Multiple Settings &nbsp; &quot;It&#039;s Hard to Graduate In a Cyberpunk Dystopia!&quot;

salem.

Teallionn

Then, as things began to simmer down, Maki turned to Friend as she whispered her name, skipping over to her side. "I am still here, Friend. Please do not do that again, though…" Maki answered, except that her benevolent host didn’t reply. She didn’t even look at her.

Maki waved her hand in front of Friend’s face. Nothing.

Maki inserted her fingers directly inside Friend’s eyes. Still nothing.

Oh. So that’s what was going on. Maki crossed her arms. That stupid prison program. She felt one of those human emotions bubble up in her again. Envigourating, fiery, and driving her to act in an irrational, petty manner. The internet insisted it was an alcoholic beverage, but she was pretty sure it was an emotion. Anger. Or at least mild irritation. Hard to say.

She’d get Friend’s attention one way or the other…

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Suddenly, Maki disappeared, and a bunny mask appeared over Miruno’s face, speaking on its own.

"Hello everyone, I’m Miruno~ I love cooking, haikus, and ignoring my best friend~"

"Does anyone need anything set on fire? I’ll commit arson for carrots!"

"I really miss Amari-chan, I wonder what sh—Mr. Yano."

…

As Friend began speaking for real, the Maki Mask vanished and Regular Maki appeared by her side again. She threw Friend a peeved look, but carried on with the charade.

"It does seem to be outside the parameters of your personality, but humans can change in surprising ways… I wouldn’t expect you to be at a place like this either, friend. Maybe he was right…"

Emiya Shin · Dec 18, 2022

Shiho Nakamura
Flanagan's Bar

Cairn's brief, exhausted response, and silence from the others was enough for Shiho to realize how much of a mess that the Study Group had gotten themselves into. The blonde in a ponytail instinctively sighed, before placing her hands on her hips. She was thinking on what to do with this situation, but it seemed that it is best for her to stay composed, and help out whenever she can. Shiho listened to the banters between Cairn and Raymond, as well as Miruno's interaction at them. Shiho was surprised with how gentle Miruno was in her words. She even proposed to them that the guys should go to the hospital, on the blonde girl's car.

"Sure." Shiho agreed to accept Miruno's suggestion. "I have no issues driving you guys there to the hospital. My car can fit in 3 people. 2 at the back, one at the front. "

Shortly after that agreement, and a couple of banters from that the twins, Rin finally acknowledged Shiho's presence. The schoolgirl with piercings on her ears also managed to get Mr. Yano's attention, but that soon turned out to be a bad idea. When their homeroom teacher regained his bearings, he questioned the damages around Flanagan's Bar.

It was at this moment that Rin decided to throw the rest of the Study Group under the bus. Shiho, who was probably closest to Mr. Yano and Rin, promptly dropped her jaw. Whether it was due to panic, or just plain good old act of saving her own skin, is open for debate. Not to mention it provided a nice timing for Morrisa to arrive at the scene with a grand entrance. Oh wait, blood can be seen on her.

Sigh. Shiho gave a customary smile to Morrisa, and nodded at her. But she did not say anything further than her usual polite gestures.

Miruno also briefly acknowledged Morrisa's presence, before she began her effort to explain the Study Group's circumstances. However, she started off with a lie. Or, was it an accusation, in this case? Either way, her words unnerved Shiho somewhat, as this could backfire badly. If anything, it was a reckless move. You are not supposed to go against your homeroom teacher, after all. Either way, her VR companion, Machina, also joined in her effort.

Now, it was Shiho's turn to make a decision. This conversation should be started with the intention of saving Mr. Yano from whatever reason he went missing. At least, that should put the group in a morally way.

Maybe the blonde has to play the good cop/bad cop thing? Miruno was pretty much went the bad cop route after all.

Sigh. The girl sighed internally, as she mulled over the consequences.

"The Study Group were worried about you, Mr. Yano. You were not present for school today, and your office at the school were ransacked. By hook or crook, all of us managed to track you here. But as you can see, our quest in searching for you ended up in a rather... dangerous manner."

