about it later. But for now, you can call me Julie."

>Thread End.

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Thanks for the thread everyone.

We're making progress! That feels good! Let me know what you thought of today's thread

I might try to have a thread sometime this week, be sure to check my twitter at https://twitter.com/QM_CardHeart

Until next time!

>>39721222
Thanks for running.

>>39721222
Thanks for running. Good to see Julie is with us.

>>39721222
Thanks for running.

Was great. Although Asai is a prick

>>39721222
thanks for running
i must say, i didn't expect Julie to.. i don't even know, but this is an interesting development