>>4307743
>>If there’s anything waiting for you in the cybernet, you don’t want anything to do with it.

>>4307743
>If there’s anything waiting for you in the cybernet, you don’t want anything to do with it.

>>4307743
>>If there’s anything waiting for you in the cybernet, you don’t want anything to do with it.

>>4307743
>You don’t want to be in public, it’s too late at night … but Kentaro has a dataport in his room, doesn’t he?
We have only just found this plot thread, don't cut it off right away anons.

>>4307743
>>You don’t want to be in public, it’s too late at night … but Kentaro has a dataport in his room, doesn’t he?

>>4308501
>You don’t want to be in public, it’s too late at night … but Kentaro has a dataport in his room, doesn’t he?

Please don't reject the call to adventure

>>4308501
this

>>4307743
>>If there’s anything waiting for you in the cybernet, you don’t want anything to do with it.

>>4307743
>You don’t want to be in public, it’s too late at night … but Kentaro has a dataport in his room, doesn’t he?

>>4307743
>>If there’s anything waiting for you in the cybernet, you don’t want anything to do with it.

>>4307743

>You don’t want to be in public, it’s too late at night … but Kentaro has a dataport in his room, doesn’t he?

>>4308794
>>4308578
>>4307753
>>4307821
>>4307830
Please, anons, this seems to be an interesting plot, don't kill the fun...

Also, do we have any Augs with which we can access the Cybernet, or we have to fetch some kind of screen?

>>4308988
Being a girl from the city, Kaguya would have a rudimentary datajack that is provided by most hospitals at birth.

You think over what you know. Kentaro had been in contact with someone outside the household, no, outside the corporation. You knew that much since if his actions directly before falling into a coma had been on household business, then information would have arisen as to why he was in a coma. But you knew nothing. You hadn’t even been told not to worry about him. The rest of the household was just as clueless as you were. But this Into … he knew something. If you had to guess, you’d think that Kentaro had contacted whoever he had been involved in the same way Into had contacted you: Through the Cybernet. And if you wanted information, you would have to dive into the Cybernet as well.

There was just one problem: You didn’t own a dataport. Your room didn’t even have the necessary wiring to support one. Plutocrats almost never had datajacks like you, certainly never in the Muramoto family. There were just too many security risks. But you couldn’t hack something not connected to the network. If you wanted to enter cyberspace, you would have to use a public dataport in the lower levels, in the staff quarters … except it was too late at night. It would be unbefitting for a young lady like yourself to be plugged into a public staff dataport in plain view of anyone passing by. It would reflect badly on the family. It ran contrary to every lesson on maintaining public appearance you had been taught. Besides … you get the feeling that it would be unsafe to be plugged in and helpless in public, behind the walls of the Manor or not. So you couldn’t use the public dataports.

But there was one other option. Kentaro-kun’s room might have a datajack ... shouldn’t it?

You consider that possibility. It seemed wrong on one level to freely enter the room and use the belongings of someone who couldn’t object. But then again, it wasn’t like Kentaro-kun could object. And you had to admit, there was a delicious sense of irony at the thought of using Kentaro-kun’s dataport to find out what happened when it was arguably the source of the mess in the first place.

Kentaro’s sword was yours to use as you saw fit, right? If so … why not his dataport?

Cautiously, you slide open your door. The hallway outside was as brightly lit as it was in the daytime. Your door softly slides closed behind you. With a click, it automatically locks itself. It feels like the way back was sealed, that you could only go forwards now. But you know you can. You can turn around at any time and your door will unlock itself for you, you’ll slide it back in and close it behind you, delete the message you shouldn’t have gotten, and ignore you ever got it.

Instead, you walk up to Kentaro-kun’s door. You lift your hand to it’s biometric pad. With a click, it unlocks and slides open. There were very few doors in the manor that couldn’t be opened with the touch of a member of the Muramoto family.

The inside of Kentaro-kun’s apartment is dark. But you don’t bother turning on the lights. The faint moonlight streaming in through the window is enough for you to see the suite perfectly. It’s exactly how you remember it. You’ve been here once before. One morning when you had been tired, Kentaro-kun had invited you in to offer you some coffee. It must have been a relatively minor gesture to him, but it was rare for any of the staff here to do anything for you out of simple consideration. You really had appreciated that small gesture.

The air inside Kentaro-kun’s room smelled faintly of coffee. He must have had some every morning for the smell to be so ingrained. But it also smelled of the other scents that had clung to him. The smell of cheap cologne, the smell of burnt stubble from the laser-razor he surely owned …

… But there was another smell underneath it all that you had never smelled on Kentaro before. An acrid-sweet smell with chemical undertones. For some reason, you found the smell immensely disagreeable. It almost made you want to leave the room right then and there.

>Push through the smell and find Kentaro’s dataport

>Search for the source of the disgusting smell

>>4309495
>Plug our nose and look for the dataport
If we find the source of the smell it'll only smell stronger, and what will we do then? Clean a guy's room till morning?

>>4309495
>>Push through the smell and find Kentaro’s dataport

>>4309495
>Search for the source of the disgusting smell
More clues won't hurt...

>>4309495

>Push through the smell and find Kentaro’s dataport

feeling meta here

>>4309495
>>Push through the smell and find Kentaro’s dataport

>>4309495
>Push through the smell and find Kentaro’s dataport

>>4309495
Nice quest, I had a fun time in the archives, QM.

>Push through the smell and find Kentaro's dataport

Let's be slightly more cautious around the cybernet this time, it would be unfortunate if we fry our brains again and end up playing.

"Cyberpunk Division 8 Straggler Turned Detective Quest"
Where we are Yoji-kun and team up with a jaded veteran from a city division, have to weave through household politics, trying to solve the mystery of half the threads in the quest ending in a comatose patient and attempt to crack down the drug and human trafficking underground of the Muramoto mansion.

>>4310867
I'm glad to hear that.

The smell reminded you of your early childhood for some reason. You vaguely remember smelling it in the past. But it isn’t something you remember too clearly … or are sure you want to remember. You push through. Now where was Kentaro-kun’s Dataport?

Usually, they were kept near the couch or bed, right? Most people would want to lie down while using it. You look around Kentaro-kun’s living room. These dataports were quite large, right? The small ones were the size of a large suitcase. Maybe it was folded inside the couch somehow. You start carefully examining the couch …

And immediately recoil in disgust. The disagreeable smell … was especially strong around the couch. It smelled like it had gotten into the cushions. You rub your hands on your Yukata, trying to wipe off any invisible residue from touching the couch. Come to think of it, the smell strongly reminded you of the smell that had came off the Maid in Kentaro’s ward … Hosoda-san, her name had been?

Well as far as you were concerned, the dataport wasn’t here … how about Kentaro-kun’s bedroom then? Kentaro-kun’s quarters aren’t that big and it doesn’t take you long to find his bedroom. Moonlight streamed through the window, shined off the chrome bed mantle, and illuminated the small room in a cold, hard silver.

The sight of the empty bed illuminated silver moonlight makes you stop. If … if you had come any other day at this time, you would find Kentaro-kun lying asleep there, wouldn’t you? There are tears welling up in the corners of your eyes. First Toshi-kun … then Kentaro-kun. Toshi-kun really had been kind to you. And you had been so thankful that Kentaro had been just the same way. Your retainers … they were the only ones that ever showed you unwarranted kindness. The only companions you saw every day. And they kept disappearing away from you, without a single word.

Well, not if you could help it.