Shiho emphasized the word 'dangerous' in her response to Mr. Yano, while gesturing at the more battered members of the Study Group. "Thus, the mess around this bar! We were worried about your safety! That's why we're here!"

She then changed the topic like an old Totoya tofu delivery car drifting through a corner like those classic driving anime series.

"As for the part about being caught in an illicit relationship with a student, and as a result being blackmailed with it..." Shiho displayed a saddened expression, with her hands clasped into a prayer-like gesture. "... That's not true, right, Mr. Yano? Please tell me it's not true! Maybe you can explain it in detail, regarding about that?!"

Welp. Hope that is enough for a good cop role.

Interactions:

Rithas (Mr. Yano)

Ehb (Miruno)

Clairikins (Morrisa)

Rithas · Dec 20, 2022

Rin Tanaka
Flanagan's Bar

"I dibs shotgun!" Said Ansel to Shiho's comment, clearly not doing the maths on the allotment and therefor Shiho's priority list on who got into her car.

Clairikins
The class all momentarily turned to see Marissa fall in through a window. Rin felt the level of whatafrickery tonight increase even further. She hadn't even seen Marissa in a week or more! Rin had assumed that she was another one of the people who weren't actually dedicated to trying to study and had tossed off the whole ideal. Yet here she was falling through a broken window and evidentially bleeding just a tad. Rin didn't know whether to go over and try to patch her up or just stay at a healthy distance from someone smiling through a broken window.

Rin sighed, straightening her jacket. That was harsh. She should be still be welcoming to anyone still eager to get through education just like she was. Right? "What a shortcut! Haha...hah...oh boy."

Yano nodded solemnly. An experienced teacher in Academy Six had seen many interesting entrances. "Well it's good to hear that you're still enthusiastic Morrisa." But to her claim of a guy outside he just raised an eyebrow before looking through the door at the large crowd outside. There was a lot of 'guys' outside. Though the glances of acknowledgement from others, told her they knew what she was talking about.

She gawked at Miruno's comment. "For the last time Miruno it was a group decision! You even agreed to it at the end!"

With Maki's um, prank of a facemask and voice for Miruno. Rin's meter of if Maki was endearing or creepy had definitely swung back into the creepy side of the scale. It was weird that Miruno had little to no reaction to it. Was she just that used to the AI's antics? Then again, thinking about it. Miruno had not made one comment about how annoying her AI since they had got here. Was there some sort of feud happening betwix the two that Rin was not aware of. Despite Maki being (at the moment') rather unsettling, Miruno was really batting at base at the moment for making Rin side against her. The Ai had not called her a floozy, for one.

Rin nodded along with the beginning of Miruno's explanation. "Well, I wouldn't say that I believed it all..."

And what will the elf with no friends say now?

"Mr. Yano, is what Matthew said true? That you were caught in an illicit relationship with one of the students and you're being blackmailed now?"

Cairn could hear Matthew seethe. What does she think she's doing!?

Rin gave a horrified look at Miruno. Turning her head away from their teacher, she mouthed a 'What the frick!?' before turning back around with a now even more distressed smile. "Y-Yup! Very concerned. Much blackmail. Danger!" The others got the impression that deciding to carry along with this lie was short-circuiting the pink haired girl's ability to speak sentences.

Yano was, as one would be, taken aback by the claim. His eyes widening and a tension solidifying his pose. Still, instead of immediately responding. He listened to some of the other students back up Miruno's claim. He seemed particularly alarmed by Shiho's info on his office being ransacked, some form of questions being asked and answered in his own head. He gave a look of apprehension at Shiho's expression. Whatever mismatching evidence that was given between his office being ransacked and the claim that they had come here because of Matthew's claim seemed lost in the apparently honest looks of sadness they were giving to him.

"Is that so..." Yano finally replied, looking between the three who had spoken. There was a sharpness to his eyes now. Those who had gone up to talk felt like they got a glimpse of a man weighing up his options. They had after all accused him of something heinous in front of a group of others. "Why I'm here is none of your..." Yano stopped himself. What...what if there was something true in what they were questioning him with? Yano's face scrunched up. Okay, it was clear that he had realised what finishing that sentence would sound like. Whether or not they believed in the statement that Miruno had made. It had put him into a bit of a corner about explaining his actual situation.

