>>41154707
Thinking those dumb things over keeps you awake almost throughout the whole class. That was the last one for today; you head to the student council room and find Michiko already there, clearing out a closet in the corner. When she notices you, she gestures towards it.

"He'll be here soon, so hide in here." The girl firmly says, quite clearly expecting you to just go along with it.

You frown at her. "...What am I, a fucking boogeyman?"

She seems pretty surprised to hear your protests, her eyebrows perking up. "Well, you can't just stand around awkwardly while I talk to him, right? It'll just make everything really weird. But this is a totally viable solution! You'll be nearby, and you also won't be in the way."

...

>"...Fine. Whatever. You owe me for this."
>"You're seriously awful at coming up with ideas. I'll just leave when he comes around so that you can have your privacy."
>"I'm not gonna hide. That's stupid. Don't worry about me, just do your thing. I'll back you up if something goes wrong."
>Other. (Write-in).

Bleach time!

>>41154718
>"...Fine. Whatever. You owe me for this."
What's the chance he finds out and thinks it's all a prank?

>>41154718
>"You're seriously awful at coming up with ideas. I'll just leave when he comes around so that you can have your privacy."

>>41154707
>...You really hope this isn't going to blow up into some stupid drama thing.
Better than what would happen if Clarissa's romantic relationships came to be known at least!

Slow start today, hopefully a tie-break comes along.

>>41154929
No kidding! A pretty foreigner, and also gay? She'd be the talk of the school for some time!

>>41154971
Indeed! The whole murder part wouldn't draw much attention though.

>>41154788
Since it's slow going I'll just switch to
>"...Fine. Whatever. You owe me for this."

Rolled 2 (1d6)

If 1-3:
>>41154767

If 4-6:
>>41154788

Voting over, writing!

I AM curious as to Paul's romantic leanings even if I also think it's not REALLY Clarissa's business. I'll hope for some clarification from this I guess.

>>41154767
>>41155084
"...Fine. Whatever. You owe me for this."

"Alright, alright... hurry, he'll be here any second!"

You grumble for a bit but get into the closet. It's spacious inside, thankfully, but it's dark and the closet isn't positioned in a good way to allow for any kind of stealthy peeking, not without getting caught right away. So, you stand about in wait. After a while, you hear the room's door open. Your brother's voice follows shortly after; rather than asking anything about Michiko, Paul goes straight to something council work-related. He probably thought that he was called for something to do with that.

The president tries to quickly make it clear that he wasn't called here for that. Of course, Paul, who really hates it when people are being unclear and cryptic - you think it's because he's too stupid to get any hints and that makes him angry - makes his annoyance clear right away.

You think Michiko murmured something, but you can't make it out. There's a pause.

"...Sorry. I'm... not really interested." Paul finally responds. There's another heavy pause after that; you think Michiko is saying something, but once again, she's being quiet and you can't make anything out. "No, no, there's nothing wrong with you. It's just... I want to focus on my studies." Yet another silence. "...Well. I should... go get that report done."

You hear footsteps, and the sound of the door opening and closing again. Carefully, you peek out of your hiding spot.

(1/2)

>>41155494
Michiko is leaning against the room's large desk, arms folded over her chest, head hung and staring at the floor. You quietly approach her. Her expression is gloomy and frustrated, but, well, at least she doesn't look like she's about to cry. She glances at you and then puts up an effort to look more or less nonchalant.

"...You heard all that, right? It... didn't work out. I guess I should have just gotten the hint." The girl shrugs. After a sigh, she continues. "Most of my friends are skipping school because of that pandemic business. This is going to be a pretty depressing evening, isn't it?" Michiko forces a smile and glances back at the tiled floor. "Well... thanks for the help, anyway. I'll go home." She mumbles without much enthusiasm.

...

>"You'll find a better guy, I'm sure. You're cute and all, so it should be easy enough for you."
>"He's just gay, don't worry about it."
>"...Well. Give me a call if you want to hang out or something."
>Other. (Write-in).