You crawl onto the bed, over the surprisingly thin bedding, and touch the bed’s mantle. Immediately, a dozen indicator-lights flash, revealing hard-to-see keypads and panels. The entire room could probably be controlled from the bed mantle. It was high-tech, nonintrusive, and you had no idea how to use it.

>You see the dataport. Forcibly pull out one of the cables, connect, and hope for the best (Roll)

>Try to figure out the manual controls and what settings the system is on before you connect yourself (Roll)

>Search up the dataport model’s controls and hope Kentaro left it on standard settings

>>4311014
>>Try to figure out the manual controls and what settings the system is on before you connect yourself (Roll)

>>4311014
>Try to figure out the manual controls and what settings the system is on before you connect yourself (Roll)

>>4311014
>Try to figure out the manual controls and what settings the system is on before you connect yourself (Roll)

>>4310867
>Yoji-kun gets brainfried too
>Cyberpunk Biker-Girl Quest: Kyune Edition
>>4311014
>Try to figure out the manual controls and what settings the system is on before you connect yourself (Roll)

>>4311014
>Try to figure out the manual controls and what settings the system is on before you connect yourself (Roll)

>>4311014
>Try to figure out the manual controls and what settings the system is on before you connect yourself (Roll)

Roll 3 1d20’s. You will need one success.

Rolled 11 (1d20)

>>4311579

Rolled 10 (1d20)

>>4311579

Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>4311579

Very mediocre, but all we needed.

>+2 bonus Plutocratic Intelligence. Plutocrats have a natural aptitude for figuring out unknown systems.
>2 successes

You run your hands over the panels on the bed mantle, pressing buttons and seeing what happens. There is a small display which changes depending on which buttons are pressed, showing what settings are changed. As you play around, the bed rises and lowers. The lights flicker on before you hurriedly turn them off before anyone has the chance to notice. You hear the shower turn on momentarily.

Gradually, you figure out which buttons do what, activate which function. You narrow down which panels are for the bed, the room, and the dataport itself. As soon as you locate the dataport’s control panel, you concentrate on figuring out the settings for the dataport. The option menus on the display are overly concise, and in a jargon you barely understand, but it doesn’t take long for you to decipher it.

You power on the dataport. Then, you raise your hand to your datajack embedded in the nape of your neck. It was a rudimentary model that almost all hospitals implanted in infants free-of-charge. You’ve had it since you were born, but you could never quite forget the numb patch of synthskin disguising it, or ignore the cool feeling of the sterilized steel plug against your muscles. Whenever you touched it, you couldn’t help feeling like a piece of your body had been irrevocably stolen away and replaced with something dead and inhuman. Frankly, it made you feel anxious.

You take a deep breath as you raise the cable to your jack, as you calm yourself. You’re ready. You jack in.

As soon as the plug goes in, you feel something like an electric shock inside your skull. Your vision goes black. You’re vaguely aware your body in the real world has slumped over Kentaro’s pillow. There’s a sensation of falling, then weightlessness. Then, everything is absolutely still. Your feet are on solid ground.

You open your eyes, even though you don’t remember closing them. You were in a bare room with the walls, floors, and ceiling made out of metal plates. The first thing that strikes you is how little sensation you can feel. You feel … numb. That’s how you would describe it. You can barely feel the temperature in the room. It’s less that it’s very mild, it’s simply not there. You don’t feel the weight of the air either. Your body still feels weightless. You look down at your body. You’re standing upright, but you barely notice … wait, your clothes are gone! Immediately, the room grows very chilly. You shiver. As soon as you noticed that you were naked, it fet like a cold breeze cut through the sealed room … wait, the room is sealed? Your breath starts coming in gasps. The air already feels stale. Where were you? What was this place? You’re naked and cold and have no idea where you are. You can feel panic creeping up on you as you start hyperventilating.

>Try to think things through

>Try to move your body.

>Try a breathing exercise (Roll)

>Wait, how do you disconnect?

>>4312563
>>Try to think things through

>>4312563
>Try to think things through

>>4312563
>Try to think things through

>>4312563
>Try a breathing exercise (Roll)

>>4312563
>Wait, how do you disconnect?

>>4312670
You reach the 100th layer and kill the final boss, _obviously_

>>4312604
>breathing exercises
>in a place with no air

>>4313179
Kentaro's room has plenty of air, anon.

You try to calm down. Think! You tell yourself. Where were you? Where was this place? This was the cybernet, right?

As soon as you start concentrating, an HUD flashes in front of your eyes. It’s completely different than usual. But just as soon as you see them, the HUD fades away. Strange.

You try concentrating again. The HUD appears again. It’s very simplistic and only has five icons.

[Avatar Settings …]

[Search Lobby …]

[Load Entity …]

[Command Prompt …]

[Disconnect …]

When you select them, the icons unscroll out into bars of multiple menus, filling up your vision. But as soon as you start reading them, they fade away from view again. The HUD only appears when you concentrate.

You practise making it appear and letting it disappear. Soon, you can make it appear and disappear whenever you want. Then, you’re free to examine the different menus without worrying about the HUD fading away.

Avatar Settings seems to be related to your body. A large hologram displaying two different bodies fills your vision. One body was your own. Small, slender, long-haired. There’s a glow emanating from it, seemingly indicating it’s the body you’re currently using? Next to it is a shadowed hologram of a strange humanoid figure your size, with a sleek, black, blade-like body. There are a lot of terms you don’t understand so you leave those settings alone. Search Lobby contains multiple functions for things called Lobbies which you figure out are like specific locations in the cybernet because there’s a function that’s just labelled Location History. Load Entity introduces whole menus of multiple categories of real-world items. You browse through them, but almost all of them are locked behind a paywall. You have no idea what Command Prompt does so you leave it alone. But you can tell what The Disconnect icon will do.

With a start, you realize you’re not short of breath or hyperventilating anymore. You’re breathing just fine. You had become so engrossed in exploring the menus. It was like they just … went away … when you forgot about them. So it seems like this is how cyberspace is. Perception is reality here.

Hint of the Unknown gained. Kaguya now has 1 Hint of the Unknown.

You don’t know how half of how things work here, but at least you’re not panicking and figuring out things slowly.

>Try to move your body

>Look through the [Location History]

>Try to load an entity (what?)

>Experiment with Command Prompt

>>4313772
>>Look through the [Location History]

>>4313772
>Look through the [Location History]
>Search Lobby > Grima Masquerade

>>4313772
>Look through the [Location History]
Look for Grima Masquerade.

File: bogs.jpg (223 KB, 1280x720)

223 KB JPG

>>4313772
>Look through the [Location History]

>Try to load entity "Into"

>>4313772
>Experiment with Command Prompt

>>4313875
>inb4 anons vote for rm -rf /

>>4313772
>Look through the [Location History]

Unfortunately there won't be an update today.
Sorry.

You continue exploring the menus in front of you. You feel like they were the key to understanding the rules to this digital space. You open the first menu that caught your eye, [Location History].

Dataport Location History. You … had no idea what that was supposed to mean. Was it like search history with lobbies instead of web pages? That would make sense …

Open Dataport Location History?

You select yes. Immediately, a large list appears, rapidly scrolling upwards too fast to see as more and more locations are loaded from databanks, until finally stopping at the most recent location.

[u][Shanghaimainframetempserver77712hu][/u]

You can’t make heads or tails of what you’re looking at other than that it’s hosted on a public server on the Shanghai mainframe, but the resemblance to a hyperlink to a webpage is uncanny. You select the link. Another option pops up.