"Listening to Matthew..." Their teacher looked away for a moment. "Rather silly from the rest of you, I would think."
No wait. Was he deflecting again? They felt like they could press him again on something.

"Yeah, what a lying jerk!" Rin exclaimed, presumably about Matthew and not also about anyone else particular in that room at all.

Tau
Yano took this moment to look at the Ai girl. He frowned. "Maki, whatever has happened between you and your friend in my absence. Please do try and be mature. Childish notions does little to heal wounds nor looks good to others. Remember what I've told you before? Emotional intelligence trumps anything else." That's right, Yano more then most treated the ~~person~~ AI as an actual student to teach. Even if his questions for her were a bit different then the others. Direct access to online databases tended to ruin normal questions on knowledge.

"Yano they made this mess!" Shouted Marion, clearly feeling he was getting off topic from what she wanted. Oh right, the owners of the bar they had made a mess of were right next to them.

He looked at all of them and tutted. ""This...will get back to the school. Surely some form of footage by the crowd outside. A report will be made, by others and most likely by those two students. " He pointed to the twins behind them. Wait, they were still students of the Academy?

"It's bar-schooling!" Ansel said reflectively, as if the mere mention of him being near actual education could ruin his credibility. Yano gave a smile, "While these students may not attend physically at the moment, they deserve to get tutoring."

"That we pay for." Marion stated, earning an visible gritting of teeth from the Teacher. "Perhaps. But I tutor many others who cannot physically attend the school."

"Students these days need a teacher to back them up on these sort of things. I won't be around for that inevitable meeting, So I'd think about the next line of questions you have about any accusations."

Huh?
What was he insinuating?
There was still questions to be asked here about why he was here.

"W-Won't be around? What about our missed classes! We missed a whole day today!" Rin cried, going through any veiled subtext in the same way a speeding bus goes through an unfortunate pigeon.

Yano gave a look of confusion, before slapping his forehead. "Oh, shit. Right, I forgot to fill the sub forms last night. Sorry about that, you'll need one for the grading next week. You'll have a adequate sub teacher from tomorrow on 'till I'm back."

"AHA!-" Rin visibly fist pumped.
"THIS WAS ALL WORTH IT!
TAKE THAT MIRUNO!"

MISSION FINISHED!

Where in the World Is Sharman Argo-Yano!

Recipients

: Everyone

You found out your teacher was missing. You got no class today! Unacceptable!
Some of the study group broke off to find him at his office. But only (after unlocking a door they were given keys to) found his office ransacked!
Those who stayed in class got the ire of Matthew. After some...bartering. They found out that Yano was in debt. And being threatened! Not Mr.Yano!
After Cairn bravely opened up a file. The Gang got a clue about Flanagan's bar. ~~A lot of them decided it wasn't worth it~~ THEY ALL DECIDED TO GO.
Dancing and Frolicking ensued.
The Gang ~~did what they were told~~ decided themselves to cause some ruckus!
After some intense impromptu Djing by Mia, she quickly whipped the crowd into a fever. She also may have broken some shit.
Aira decided to end a fight before it begun. She then beat up the owner in front of an entire crowd. Power Move.
Mia's Machina had a talk with someone cool. Nearly got a friendship, then got dumped. Such is the life of an Ai.
Mia continuing cyber-problems worked out for her for once.
Sirens! Data Retrieving? Post-It Notes!? More likely then you think.
Oh look, they found Mr.Yano. He was beaten up and out of it. But the Twins claimed it wasn't them who did that.
Then Miruno and co accused him of salacious relationship with students. That'll wake someone up.
Miruno throwing Matthew under the bus after herself being thrown under the bus has potentially created a perpetual throwing-under the bus motion machine!
The reason of having no sub teacher was that Yano forgot to fill the forms. The silly goose.
They pissed off the Twins, and Matthew at the last moment along with it.
The full consequences of their actions tonight was yet to be seen. But the Gang got an inkling it wasn't going to be great.
Was there something they were missing?