>>41155516
>"...Well. Give me a call if you want to hang out or something."
>"At least now you're not stuck with that straight-laced buzzkill. Swell guy he may be, entertaining he is not. Trust me."

>>41155516
>>"...Well. Give me a call if you want to hang out or something."

>>41155516
>"You'll find a better guy, I'm sure. You're cute and all, so it should be easy enough for you."
>"...Well. Give me a call if you want to hang out or something."

>>41155494
Hmmmm...now I want to question him about why he turned her down, but we don't really have any good excuse for knowing about it...oh well.

Perhaps we can make another friend!

>>41155516
Voting over, writing!

>>41155536
>>41155563
>>41155566
"At least now you're not stuck with that straight-laced buzzkill. Swell guy he may be, entertaining he is not. Trust me." You try to cheer her up, but it doesn't look like it works too well.

"You're probably right... he is pretty stuck up on things sometimes." She replies, still with that disappointed looking smile. Michiko steps away from the desk, grabs her bag and starts to head out. You stop her.

"...Hey, if you don't have anyone to hang out with today, you can give me a call if you want." You propose, to which the girl shrugs as she takes out her phone.

"If I feel like it. Thanks." She mutters and adds your number. You say your goodbyes and the two of you split up. You kind of want to bring this up with Paul later, but you don't know how to do that without giving away the fact that you were peeking on them. Also, he's not anywhere near the student council room, and you don't really feel like searching for him.

You've got stuff to do, after all - it's Ren's first day at the dojo. You don't really know if you need to bug any instructors about her, or if Naoko can handle her just fine on her own. She might be way better at fighting than you are, but does that necessarily make her a good teacher? Guess you'll have to find out.

...

(1/2)

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>>41156231
"First of all, I need to find out what you can do." Naoko declares after scrutinizing your friend's slim but nonathletic build. She did volunteer to teach her, at your request. Not that you have anything against the instructors here - you just think Ren'll have an easier time with someone she knows.

"I was worried you'd say something like that!" Ren exclaims, looking pretty nervous. She tries to sort of imitate Naoko's current stance, but she's pretty shaky.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Naoko tries to assure her, but the redhead doesn't look convinced.

Their first spar is a pretty humorous mix of running away or ducking down on the ground in fear whenever Naoko so much as raises her hand. Well, it's probably not that bad, considering that this is exactly what Ren should be doing if a Hollow comes anywhere near her. And besides, it's exercise either way. Now if only you could stop laughing.

Your own practice goes pretty poorly, too. Naoko can't take your hits like she did with Ren, but she doesn't even need to - your punches never even come close, and hers hit you all the time. Your lack of sleep becomes really apparent here. You step down early and let the quiet girl focus on Ren. She's having a hard time, just as you expected.

At the end of the training session, you all sit down on the floor away from the mats and relax.

(2/3)

>>41156270
"Everything hurts..." Ren whines, slouched down against a wall of the dojo, sweating all over and looking like she'd have a hard time lifting up her arms. She wasn't even hit that much; from what you saw, Naoko did a pretty good job at introducing her to the basics, and didn't bully her at all.

"Already? That stuff usually comes the next morning." You say, and your friend glares at you, as if to say that not everyone's as strong as you. You smirk and pass her your water bottle. She greedily gulps down about half of it. Ren didn't bring her own. Will probably know better from now on.

...

>"So I accepted Urahara's deal..."
>"We need to figure out how Ren can use her power in a useful way. Any ideas?"
>Ask Naoko something. (Write-in).
>Ask Ren something. (Write-in).
>Other. (Write-in).

>>41156294
>"We need to figure out how Ren can use her power in a useful way. Any ideas?"
Deal talk after.

>>41156294
>"So I accepted Urahara's deal..."
>"We need to figure out how Ren can use her power in a useful way. Any ideas?"
>"Think you can handle this kind of training then, Ren?"
A nicely anticlimactic ending to this chapter of our bro's romantic escapades.

>>41156294
Voting over, writing!

>>41156294
>>41156568
Support-
>>41156666
Ah, well close enough.