[Access Location? y/n]

You’re not ready to go to an unknown part of the cybernet yet. You select no, and continue looking through the dataport’s location history. The other links are more clear, being labeled with actual names instead of an address so you can tell what kinds of places they are. There was everything from online clubs and bars to stores to banking sites. But by far the most common location popping up was an online club named the Grima Masquerade. It seems Kentaro has been doing a lot of cyberclubbing.

>You have a good picture of things now. Try to visit Kentaro’s last location.

>Go to the Grima Masquerade. Into wanted to meet you there, right?

>Try to visit another place Kentaro’s been to (what?)

>Continue to fiddle with the menu functions.

>>4316723
>>Continue to fiddle with the menu functions.
Should probably get some clothes first

>>4316725
This.

>>4316723
>>4316725 is right

>>4316723
"77712hu"
I see what you're doing there.

>Continue to fiddle with the menu functions

>>4316745
I didn't understand the 7771 bit

>>4316745
I don't get it at all. What's the joke?

>>4316749
If you count out the PC98 games, the 2hu in question first appears in Touhou 7. Or I might be reading too much into it and our QM just wanted to shove 2hu somewhere so they made the other numbers up.

>>4316758
Ah. And I was thinking about the "Seven-Colored Magician" title. Combined, this explains 77, but 71 is still unaccounted for.

>>4316723
>>Go to the Grima Masquerade. Into wanted to meet you there, right?

>>4316723
>Go to the Grima Masquerade. Into wanted to meet you there, right?

>>4316723
>You have a good picture of things now. Try to visit Kentaro’s last location

You think you have a good enough grasp of how cyberspace works now to start investigating different lobbies. But that isn’t enough for you. You want to understand as much as possible before moving on. You should learn how to use the menus completely. While you’re on that, you should probably learn how to move as well.

Since you’ve come into this space, you’ve been stuck standing upright without moving an inch. You can feel sensations, but you still can’t move your body. Well, if it was anywhere, the setting for that would be under ‘avatar settings’.

There are a lot of settings you don’t understand in the avatar menus. But one quickly catches your attention. [Avatar Responsiveness]. Body responsiveness. This was probably it. Surprisingly, it wasn’t set to zero, but you still couldn’t move your body so you try increasing it. Then, you try lifting your hand.

It takes all your concentration to raise it an inch. You keep concentrating, but what you tell your arm barely seems to actually register with your arm. You can’t keep up the effort for long, and as soon as your concentration lapses, your arm falls back to your side.

Hmm. Not responsive enough.

You try increasing the sensitivity by small intervals, but it barely makes a difference. Eventually you get to a level where you can more-or-less move around the room. But even the smallest movement seems to have a long delay time. It’s really annoying.

>Increase the responsiveness a bit more.

>What responsiveness you have works. Make do.

>You’re out of patience. Increase it all the way to the maximum setting.

>Hmm, maybe relying on the menu is the wrong way. (Costs 1 hint of the unknown)

>>4318183
>>Hmm, maybe relying on the menu is the wrong way. (Costs 1 hint of the unknown)

>>4318183
>Hmm, maybe relying on the menu is the wrong way. (Costs 1 hint of the unknown)
Jesus, where do you live anyway? It's 3 am here. I always read one of your updates before going to bed.

>>4318183
>Don't they have a calibration wizard or something?

>>4318183
>You’re out of patience. Increase it all the way to the maximum setting.
What can go wrong

>>4318183
>Hmm, maybe relying on the menu is the wrong way. (Costs 1 hint of the unknown)

>>4318212
Since cyber-jacks are provided for all baseline humans for free at birth, it could be assumed that everyone can use the cybernet. Same as in real life, toddlers intuitively learn how to use a computer or a smartphone, and toddlers assume all screens are touchscreens unless proven otherwise.

With us, it's like someone in a coma with no prior internet experience is given a smartphone

>>4318183
>Increase the responsiveness a bit more.

>>4318207
My sleep schedule isn't the best and changes frequently.

That being said, I'm flattered that my quest has become a daily ritual for you.
>>4318474
There's a difference between the cybernet and the standard information networks of 2210. The cybernet is a system of not publicly registered virtual locations piggybacking off public and large private servers, kind of a privately-owned community network. But most people don't ever venture out of the public and corporate networks, most of which are much more fleshed-out and easy to use than the cybernet.

My life is hell. I can't update tonight either. My deep apologies.

So in the meantime, can we get Kaguya costume ideas? Or just cyberpunk art in general.

>>4319918
Unfortunate, can you do an update outside the usual times?

>So in the meantime, can we get Kaguya costume ideas?

I, for one, suggest either a skintight bodysuit or something very fluffy.

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311 KB JPG

>>4319918
Not cyberpunk, but what if?

I know it's the wrong Kaguya

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187 KB JPG

>>4320042
Anyway, here's more pics I found

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97 KB JPG

>>4320055

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>>4320056

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131 KB JPG

>>4320062

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169 KB PNG

>>4320064

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76 KB JPG

>>4320066

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78 KB JPG

>>4320069

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>>4320071

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>>4319918

>>4320062
This one seems closest to my image of Kaguya.

Apologies for the late update. I've kept you guys waiting, haven't I?

>-1 hint of the unknown. Kaguya currently has 0 hint of the unknown

Hmmm. Maybe relying on the menu is the wrong way. What if you tried to concentrate in a similar way to how you summoned the menu? You squeeze your eyes shut and concentrate. But this time it’s different. You’re less trying to tell your arm to move and more trying to summon the movement of your arm.

You open your eyes. Right in front of you is your open palm. You did it! Somehow, you had moved your hand. That’s right, hadn’t you realized it before? Perception was reality here. This form of yours in this space, an avatar it was called? It wasn’t a real body that moved just because you told it to move. Or at least it didn’t have to be.

You try walking a bit. You don’t move an inch. Then you try willing yourself to move. Smoothly and before you know it, you’ve glided forwards a few feet. The steps you take are almost an afterthought. You weren’t moving your hand, you were moving yourself.

You try walking around the room a little more. Soon, you’ve mastered the trick to moving to the point where it doesn’t really feel different than walking ordinarily.

Well, that means you’re ready to go exploring now, right? You certainly feel ready. But first, some clothes would be nice. You think you saw some when you browsed through the entity menus.

Scrolling through the clothing sections in the entity menus, it seems all the nice clothing is locked behind paywalls. All that’s available is some cheap, branded clothing.

>Do your best to dress yourself in fashionable streetwear

>If your going to a club, try to imitate what you know of what people wear when they go clubbing

>You see an option to simply wear your clothes from the real world

>Change your avatar to the blade-type avatar. You don’t want people to see your real face.

>>4321703
>>Change your avatar to the blade-type avatar. You don’t want people to see your real face.

>>4318653
So like tor, and .onion sites, isn't it? And if so, why are cyberjacks so well spread? Previously it seemed to me that going on the cybernet is a regular (albeit shady) part of life for non-Plutocratic people

>>4321703
>>Do your best to dress yourself in fashionable streetwear
We will stick out like a sore thumb anyway. Streetwear is the one we are slightly knowledgeable about.

Also, we're a Plutocrat. Since when does irrelevant little things like money worry us?

>>4321703
>Change your avatar to the blade-type avatar. You don’t want people to see your real face.

>>4321733
>And if so, why are cyberjacks so well spread?
I think normal internet is also accessed with cyberjacks.

>>4321734
>Also, we're a Plutocrat. Since when does irrelevant little things like money worry us?
Ever since you didn't have to worry about paying for things yourself. So about four years ago.