.....

Yano gingerly touched a bruise on his cheek. "It's bad to stand around in a sorry state like this. But it's a little dangerous at this time of night. I'll arrange a taxi for some of you. I do believe Ms.Nakamura owns a vehicle to shuttle some of you as well." He paused for a moment. "Called."

"Is there any other...facts that you wish for me to write down in a report helping your case, students?"

Skyswimsky · Dec 21, 2022

Mia Schneider
Just wants to go home

Things had been... hectic, and then sort of calmed down immediately. In another timeline, Mia and Marion could have maybe been good friends. Sharing sorta things in common. But between all the chaos of the weirdo girl (was she really the only one!?), the fire(?), and a bunch of new faces! Her own bullsh*t meter was truly about to be full now. The fact that Machina

Tau fell once again silent was unsettling, too.

Nonetheless, they had found out what they came for. Sorta. Why? Mia asked herself, distraught about herself. She had already held the opinion of this before getting to the bar. Whatever Yano had done, or did, was none of their business. Except that one thing she was about to get to in a second. It had been one of the rare moments she would have high-fived Miruno and joined her explanation, but there wasn't much of a point now, was there?

Mia Schneider put her finger to her chin, gave a sigh, and a hmm, changed her facial expressions from seemingly thinking to one of annoyance and also some relief. Not only thanks to the first aid kit they had.

"Mr. Yano..." The girl who had pretty much top grades in class finally spoke. All this senseless talking was a waste of time. "You're free to do whatever you want in your free time." She took a step forward. Trying to keep up some form of respect, though after everything that had happened it was sorta difficult. She just wanted home. "I usually wouldn't care. I actually don't. But if it's something that keeps you from doing your job, then I think your students deserve to know, without a doubt, the truth. With zero space left for interpretation." Did she just glare at him? "Ah... I apologize. Just, really... tired." She then took a glance at Marion and her brother, whatever his name was. Hansel? "I..." She paused, clicking her tongue. "The only compensation I can offer are these top-notch study notes..." It wasn't much, but she dreaded having to work community hours or something for what they had done here. Which meant less time spend in her dumb costume to actually earn some semblance of money! Which meant... just a continuous chain of bad stuff.

So it was a pitiful attempt and trying to appease Marion.

In fact, she pulled out a piece of paper that was folded multiple times. Though somewhat crumbled and wrinkled thanks to everything today. "They're usually tidier. But, it's a start!... Some say wisdom weighs more than gold." Or something posh like that.

Karyra · Dec 21, 2022

Lexi Noel
Outside the Bar

Trying to get out of the bar while panic ensued was much trickier than Lexi had thought it would be, espcially since Samuel was busy being limp in her arms. Between the stampede and Samuel's non-help, Lexi ended up pretty battered and bruised. She sat and waited for an explanation for why they were in the bar in the first place. Apparently Mr. Yano had skipped school?

"Okay. So these two went and hid you, and you forgot to fill out a sub form?"

Lexi rolled her eyes.

"So we all started a bar fight over getting a Study Hall day?" she scratched her head. "I dunno. I would have thought you guys had more than just blackmail by the fact that you hurried here..."

"Then again I think I remember something about that rumor..."

Mia talked to Yano with sincerity and Lexi decided to follow the move.

"Listen, Mr. Yano," she said, "I'm gonna level with you. Whatever the Sub will be like, they won't care. You are the only teacher who actually tries to make a class out of the guidelines that the corporate board or whatever says we have to learn."

"So, even though we did a bad job here, I'd rather help you than risk a sub who doesn't give a damn about any of us. So, as Mia just said, be honest with us. You're my best shot at becoming a real ripdoc, not just someone who has a little knowhow and some underworld-esque connections."

Lexi folded her arms and looked at Mr. Yano. Whatever he'd decided was what he would choose, but surely appealing to his teacher side wouldn't be so bad. Given he even just chastised and talked to an AI, he had more enthusiasm for teaching than just some random sub.