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>>41156568
>>41156530
"Think you can handle this kind of training, Ren?" Still with a light smile, you ask her. The girl sighs and tilts her head upwards.

"Sure, I guess..." She shrugs; the determination from before, when she was asking you to sign her up for this, is completely absent. "It'll... stop hurting eventually, right?"

You giggle, which makes your friend softly groan. "Not if you're doing it right. But you'll learn to enjoy it. It's like a sign that you weren't just playing around."

"...I kind of like it." Ren thoughtfully mutters.

"Are you gonna be fine with the patrol tonight, Ren?"

"Yeah, of course!" She denies your concerns immediately, traces of that previous enthusiasm coming back. "Don't worry about it, this is nothing..."

You lean back a bit; unlike your friends, you didn't really get that much training done. Naoko didn't make too much progress today, either, but for a much better reason than yours, namely, she was training your friend.

Ren is too tired to speak up, and Naoko, well, she's the same as always. You break the silence. "Hey, Ren, have you figured out a good way to use your power yet?"

She shakes her head. "Not really. I wasn't thinking about it that much, to be honest. It's really... specific, I guess? So I couldn't think of anything good."

(1/2)

>>41157278
"Well, there oughtta be something. Naoko, do you have any ideas?" You ask, but she shakes her head as well.

"It's a very... specific power, yes. It'd be easier to apply it if, for example, Ren wasn't affected by injuries." She says. You nod; that'd be awfully convenient and make her both a healer and a self-harming sort of attacker, but it's not the case.

Ren speaks up with a little hesitation. "Well, there is this one idea I had in mind..." It's pretty clear by her frowning expression that she doesn't like it. "I guess I could carry a box of rodents with me and just sort of... transmit stuff to them after taking damage. But I don't really want to touch or hurt rats like a weirdo."

"...Would that even work? Can you exchange wounds with rats as a human being? And you'd probably need, like, a whole box of them to accommodate for the size difference. Or something." You wonder. Ren shrugs.

"I haven't used it since that one time in your room a few days back. Back when, well..." She catches herself approaching an unpleasant topic, and shrugs again to discard it. "Not since then."

Yeah, you do remember it. Back when Kimiko was around, you messed around with Ren's newfound power to clarify the effects of her ability.

...

>"...Nah, that seems like it'd be impractical. A box of hamsters would just get in the way when shit goes down. Let's think of something else."
>"That's kind of disgusting, but I guess we could try it. Does anyone know where to get a pile of hamsters?"
>Other. (Write-in).

>>41157306
>"That doesn't really sit right with me, let's try to think of something else for now at least."
2creepy

>>41157306
>"...Nah, that seems like it'd be impractical. A box of hamsters would just get in the way when shit goes down. Let's think of something else."

>>41157381
Second

Weren't we talking about seeing if she could absorb our tiredness post-training? That seems like it'd be a worthwhile try.

>>41157306
Voting over, writing!

>>41157514
Certainly a more humane and convenient experiment, at least.

>>41157381
>>41157472
"That doesn't really sit right with me at all, let's try to think of something else."

Ren sighs in relief. "I'm glad you said that. I don't want to hurt animals."

There's a small period of silence as the three of you try to figure out a less terrible alternative. Nobody gets any good ideas after a while, so you propose something else.

"Do you think you could exchange your fatigue with me, Ren? You know, just as a test?" You ask, and Ren slowly leans out of her comfortable sitting position to lay a hand on your arm. Her eyebrows lower as she concentrates, and a moment later, you feel the sharp prickling of lactic acid in your limbs. The sudden increase in their heaviness catches you off-guard. "...Wow, you're pretty fucking tired right now."

She smirks, and a moment later, takes back her exhaustion. Your sleepiness and the fatigue of your own training remains; you wonder if she can only take back what she gives. A little more experimentation reveals that she can freely control which exact things she gives and takes away - she can take away your fatigue and add it onto her own and then return only your or only her own tiredness, for example. That's pretty handy, but you're still struggling to figure out a practical way of applying this in combat.