>>4321733
>>4321736
Almost all advanced electronics are interfaced with cyberjacks.

>>4321762
Then how do Plutocrats (who don't have cyberjacks) make do without advanced electronics, and a large part of the information systems? Do they simply use trusted (or lobotomized) biological/cybernetic/robotic assistants who can gather the information for them, and just "hey, Siri" them?

>>4321703
>Change your avatar to the blade-type avatar. You don’t want people to see your real face.

>>4321774
Methods differ between families, but pretty much.

Probably guessed by now, but there will be no update tonight. I'll probably write two updates tomorrow though, one when I wake up and one in the evening.

In other words, the update is coming in several hours.

>>4321703
>>Do your best to dress yourself in fashionable streetwear

You decide to use the blade-type avatar instead of staying with your human avatar. Your human avatar looked identical to how you looked in the real world, but you didn’t feel safe letting strangers in cyberspace see your real face. The blade-type avatar, on the other hand, looked nothing like anything even human. No one would be able to recognize you at a glance.

The experience of switching avatars is … strange. For half a second, you feel like you’re floating weightless again, like when you first entered cyberspace. Then … your body feels completely different. Your body is much heavier. There is much more weight behind every movement. But it isn’t any harder to move. You feel cold to the bone, but for some reason the cold doesn’t bother you. It feels natural, as if that was how your body was supposed to feel. You look at your hands, your arms, your torso and legs. Your entire body is angular and every edge is razor-sharp. You touch your face. It’s a smooth, seamless surface.

You experiment by moving forwards. It feels like you’re cutting through the air with every step. It makes you feel aggressive and powerful. You note that even though you can’t feel your muscles flex and contract as you move anymore, you can still feel your heart pumping. You can feel.yourself breathing, but there’s only cold carbon where your mouth would be.

Well, you have gotten as used to this body as you will ever be. Time to visit somewhere.

>You have a good picture of things now. Try to visit Kentaro’s last location.

>Go to the Grima Masquerade. Into wanted to meet you there, right?

>Try to visit another place Kentaro’s been to (what?)

>>4323990
>Go to the Grima Masquerade. Into wanted to meet you there, right?

>>4323990
>Go to the Grima Masquerade. Into wanted to meet you there, right?

>>4323990
>Go to the Grima Masquerade. Into wanted to meet you there, right?

>>4323990
>Go to the Grima Masquerade. Into wanted to meet you there, right?

You haven’t forgotten the reason why you had ventured to this alien digital space in the first place. It had been in the back of your mind since you had come here. The reason that you had come here was to make contact with the stranger who called themself Into and claimed to have information about Kentaro-kun’s disappearance. And now that you were ready, that was exactly what you were going to do.

You go back to the dataport’s location history and select the [Grima Masquerade] option. Your UI warns you that you will be taken to an unverified digital space and asks if you still want to enter. You select [Yes].

A small rectangle of blue light appears on the far wall. Somehow, you know that’s the door to where you want to go. You step through, passing through the blue light without resistance.

Immediately, you’re in the middle of a crowded space, lit by flickering multicolored lights and filled with the booming sound of electronic music. The strobing lights, the reverbing bass … it’s overwhelming. Disoriented, you look around yourself to get your bearings. Bodies press all around you, and not all of them are human. Some of them have unnaturally colored skin. Some of them are furred, or have extra limbs, or are festooned with cybernetics of every description. A few are just esoteric formations of geometric shapes. The hair is every hue of the rainbow and some more.

Strangely, despite the fact that there are even more bizarre avatars than yours, you seem to draw a disproportionate amount of attention. Some of the people in the club are staring at you apprehensively. And despite the crush of people, everyone gives you a few more inches of space, as if they didn’t want to be close to you. For some reason, you’re not welcome here.You should find Into as quickly as possible and then leave.

Just then, an offensively garishly-dressed teenager with a purple mohawk half a meter tall steps out of the crowd in front of you with his arms crossed and a sneer on his face.

“What’s a cocksucking corpo-cuck doing strutting his plas-ass avatar in a place like this? Don’t have a posh IRL bar to blow your salary on? You don’t belong here!” He slurs drunkenly. Could you get drunk in cyberspace? You try to move away from him, but he just steps in your way. He doesn’t seem to want to let you go.

>Apologize meekly and say you’re not looking for trouble (Roll)

>Try to be intimidating and tell him to mind his own business (Roll)

>Walk away and hope he doesn’t follow you

>You’re scared. He’s getting closer ... Shove him! (+1 Optimism)

>>4325249
>Walk away and hope he doesn’t follow you

>>4325249
>>Try to be intimidating and tell him to mind his own business (Roll)

Rolled 4 (1d20)

>>4325249
>>Try to be intimidating and tell him to mind his own business (Roll)
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Even if it's out of character, we will get disgusted of ourselves later.

Rolled 16 (1d20)

>>4325249

We might be small and relatively irrelevant irl, but nobody under a certain level here can tell that, and this punk sure doesn't look the part.

>Try to be intimidating and tell him to mind his own business

What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I'll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Noir-Muramoto Guard-Retainer Academy Vocational Program, and I've been involved in numerous secret raids on Ishii Conglomerate storages, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in techno-gorilla warfare and I'm the top swordsman in the entire Muramoto Enforcer forces. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Cybernet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across South East Asia and your Avatar is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You're fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the Muramoto Corporations and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little "clever" comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You're fucking dead, kiddo.

>>4325826
> try to be intimidating
> threat to unleash a literal army upon a bully
> cyberpunk enforcer
> can't hack a teenager in .1 second

$> git gud origin/master

>>4325249
>Walk away and hope he doesn’t follow you
Can we not try and start shit in an unfamiliar environment? I have a feeling this will be a hard roll.

>>4325347
>>4325826
Usually, we don't roll until after the vote is decided.

>>4325826
Also, people don't understand what the word 'fuck' means in 2210 but this shitty copypasta never fails to make me chuckle.

>>4326041
Oh frag it went over my head, apologies about the roll thing.

By the way, it looks like we should've gone with our real appearance. The corporate avatar actually attracted more attention.

>>4326183
No worries

Inwardly, you cringe in intimidation. The Drunk Clubber’s loud swearing was scaring you! You hoped it didn’t show on your Avatar’s body language.

But even though you’re scared, you can still think clearly. Whoever he was, he seemed to think that you were an employee for some corporation. Maybe you could leverage that to your advantage. After all, no one in the real world messed with the megacorps.

>Roll 3 1d20’s. You will need two successes.

Rolled 13 (1d20)

>>4326924

Rolled 6 (1d20)

>>4326924
Oh no no no...

Rolled 3 (1d20)

>>4326924

Just quoting my post where I predicted this.
>>4325963

>>4326992
I think it's time for dear, sweet Kaguya to become awakened to the real world, and learn some hard lessons with her planet-sized brain.

A Yamato Nadeshiko properly done is silk hiding steel.

>+2 The Muramoto standard Avatar is built to intimidate
>-1 Punks rebel against any form of authority, especially corporate authority
>-1 Kaguya’s foul language vocabulary is very low
>-2 Kaguya isn’t intimidating at all

“What did you just say about me? Do you know who you’re dealing with? Get out of my way.”

You’re surprised by how your voice comes out. It’s synthesized and metallic and crackles with distortion. Your real voice would never sound this intimidating.

But the person you’re trying to intimidate doesn’t seem intimidated at all. Actually, it looks like he’s getting angrier.