"As for the report, just state we were too enthused about learning and thought you were in danger or something."

Aes_Dragon · Dec 23, 2022

Cairn Orias
Flanagan's Bar ~ Front of House

Cairn didn't blame Raymond at all for what he tried to do, but he squeezed his eyes shut at the mention of being 'brave'. It was giving him déjà vu from earlier that day, opening Matthew's file. Granted, no one had called him brave that time - only Rin acknowledged it with some thanks - but surely another member of the group wanted to call him out for his recklessness. Maybe that was the case, and how it was brushed over was the group being polite. As Raymond dramatically announced his resignation, the word 'fickle' popped into in his mind. He turned his head quickly at the comment one of the twins made. There was no way he was actually working without being paid, right...? That bartender earlier was telling the truth, then. Cairn turned his eyes upward; the only place he wanted to go right now was home. It was getting dark, anyways.

He raised his eyebrows as Miruno chimed in, recommending they go to a hospital. The others seemed to latch on this idea naturally, and Cairn imagined a sassy retort in his head, asking them who would be paying for it, but it stayed in his head.

"Sauteed," Cairn mumbled, chuckling. Rin didn't approve of the dark humour, but he appreciated it. He ran a hand through his hair and felt the cowlick that had formed. He looked at the handkerchief Miruno offered, then at her face. His frustration was audible as he exhaled from the back of his throat. Eventually, he realized the rudeness of that gesture. "Sorry, I..." He quickly rubbed his eyes and gently pulled the cloth from her. "Th--"

D'aaaw~

He grimaced. It would have appeared to be a jolt of physical pain to anyone watching.

You can almost forget that it was their idiocy that got you into this mess.

He bit his lip and stuffed the handkerchief straight into his pant pocket. "Thanks," he said grimly.

Staring into space, Cairn thought about what Matthew meant. Maybe in some twisted way, he could have 'blamed' his current state on Samuel for throwing a punch at the bouncer, but... Samuel was only trying to help them out of that situation. A bit of a shortsighted action, sure, but was it really justified to lash out at him for it? Samuel didn't need to be beaten while he was down, he needed some compassion! Was that so hard to understand?

...

Cairn was still drenched, cold, and tired. But the gloomy look on his face faded quickly.

"I'm fine," Cairn told Machina. It was the simple truth, really. He was banged up for sure, but a visit to the hospital was overdoing it. The AI seemed to smile at him blankly, and Cairn watched as it repeated its inquiry to the other boys exactly as it was said to him. There were times when Cairn naturally referred to Machina as a she, but the little sequence of events stuck out in his mind, reminding him that Machina wasn't a real person at the end of the day.

He turned his head at the sound of Morrisa landing behind them, and turned it back around as soon as he saw who it was. Why was she here? Why did she go through the window? Well, the entrance was currently flooded, but... what, she just couldn't wait? He hadn't seen her at a group meeting in a few weeks and had long written her off in a similar vein to Raymond. Unfortunately, that relief disappeared in an instant. He tried to avoid looking affected by her appearance; as if she was just another study member coming in for the usual.

Once Mr. Yano snapped out of his trance and demanded an answer, Cairn's right foot began tapping the floor. He was a bit paralyzed thinking of ways to convey their journey to the bar while cutting out most of the fat, but there were definitely some details he wasn't privy to. Namely what had happened on the other side of the bar. He looked around, wondering if anyone else dared to answer... and there was. He crossed glances with Miruno, who had an indignant look in her eyes. Suddenly, a mask appeared on her face, speaking in Machina's voice. He stared as the voice that droned on in a consistent tone just a minute ago took on a scathing, passive-aggressive one that was uncannily human-like. Even more strange, Miruno had no reaction at all. Her body language didn't even stir slightly. The annoyed voice turned into an annoyed look as the mask vanished and was replaced with the AI's usual form. It was a bit much to take in alongside the situation with Yano, like trying to pay attention to an important announcement while a baby wails in the background. For the time being, he didn't verbally acknowledge it.