Ren makes sure to reset everything to how it was before she started messing around. She wasn't aiming to take away your sleepiness, probably because she doesn't know how dire it is for you right now. You haven't really told them that you've been running on no sleep for three nights straight. They'd probably just get needlessly worried. You shouldn't dump the consequences of your voluntary sleep deprivation on a friend.

(1/2)

>>41158430
Iiiiinteresting.

>>41158430
While you get ready to head out, you bring up one more topic.

"I accepted that Urahara guy's deal." You tell them. While Ren doesn't seem against it, Naoko frowns and voices her disapproval.

"I don't think we should trust him, Clarissa." She begins, but after a moment, decides to apparently drop the issue. "But if you think that's for the best..."

"I have a bad feeling about rejecting that guy's offer. They don't seem like they'd take it too well." Ren says. "So are we going to meet them again tonight?"

You shrug. "I dunno. It might take some time before they show up again. I don't have a fuckin' clue how long those butterfly messengers take."

"There is still a Shinigami in Karakura Town, but I haven't seen them yet. I don't know if they have anything to do with those other two." Naoko mutters.

As you exit the dojo, you spot Naoko eyeing you sort of worryingly. You ask her if something's up.

"Are you feeling alright, Clarissa? You seem tired. Not from training, but in a more general sense. Are you sure we need to go on a patrol today? We could take the day off. There's a Shinigami around, after all."

Ren picks up on that and says that she's also noticed it.

...

>"I'm not gonna slack off. Don't worry about it, I'm fine."
>"Well, maybe it'll be better if we catch a small break. Ren looks like she's gonna die, too, so let's skip out today."
>Other. (Write-in).

>>41158522
>"I'm not gonna slack off. Don't worry about it, I'm fine."
>"If I didn't go I'd just worry about that as well...wouldn't be conducive to resting really."

>>41158522
>"I'm not gonna slack off. Don't worry about it, I'm fine."

>>41158522
>>41158543
Supporting this!

>>41158522
Voting over, writing!

>>41158522
>"I'm not gonna slack off. Don't worry about it, I'm fine."

>>41158543
>>41158555
You firmly shake your head. "Not gonna slack off on this. Don't worry about me, I'm fine. And if I didn't do this, I'd just worry about it and not get any sleep anyway."

Naoko nods. Ren smiles lightly. "There's just no stopping you when you're set on something, is there? But it's a good thing you're taking it really seriously, I think!"

Naoko nods again, agreeing with her. "There were a lot of Hollows last week. Without Clarissa, things would have gotten dire."

...It feels nice to be praised for your efforts, but you fight back a smile; not like you deserve anything, it's all just a matter of course. It's all too normal for people to help when they are able, and especially when they are the only ones able. And... the circumstances surrounding you are not at all praiseworthy.

"Don't look so humble!" Ren exclaims and bumps you on the shoulder. Her tired arm lifelessly flops back down after that; looks like it still hurts quite a bit. "You're totally a super hero, Clarissa! The coolest." You smile at her, though this one is pretty forced. Yeah, you're just the coolest murderous super hero ever.

You suddenly get a phone call.

The voice, at least with the slight distortion caused by the phone, is unfamiliar at first, but you quickly recognize it as Michiko's. "Are you busy right now? I want to hang out with someone after all. Acting all depressed is pretty boring."

Well, this is some pretty convenient timing on her part - you're just finished with training. You glance at your friends. They'll be heading to their homes to shower and do schoolwork, or, well, in Ren's case, to suffer from the strain of her first training session ever.

...

>Accept her invitation.
>Decline her invitation; go home and try to rest before the patrol.
>Other. (Write-in).

>>41159229
>>Accept her invitation.

>>41159229
>Accept her invitation.
Sure. Just gotta watch out for plotrock shenanigans.

Kinda want to ask if the others can come too...but she doesn't know them well, right? It might be a little awkward given the situation. Well, I guess Ren might be on at least an acquaintance level, but still...

>>41159229
>Accept her invitation.

>>41159229
>Accept her invitation.

>>41159272
Maybe make sure to think really hard about keeping things platonic?

>>41159311
I dunno, would they even want to? Probably looking forward to resting time now.