“Huh? You think you can tell me what to frying do?” He snarls, walking up to you and shoving you in the chest. You don’t feel the force of the push through your avatar, but you step back from fear anyways. You’re quailing in fear. You have no idea what to do.

Wait …

What’s this?

The man’s hands … he had cut them shoving you. They were bleeding. Bleeding for real. And the blood was … black?

The electronic music booms but neither one of you is dancing. Time’s stopped for the two of you. The rest of the club feels a million miles away.

The man’s face stares at his outstretched hand in disbelief. The veins on his arms are growing black. His cuts are foaming like a shaken can of soda being opened. Black tar and molasses runs down his arm in rivulets before dripping down onto the floor. The scene in front of you is surreal.

Drip. Drip. Drip..

The man stares at you, his face distorted in nameless horror.

“̳̠̙I͍̖̠ ̺̩̬͔̜̠̻…̗̮̰̰̠ I͍̠̞̗ ̤̦̰̺̥̩ͅ…̖̝̦̩̖”͍͇̜̖͕̠

The man gasps before doubling over in agony. He tries to stand back up, only to trip in his own puddle of ooze. In desperation, he crawls towards you and tries to grab on to you with his black, oozing hands. But you back away in fear.

“͎I̘̰̜̦̪̬ ̦… ̱I̯̝̖͉̬̥̖ ̱̭̥͈̟̘…”̫ͅ The man implores you with outstretched hands. “h͈̪͞e̜̣̻͈ͅl͘p̧ ̩̥̻̰̻͔ͅ.̹̳̣..̧ ͖͉͉̥h̦͙̺̞͘e̵l̢̜̜̫̫̼̟p̞̠̖͘ … h͚̘̮̹̗̕e̢̡̟̣͕̥͈̝̻͞ͅĺ̝̪̥͍͝ - RmF0YWwgc3lzdGVtIGVycm9yIA==”

“c2h1dHRpbmcgZG93biBzaHV0dGluZyBkb3duIHNodXR0aW5nIGRvd24=”

With a sickening burst, the man ballooned, then exploded messily. Cries of shock came from around you as the crowd around you were showered in blood and black ooze, but strangely, it simply passed through their avatars and disappeared into nothingness. The black bloodstain at your feet didn’t go anywhere though.

>Stand frozen in place in shock, staring at the mess at your feet. {+3 Optimism)

>This is bad. You need to get away from here! Run away into the crowd. (+3 Cynicism)

File: 1573272281937.jpg (16 KB, 240x334)

16 KB JPG

>>4328341
>This is bad. You need to get away from here! Run away into the crowd. (+3 Cynicism)

Bad news from the moment we entered, let's go somewhere else and try to change our appearance, then come back.

Neon aside, how many of the people in the Grima Masquerade would be able to read the device's signature?

>>4328341
>This is bad. You need to get away from here! Run away into the crowd. (+3 Cynicism)

>>4328489
Maybe 10 people? Netrunners aren't that common.

>>4328341
>Standard corp avatars come equipped with black ice
This cyberpunk dystopia sure is bleak.

>This is bad. You need to get away from here! Run away into the crowd. (+3 Cynicism)

>>4328341
>>This is bad. You need to get away from here! Run away into the crowd. (+3 Cynicism)

>>4328341
>Stand frozen in place in shock, staring at the mess at your feet. {+3 Optimism)

Bad news from the moment we entered, let's go somewhere else and try to change our appearance, then come back.
^ This would be the way to go, after we loot the enemy for Optimism.

>Standard corp avatars come equipped with black ice
We're using a datajack from Castle Muramoto. Castles and Castle systems should be extremely well protected.
We're using Kentaro's datajack, so maybe our avatar is one of the highest echelons of elite Muramoto enforcers?
Also, we're a Plutocrat. They are usually not allowed anywhere near cyberspace. When air-gapping a business-critical system isn't a possibility, then you make damn sure that it's well protected. So someone must have installed the ice for us without our knowledge.

Fatal system error. Shutting down. Shutting down. Shutting down. Base64 is nice :)

>>4328341
>This is bad. You need to get away from here! Run away into the crowd. (+3 Cynicism)
That's one way to intimidate people, I suppose.
Hopefully this mysterious into person finds us soon.

>>4328341
>>This is bad. You need to get away from here! Run away into the crowd. (+3 Cynicism)

>+3 Cynicism Gained

This was bad. This was very bad. You can already feel people staring at you. And not in a friendly way. You had to get out of here!

You dash into the crowd. No one stops you. Actually, they seem afraid of even being near you. They were probably afraid of brushing against you and ending up the same way as your victim.

But soon, you had pushed into a part of the club where no one had seen what had happened. The club was so tightly packed that information traveled slowly.

You slump against the wall. For some reason, you feel exhausted. You spy a small, unoccupied couch and slowly make your way there. It’s a relief to sit down, as deep as any feeling of relief in the physical world. You can already feel a ripple of general unease through the crowd.

Then suddenly everything goes black. You can’t see anything! It’s … the same feeling you got entering cyberspace for the first time?

You Have Been Banned!
Reasons: Openly spreading viruses.

Report: Public
…
……
………

With a start, you wake up. Your sheets are soaked in sweat. Wait. This isn’t your bed. You frantically look around your surroundings before sighing in relief and calming down. That’s right. You were in Kentaro-kun’s room. You had come here to use his dataport. Strange. What had you even needed it for? It all feels so dreamlike now.

Booming music. Pooling black ooze. A man clutching at you while you backed away in fear.

You double over in nausea. Desperately, you clamp your hands over your mouth in an attempt to stem the tide of bile.

What … happened? The man had just exploded. Was he dead? Did you … did you kill him? That wasn’t possible in cyberspace, was it, dying?

No. You shake your head. You should kid yourself. You had no idea how things worked in cyberspace, least of all whether you could die or not. And there was no mistaking the look of horror on that man’s face. Whatever had happened, he had been in terrible agony. And you weren’t sure if you were responsible or not …

>It’s not your fault. You should just do your best to forget the whole thing. (-3 Hopeful)

>Whatever happened to him, it’s your fault. It’s always your fault. But that punk had it coming. (+3 Cynical)

>It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault. HE’s the one who shoved you, right? (Unknown)

>>4330859
>It’s not your fault. You should just do your best to forget the whole thing. (-3 Hopeful)
The "Unknown" option looks like victim blaming, and that isn't a good habit to pick up. Especially for a cinnamon roll that is Kaguya.

>>4330859
>>It’s not your fault. You should just do your best to forget the whole thing. (-3 Hopeful)

>>4330859
>It’s not your fault. You should just do your best to forget the whole thing. (-3 Hopeful

>>4330859
>It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault. HE’s the one who shoved you, right? (Unknown)

>>4330859
>It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault. HE’s the one who shoved you, right? (Unknown)
Unknown is just too tempting

>>4330859
>It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault. HE’s the one who shoved you, right? (Unknown)

>>4331172
>Unknown is just too tempting
Like the virus was in the previous quest?

>>4330859
>It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault. HE’s the one who shoved you, right? (Unknown)

>>4330859
>>It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault. HE’s the one who shoved you, right? (Unknown)

>>4331258
Dude, we got like 40k bucks out of that. Now we just need to get out of the coma and claim it.

>+3 Guilt

”h͈̪͞e̜̣̻͈ͅl͘p̧ ̩̥̻̰̻͔ͅ.̹̳̣..̧ ͖͉͉̥h̦͙̺̞͘e̵l̢̜̜̫̫̼̟p̞̠̖͘ … h͚̘̮̹̗̕e̢̡̟̣͕̥͈̝̻͞ͅĺ̝̪̥͍͝ -”

You stare into his bulging eyes, as the rest of his body swells and explodes.

No. You shake your head. It wasn’t your fault!

But if you hadn’t been there …

It wasn’t your fault! You didn’t even know what you had even done to him, much less if you had killed him. But somehow, you just knew …

That look of horror on his face was unmistakable.

A fresh wave of nausea hits you, and this time you can’t hold it back. You vomit noisily over Kentaro’s sheets.

No. It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t your fault. It … wasn’t … your … fault!

You keep telling that to yourself. Not caring whether it’s the truth or a lie, you keep repeating that line to yourself. You repeat it until you almost believe it, then you seize the opening to take the memory, the dreamlike, surreal, but all-too-real experience of your time in cyberspace, and stuff it away deep in the back of your mind.

By the time you’re finished, you’ve almost forgotten why you feel blanketed by a heavy sense of guilt. You take a deep breath. So what was a little guilt? You were already managing your other negative emotions perfectly fine.

You take another deep breath to gather some energy. You feel better now. Really, you don’t really remember what was getting you upset in the first place … best not to think about it. You pull out the datajack and hop out of Kentaro-kun’s bed. You’d have to find a way to deal with the vomit though …

Wait! You freeze … why were the kitchen lights on?

>Hide. It would be bad for you to be found here.

>Investigate. This is your home. Whoever’s in the kitchen is the one who shouldn’t be here.

>Try to quietly sneak out. (Roll)

>>4332779
>Investigate. This is your home. Whoever’s in the kitchen is the one who shouldn’t be here.

>>4332779
>Investigate. This is your home. Whoever’s in the kitchen is the one who shouldn’t be here.

>>4332779
>Investigate. This is your home. Whoever’s in the kitchen is the one who shouldn’t be here.

>>4332779
>Investigate. This is your home. Whoever’s in the kitchen is the one who shouldn’t be here.

>>4332779
>Investigate. This is your home. Whoever’s in the kitchen is the one who shouldn’t be here.

>>4332779
>>Investigate. This is your home. Whoever’s in the kitchen is the one who shouldn’t be here.

You briefly consider hiding, but quickly dismiss the idea. This was your home. You weren’t going to hide here, of all places. You decide you should investigate. Whoever was in the kitchen wasn’t supposed to be here.

But you’re still very cautious. You sneak quietly out into the hallway. You’re actually amazed at how quiet you are. When did you learn how to be so unnoticed?

From the hallway, you can see into the living room. It … was a mess! The drawers and closets had been thrown open, their contents strewn across the floor. At the epicenter of the mess was a disheveled-looking woman in a maid’s yukata. What was a maid doing in Kentaro-kun’s room … and so late at night as well?

“Where is it? Where is it?” She whispers frantically to herself while she digs through a closet, pushing aside futons and linens In your amazement at her frantic energy, you forget to hide, but she still doesn’t notice you. She only cares about her search.

She doesn’t seem to find what she’s looking for because she impatiently throws the entire shelf onto the floor and starts picking through the pile. It’s all you can do to keep quiet while she further and further messes up Kentaro-kun’s room. She had no right!

“Damn it, where is it?” She whispers to herself, getting up and lifting up the cushions on the couch, in the vain hope that whatever she is looking for is there for some reason.

“FRAG!” She suddenly screams, kicking the coffee table in frustration. You gasp in surprise at the sound of the glass coffee table toppling over and shattering.

And that finally attracts her attention.

The Maid jumps with her own surprise at your gasp, turning around to face you with a mixture of shock, guilt, and deep, deep fear on her face.

“K-Kaguya-sama? W-what are you doing here?”

“H-Hosoda-san?”

>Why are you in Kentaro-kun’s room?

>You’re obviously looking for something. What is it?

>... Stop pacing! … You’re making me nervous ...

>OUT! GET OUT RIGHT NOW!

>>4334608
>>You’re obviously looking for something. What is it?

>>4334608
>You’re obviously looking for something. What is it?

>>4334608
>Why are you in Kentaro-kun’s room?

>>4334608
>>You’re obviously looking for something. What is it?

>>4334608
>Why are you in Kentaro-kun’s room?
>You’re obviously looking for something. What is it?

>>4334608
>>You’re obviously looking for something. What is it?

>>4334608
>You’re obviously looking for something. What is it?

“You’re obviously looking for something. What is it?” You ask your own question, completely ignoring Hosoda-san’s. You didn’t feel any need to explain yourself. If it was a maid asking the question, you could escape it just by not answering it. Especially if you had your own urgent question to ask.

“Oh? Me?” Hosoda-san stutters. She struggles to look you in the eye. She’s … afraid. Of you? She’s afraid of telling you what she’s doing. And no wonder. You had the power to get her fired if she displeased you, didn’t she? The power and influence you wielded as a member of the Muramoto family had never sat well with you. You hated being feared.

But now you could use it to your advantage. You don’t say anything further. You didn’t have to intimidate her. You just stare at Hosoda-san, silently waiting for the answer.

“W-well … me and Kentaro-kun are close friends, you see …” Hosoda-san weakly trails off.

You patiently wait for Hosoda-san to further explain herself.

“S-so I left some small belongings with him that I need back.” Akira finishes awkwardly.
“So what are you looking for then?” You ask placidly. Even though you knew Hosoda-san was lying, or at least covering up an important part of the truth, your voice didn’t contain the slightest hint of hostility. You were merely asking a question. There was no sense in accusing her of lying without knowing what her real intentions were first. If you did, you would antagonize her too much to be able to figure them out.

“Um … well …” Hosoda-san seems stuck. The few seconds she takes to answer are just enough time to think of a good excuse. “SimRPGs. Kentaro-kun said he’d lend me them, but right now he’s not really in a position to … as I’m sure you know …”

It sometimes astonishes you how stupid normal people can be. Looking for small belongings? Borrowing Kentaro-kun’s SimRPGs? You caught her in the middle of wrecking Kentaro-kun’s room! No way she was just looking to borrow Kentaro-kun’s SimRPG’s! Did she really think that kind of excuse would work?

>Even so, you’ll choose to believe her. She isn’t lying about being Kentaro-kun’s friend. You’ll choose to believe in her good intentions. (-2 Hopeful)

>Offer to help her find the games she is looking for. You’ll play along until you get to the bottom of this. Until then, you’ll keep your eye on her. (-2 Cynical)

>Point out her story makes no sense and demand the real reason why she’s rooting through Kentaro’s room (Roll)

>Threaten to get her fired if she doesn’t tell you the real reason she’s digging through Kentaro’s room (+3 Cynical)

>>4336430
>>Point out her story makes no sense and demand the real reason why she’s rooting through Kentaro’s room (Roll)

>>4336430
>Point out her story makes no sense and demand the real reason why she’s rooting through Kentaro’s room (Roll)

>>4336430
>Offer to help her find the games she is looking for. You’ll play along until you get to the bottom of this. Until then, you’ll keep your eye on her. (-2 Cynical)

time to see her sweat
more than she already is, I mean
pretty sure sweating is a withdrawal symptom

>>4336430
>Just keep looking at her until she confesses

File: aah.jpg (38 KB, 297x545)

38 KB JPG

>>4336430
>Offer to help her find the games she is looking for. You’ll play along until you get to the bottom of this. Until then, you’ll keep your eye on her. (-2 Cynical)

>>4336430
>>Threaten to get her fired if she doesn’t tell you the real reason she’s digging through Kentaro’s room (+3 Cynical)

>>4336433
this

“Hosoda-san,” You begin in a quiet, unassuming voice, “The mess in this room is much too big for you to just be looking for a friend’s games to borrow. So please tell me this time. Why are you in my retainer’s room?”