>>41159392
Something like that would be ideal, yeah. Now that we're aware of it, we could avoid anything really bad anyway, but it would be inconvenient if she got a crush on us even if only for a couple days. Proactivity!

...assuming that even works.

>>41159229
Voting over, writing!

>>41159540
New friend time!

What time of day is it in story now anyway? Early evening?

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>>41159255
>>41159272
>>41159341
You accept her invitation. You arrange a meeting at the park, and then she hangs up after saying that she'll meet you there. So it's immediate, apparently.

"Who was that?" Ren asks you when you're done with your brief conversation.

"Michiko." You reply, though the name pretty clearly doesn't ring any bells for either of your friends. They're probably more used to using family names... while you can't even remember her family name. "...Student council president."

"Oh. That girl who had a fight with Tomoko last year? Didn't know you guys were friends." She seems unpleasantly surprised. You guess her lack of excitement at the news is understandable. From her perspective, Michiko is probably just 'the girl who had a fight with a friend'. But you were there, and you know that it was actually Tomoko who struck first, so you don't really hold anything against the council president.

You decide not to bring up the thing about Paul that happened earlier today. You'd probably just give off the impression that you've betrayed Tomoko even more. Naoko isn't familiar with her at all, so she's not interested in joining you, either. You split off with the rest of them and head to the park.

Maybe she's nearby or something. It's kind of weird how hasty she seemed to come off about meeting you, or maybe that's just you. Well, you did say you were free right now.

...At least you're not terribly sweaty. A lack of hard work paid off this time, in a weird way.

...

(1/2)

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>>41160412
Michiko comes around after about fifteen minutes of wait. Looking at the sky and the gray clouds looming up above is a poor way of telling the time, but, after checking your phone, you determine that it's almost six.

You wave at her from your bench, and she sits down next to you. You chat for a while, first about various unimportant things, and then breach the subject of Paul. It seems like the girl's just venting her frustrations about him out; your currently absent brother ends up on the receiving end of a whole bunch of verbal abuse, and you really don't mind obliging her and bringing up more of his poor qualities to be mad about.

Just shittalking your sibling with another girl. At a glance, it's a pretty weird way to be spending time, but it's surprisingly fun. Michiko looks like she's enjoying herself, too. You feel like you're bonding quite a bit, and that's... not really a joke.

When you finally have enough of talking about him, the council president stands up and suggests going somewhere else. Suddenly, she gasps and plops back down onto the bench. "He's right there!" The girl whispers and points to your side; you turn your head to that direction.

Yeah, that's your brother right there, strolling about on his business a bit further away from here. He probably doesn't suspect that you might be nearby. You also notice something else - there's a pale ghost, a plump man in a white shirt and in brown pants, sitting right in the middle of the sidewalk. The way Paul is currently walking, he'll go straight through the guy.

"...So is he gay or not?" Michiko whispers to you again. You frown a bit. "Bet he's going to hang out with one of his boy friends. Let's go after him and check it out." The tone of her voice paints it like innocent mischief, not stalking, but it's... still kind of stalking.

...

>Call out to Paul.
>"You're still hung up on that? Forget about him; let's go get something to eat instead."
>"Well... sure, why not."
>Other. (Write-in).

>>41160467
>Call out to Paul.

>>41160467
>"You're still hung up on that? Forget about him; let's go get something to eat instead."
He probably walks through spirits every day right?

>>41160467
>>"You're still hung up on that? Forget about him; let's go get something to eat instead."

>>41160467
>"I dunno, if it's nothing that's a waste of time, and if he were gay he'd probably not want us snooping, right? Otherwise he'd have just told you and not kept it private."

>>41160467
Voting over, writing!

>>41160467
>"You're still hung up on that? Forget about him; let's go get something to eat instead."
Let's watch what happens when he walks through the ghost though.

>>41160521
>>41160550
>>41160562
"You're still hung up on that? Forget about him. It seriously doesn't matter if he's gay or not."