>Roll 3 1d20’s. You will need 3 successes.

Rolled 13 (1d20)

>>4337835

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>4337835

File: maxresdefault.jpg (121 KB, 1280x720)

121 KB JPG

>>4337846

Rolled 11 (1d20)

>>4337835

>Kaguya's crit breaks the thread

Apologies for the update being late. Hope everyone enjoyed the fourth as much as I did.

>>4336461
Sweating is actually an addiction symptom

>Critical Success

Slowly, you gradually step closer and closer to Hosoda-san, never breaking eye contact. Hosoda-san quails under the pressure of your piercing stare. It isn’t angry or accusing, but the pressure is still relentless. You are her employer and you are to be obeyed.

Strangely, the disagreeable, acid-sweet smell that had clung to her the last time you had seen her was completely gone.

“I-I …” Hosoda-san’s voice is heavy with trepidation, “Kentaro-kun … he hid a stash of narcotics in this room for me.”

Hosoda-san’s words shock you.

“Narcotics?” You breathe in disbelief. Impossible!

You grab your chest as you start hyperventilating. Your vision blurs and you collapse to your knees.Kentaro-kun? Narcotics? No! Impossible! That couldn’t be! Why would your well-meaning, dependable, reliable Kentaro-kun be involved in something as bad and dangerous? But … there wasn’t a trace of deception in Hosoda-san’s voice. She wasn’t lying.

A sudden, dark thought crosses your mind that you can’t push away. What if this ‘Into’ you had been chasing was somehow related to Kentaro-kun and narcotics?

“A-are you okay?” Hosoda-san asks, reaching out in concern.

“DON’T TOUCH ME!” You scream, swatting away her hand. You’re filled with an irrational hatred and fear of Hosoda-san.

You immediately regret it.

“I-I’m sorry.” You apologize, clutching your head in dizziness and collapsing on the couch. For some reason you catch whiffs of the same acid-sweet smell from Hosoda-san now, although you have a sinking suspicion that it is just your imagination playing tricks on you.

“It’s okay.” Hosoda-san says, rubbing the hand you had slapped. Her eyebrows are furrowed with worry. “It’s … just that you don’t look so good right now.”

>”You’re lying. Get out of Kentaro-kun’s room.” (+3 Hopeful)

>”I want you to show me where the narcotics are.” (+3 Cynical)

>You don’t feel good. Maybe you should head to the clinic and get looked at. And forget what happened tonight.

>>4342047
>"I want you to tell me everything"
We already know Akira has no idea where the narcotics are.

>>4342047
>”You’re lying. Get out of Kentaro-kun’s room.” (+3 Hopeful)

>>4342083
+1

>>4342083
This.

>>4342047
>>”I want you to show me where the narcotics are.” (+3 Cynical)

>>4342047
>”You’re lying. Get out of Kentaro-kun’s room.” (+3 Hopeful)

>>4342083
Support

>>4342083
+1

>>4342083
+1

“I want you to tell me everything.” You say, waving away Hosoda-san as she fussed over you. It felt bad ignoring her concerns when they were obviously genuine. But you had more important things to worry about.

Hosoda-san stops fussing over you and takes a step back as soon as she hears your words.

“E-everything?” Hosoda-san repeats.

It’s obvious that she’s extremely reluctant. But you can wait. Hosoda-san is reluctant to tell you anything more, but she’s growing less and less reluctant under the weight of your stare. There was no escaping it.
It’s not like she has anywhere to go. And she had already confessed the big secret. Now that the topic of narcotics was out of the bag, ‘everything else’ was just extra baggage.

“O-okay.” Hosoda-san nods, finally relenting. “But it’s a long story. What do you want to know?”

“Please explain why Kentaro-kun is keeping illegal substances for you in his room?”

“Well …” Hosoda-san sucks in her breath, “Believe it or not, it’s actually because he’s trying to help me ...”

…

“So that’s why Kentaro-kun had a stash of neurofrag in his room for me. He was rationing it for me.” Akira finishes.

“So he was trying to help you overcome your addiction ...” You ponder this. This was certainly … unexpected. It was an unorthodox way to be tangled up in narcotics. Still, you had hardly believed it when you had heard Kentaro-kun was involved in something as evil as narcotics. But now that you knew Kentaro-kun was doing all of this to help someone, it felt more right somehow. And to think that he was going so far to help someone … you thought that kind of altruism only existed in the kind of news stories handpicked and narrativized by the media, never in the real world. Kentaro-kun was an even better man than you had realized. It made your chest ache that Kentaro-kun was currently in a coma. It was all just so unfair!

But you still couldn’t ignore the fact …

“You put my retainer at a lot of risk, you know?” You tell Hosoda-san bluntly, to which she can only respond by nodding in silent, guilty agreement. “What if someone had found out?”

“I don’t know. It was too scary to think about.” Hosoda-san whispers.

You find yourself pondering the question yourself. What if it had been found out that your retainer was hiding illegal narcotics for a household servant? Well … you would have protected Kentaro-kun, made sure he wasn’t fired. But the mere household servant who involved your retainer in such an ugly mess? You would have let her be tossed out of the household without a second thought, and tolerated no mention of her or the embarrassment she had caused from even Kentaro-kun. You wouldn’t have wanted to hear about it.

“So are you finished?”

“Yes.” Akira nods, before begging in a small voice, “Please don’t tell anyone. I need this job.”

>Very well. You’ll pretend this never happened. But this room will be barred to Hosoda-san from now on.

>You’ll let Hosoda-san go on her way. But you’ll also help her find the neurofrag first. Then you’ll put this whole fiasco behind you. (-3 Hopeful)

>Hosoda-san is Kentaro-kun’s friend. If he tried to help her, you’ll do the same. You owe Kentaro-kun that much. (-5 Hopeful)

>>4343954
>You’ll let Hosoda-san go on her way. But you’ll also help her find the neurofrag first. Then you’ll put this whole fiasco behind you. (-3 Hopeful)
I want to save some hope

>>4343952
>Kentaro-kun
I see Akira is still disrespecting poor Ken-chan. And now right in his employer's face!

>>4343954
>You’ll let Hosoda-san go on her way. But you’ll also help her find the neurofrag first. Then you’ll put this whole fiasco behind you. (-3 Hopeful)
>Ask whether Akira heard the name Into

>>4343954
>>Very well. You’ll pretend this never happened. But this room will be barred to Hosoda-san from now on.

>>4343954
>You’ll let Hosoda-san go on her way. But you’ll also help her find the neurofrag first. Then you’ll put this whole fiasco behind you. (-3 Hopeful)

>>4343954
>>Very well. You’ll pretend this never happened. But this room will be barred to Hosoda-san from now on.

>>4343954
>You’ll let Hosoda-san go on her way. But you’ll also help her find the neurofrag first. Then you’ll put this whole fiasco behind you. (-3 Hopeful)

>>4343954
>Very well. You’ll pretend this never happened. But this room will be barred to Hosoda-san from now on.

>>4343954
>Very well. You’ll pretend this never happened. But this room will be barred to Hosoda-san from now on.