"Well... it'd make me feel a little better if he is. It wouldn't be because of me in that case. But... yeah, I'll drop it. It's getting kind of weird." Michiko smiles faintly.

"Let's go get somethin' to eat instead." You propose and stand up from the bench. You're still looking at your brother; he doesn't show any signs of seeing the ghost in his path. So... nothing should happen. You think that, but you can't shake off a sense of unease. He's approaching ever closer at a brisk pace.

In the corner of your eye, you spot something strange. It's like... like the ghost flickered just a bit, somehow. You don't really know if it was just your paranoid imagination, so to make it clearer, you lock your eyes on the wandering spirit.

...With every step that Paul takes, with every meter that he shortens the distance, the man's form distorts and twitches, like a digital image undergoing severe corruption. Jittering aside, the soul isn't moving, as if frozen in place. You decide to take a step forward and call out to your brother after all, but it's too late.

As soon as your brother's skin comes in contact with the man, the spirit bursts into pale wisps of light. In an instant, the soul evaporates and disappears. Even the floating particles soon fade away without a trace; it's suddenly easy to question yourself if there was anyone there at all. And Paul, still utterly oblivious to it all, continues on his way.

Your voice dies in your throat. For a short while, you can't do much else but stare at what just happened, mouth agape.

Your brother just killed- no, he destroyed and completely erased every single trace of a person.

(1/2)

>>41161444
Well shit.

>>41161444
"What are you doing?" Michiko has been observing your shocked reaction about seemingly nothing. Trailing your gaze does nothing; she can't see anything but Paul.

She's not even wrong. There's nothing there anymore but your twin brother, a young man in glasses.

...

>"There's something I need to talk about with Paul. Sorry that it's kind of sudden. I'll see you around."
>"No... no, it's... it's nothing. Let's go."
>Other. (Write-in).

>>41161467
I dunno, what would we even do? He can't see them, and we can't be around him 24/7 to direct where he moves. And he won't even believe us if we DO say something. I have no idea what to do here, even asking mophead is dangerous - Paul is doing serious damage that Shinigami can't just overlook. For now I'll go with
>"No... no, it's... it's nothing. Let's go."
Gotta discuss it with the team soon though.

>>41161467
>"There's something I need to talk about with Paul. Sorry that it's kind of sudden. I'll see you around."

>>41161467
>"No... no, it's... it's nothing. Let's go."
Gonna need to plan what we're gonna do about it, no point rushing sadly.

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>>41161467
Ending thread for tonight, it's getting late! Next thread will begin with the most voted option!

Next thread will be announced on twitter:
https://twitter.com/Mushroomgami
I'll try to find a spot to fit in an extra thread next week, and I really hope I can pull it off!

If you have any feedback or questions, shoot them my way!

Thanks for reading!

>>41161875
Thanks for running!
This would be pretty high priority for SS if they noticed, wouldn't it? Between the damage he's doing and figuring out what's causing it in the first place, I can't say I have high hopes for his immediate safety...

>>41161875
Thanks for writing Mushroom. It was fun. Sure hope Urahara can help with this cause otherwise we're in trouble.

>>41161926
He'd probably be more of a subject of interest than a direct 'threat' unless they decide to think that his ability never stops working at full effectiveness (regardless of whether they're actually right or wrong). In that case, things might turn pretty grim for Paul!

But it'd be pretty hard for him to get noticed. Just one human who destroys a soul once in a while is like a drop in the ocean.

For example, SS wouldn't hound on Naoko just because she's something like a Quincy if they found out. Even if she tried to take part in a large scale spiritual genocide, and even if she persisted at it for a long time and put a lot of effort into it, she wouldn't really tip the balance scales at all, because living people die all the time and she simply can't keep up with that with her abilities.

>>41162162
That creates a dilemma then. If we never speak up about it he'll be safe, but at the expense of innocent spirits and potential risk of whatever else is going on with him. If we bring it up with someone and call attention to it, he might be in danger from that.

Oh well. At least it gives us a bit of time to think on it.

You're pretty fast Mushroom! More than one update an hour after all, with slow votes!

>>41162435
I need to go even further beyond!