Frag this tie

Hosoda-san’s request catches you off-guard. It hits you suddenly - It’s in your power to either turn her in or let her go. You’re … not used to having this sort of power.

Turn her in or let her go?

You’ve already made up your mind on what you want to do. But the weight of the decision makes you hesitate.

“I … I won’t tell anyone what happened tonight.” You eventually say. Your voice is small and unsteady. It lacks any kind of authority. But Hosoda-san breathes out a sigh of relief at your words.

“T-thank you!” She tearfully says, bowing in gratitude.

“But first, please answer my question. Have you ever heard of the name ‘Into’?”

Hosoda-san shakes her head. “I’m sorry. I haven’t.”

“That’s fine.” You thought maybe since Hosoda-san was related to an illict business that Kentaro-kun was also involved in, she would also be connected to the matter of Into. Still, you weren’t going to throw away the possibility that whatever Kentaro had to do with Into was also related to narcotics as well. Because other than that, you had no other theories.

“All right,” You nod, “I’ll go back to my room now. I’ll leave you to do what you have to do.”

Hosoda-san starts to bow again. Her mouth opens to utter more words of gratitude.

“Wait!” You hold up your hand. You heard someone outside!

A second later, there’s a hard knock on the door.

“Hosoda-san?” A female voice calls from outside, “I know you’re in there and I know there isn’t anyone else. You have nowhere to go. Come out!”

The voice outside sounds polite enough. But there’s something threatening about the tone.

Hosoda-san looks at you desperately.

“Hide.” You whisper. You close your eyes and take a deep breath to steel yourself. Then, once you’ve made sure Hosoda-san isn’t visible, you reach for the door.

“I’m glad you’ve chosen to see reason … huh?” The woman at the door looks down at you in complete surprise. She’s dressed as a maid but her posture displays a confident swagger that no proper maid would ever carry themself with, although that’s fading away into the proper accommodating subservience as she quickly realizes who it is standing in front of her. Strangely, her eyes are lined with fine gold-wire tracery which extends out of their corners across her cheek. They must be augmented.

“Are you looking for something?” You politely ask. You know for a fact that she is, but this strange maid is slow to answer, as if reluctant to bother you but at the same time loathe to give up her objective lying just beyond you.

“Ah … yes I am.” She says hesitatingly, making up her mind at last, “I’m looking for … another Maid. Purely a petty matter between the serving staff. It isn’t anything Lady Kaguya need concern herself over …”

>”This room is off-limits to the staff now. Look somewhere else.” Close the door in her face.

>”Well good luck with that.” Leave for your room and don’t get involved.

>”Well she isn’t here.” Lie blatantly to her face. (+3 Cynical)

>”Why are you looking for her?”

>>4347693
>>”This room is off-limits to the staff now. Look somewhere else.” Close the door in her face.

>>4347693
>”Why are you looking for her?”

"I know there isn’t anyone else", huh. And augmented eyes. I'm not sure what this means, but I feel this is something to note for the future.

>>4347695
>”Why are you looking for her?”

>>4347713
those augments can't be too good or she would have detected us too

>>4347746
This is exactly what is interesting. What makes Akira detectable and us not? It can't be sound, body heat, heartbeat, breathing or the like. What did this maid detect?
Maybe body odor? Does Kaguya sweat black like full Plutocrats?
Or a signal from some technological mark?

>>4347752
She detects neurofrag addiction

>>4347760
Nah, then she couldn't be sure there isn't anyone else in the room.

>>4347695
>>”This room is off-limits to the staff now. Look somewhere else.” Close the door in her face.

>>4347695
>”This room is off-limits to the staff now. Look somewhere else.” Close the door in her face.

>>4347695
>>”Why are you looking for her?”

>>4347695
>”Why are you looking for her?”
>>4347713
>>4347746
>>4347752
Is it premature to say she was so sure there wasn't anyone else in the room because of some sensory augment? What if she just assumed, incorrectly?

>>4347770
>>4348916
Yeah I was thinking that too, how do we know she was sure? Because she said so?

>>4348922
>>4348916
We know she was sure because she was visibly shocked to find us. This may have been a result of assumption, yes, but where's the fun in that?

“May I ask why you are looking for Hosoda-san?” You politely, but firmly ask.

“Is Lady Kaguya interested in such trivial matters?” The Augmentic-Eyed Maid doesn’t seem to know what to make of your request. You can almost see her thoughts play out on her face. She’s wondering why you’re asking your question. Simple curiosity? Or some other reason?

Regardless, it is obvious to you that the Maid is frustrated by the question that blocks her from her goal, although she hides it well and professionally. However, you catch the furtive glances she throws across the trashed living room. You can see the pupils of her augmented eyes visibly constrict as they focus on a specific part of the room.

But just like with Hosoda-san, you didn’t need to justify yourself to her. And she was just as beholden to your own questions as Hosoda-san had been. You can tell by subtle shifts in her expression that she’s deep in thought and trying to hide it. No one would take this long to answer a simple question … unless they were busy carefully tailoring an answer. You were an impassable obstacle to her, and her only option to pass was somehow satisfy you with her answer.

“Hosoda-san … owes a fair bit of money.” The Maid haltingly says, “I’d like to … discuss the money she owes with her.”

At least she wasn’t stupid enough to try a bald-faced. She was an experienced maid here after all. She knew that for an ordinary person to lie to a plutocrat, even a young one, was an exercise in futility. Technically, everything she said was true. It matched Hosoda-san’s story about owing money to the Assistant-Head Maid. But the maid in front of you wasn’t the Assistant-Head Maid. She must have been working on her behalf then.

>Well Hosoda-san isn’t in this room so she should look elsewhere. You won’t hear any further argument.

>You disapprove of serious debts between serving staff. Debts between coworkers should be easily forgiven.

>Whatever Hosoda-san owes, you’ll pay out of your pocket. You know this isn’t in proper etiquette but it’s the easiest way to resolve things. (-10 Hopeful)

>Hosoda-san has already told you everything. Threaten to expose the narcotic/prostitution scheme. (-10 Cynical)

>>4349466
>>Hosoda-san has already told you everything. Threaten to expose the narcotic/prostitution scheme. (-10 Cynical)

>>4349466
>You disapprove of serious debts between serving staff. Debts between coworkers should be easily forgiven.

Threatening to expose the scheme might make us a target. The Assistant-Head Maid definitely has a high-ranking backer if she's able to operate in the manor.

I also wanted to say Hosoda isn't here, but then I remembered this maid probably has some augment that can detect Akira, and I don't want us to be seen lying to cover up for her.

>>4349483
Unfortunately you don't have enough cynicism to choose this option.

>>4349466
Okay on second thought I'm lowering the optimism/cynicism option costs to -5. -10 is way too much.

>>4349466
>You disapprove of serious debts between serving staff. Debts between coworkers should be easily forgiven.

>>4349466
>Well Hosoda-san isn’t in this room so she should look elsewhere. You won’t hear any further argument.

>>4349466
>You disapprove of serious debts between serving staff. Debts between coworkers should be easily forgiven.

We're about to get 404'd so we'll continue next thread.

The next thread will come up sometime sunday.

>>4349466
>You disapprove of serious debts between serving staff. Debts between coworkers should be easily forgiven.
>>4349505
Irrelevant now, since you reconsidered the cost, but you should probably not list an impossible choice, or at least mention that we can't do it.

>>4351215
In this case listing an impossible choice makes sense as an illustration of what the stats can do for us.
Noting how much we actually have stored would still be nice.