Cairn couldn't help but retort at Miruno's accusation. Apparently, neither could Matthew. "W-wait, what are you t...!" His first thought was that Miruno had misunderstood something. Maybe she had caught the study group bug from earlier, making some wild assumption and accidentally asserting it as fact. But as he thought about it, Miruno really was not that kind of person. Hearing the inflection of her voice caused him to trail off, and a theory to pop into his head. She was lying. It was calculating. Keen. Kind of mean, actually. Cairn felt queasy at the idea of pressing their teacher like this. At the same time, he was well aware that one of the best ways to get the right answer to a question was to proudly declare a wrong answer. Still, Mr. Yano didn't seem to falter and danced around the attack, changing the focus of the conversation to the scene around them. Hearing Mr. Yano's comment about footage, Cairn imagined any video that caught him on camera would be staging him as a victim, so he was clear on that front.

On one hand, the reason they'd come here was to make sure that Mr. Yano was alright, and not missing. Well, he was standing in front of them and talking with them. On the other, there were still lots of questions that had yet to be answered... His bruises, the trashed office, this 'tutoring'. How deep were they supposed to pry into this? The sudden heartfelt encouragement in Mia's and Lexi's appeals was something Cairn was tempted to join in on, but he had the feeling that it wouldn't get them very far. If they could point out some logical error in what Yano was saying, though... handwaving that would be a lot harder. He looked at the file from Matthew again.

File 1

Gerwen Bank File:

Current Account 102:
829 CREDITS

AMOUNT OWED:
9210 CREDITS TO AOI

CHAT LOG SCREENSHOT:

Aoi: She deserves it, I want you here and now.
Yano012039: I'm giving as much as my spare time as possible. Her progress is developing at the same rate as an attending student.
Yano012039: I shouldn't be using the school network for this, leave me alone till I'm done.
Aoi: You're done when I say you're done. Your Students are not the one who own you.
Aoi: I Do
Aoi: I want you at [REDACTED] from tomorrow onwards. My Angel deserves every second.

Yano: I'll go to Flanagan's. You can hide it, right.
Pula: I give it a 40 percent chance, 60 percent they just take your lunch money.

It was still... just as vague as before. If anything, it might have gotten more confusing. For instance, the file only seemed mention one student, but here there were two. At the same time, Mr. Yano said he tutored other students, so... maybe this file referred to someone else. They needed more information. It might have been a coincidence, but Miruno hadn't mentioned the fact that there was a file - only that Matthew had informed the group Yano was here. It was possible that Mr. Yano didn't know his tablet was compromised, but... by naming Matthew, Mr. Yano could have suspected that to be the case. Still, maybe there was some way to take advantage of what they hadn't let on.

Cairn noticed that Lexi didn't seem to buy the 'forgetting to fill out a sub form', but he felt that part was probably true. It would have raised a lot less suspicion of his whereabouts if he had done so, at least not immediate suspicion. It was also safe to assume he really did tutor, judging by the reaction of the twins on the side. But obviously it was more than just regular old tutoring.

"Tutoring, huh." he said aloud. "They've been out here this whole time, though." He looked at the twins and gave a glance towards Rin and the others who were near the stage, one that said 'right?' "Were you... tutoring someone else today?" He tried to add an innocent curiosity to his tone, as if there was no such attempt to coax Mr. Yano into letting off some seemingly harmless info.

Teallionn · Dec 28, 2022

Raymond Denhart
Flannigans Bar (Just about)

Raymond beamed at being called Friend by Machina, even as a generic statement, he'd take it! "Yeah! I'm A-Okay, Friend!" He mirrored her with added enthusiasm, throwing in a thumbs up for good measure. And when the AI girl became a digital mask, solely for the purpose of back-chatting to Miruno, Raymond stifled a giggle.

Study Group members seemed to be floating into the bar or dropping in dramatically from above, Lexi, Shiho and Morissa. Raymond had to stop and think for a second. Maybe his suggestion for starting a Ladies Night had been taken seriously after all.

"Mr. Yano, is what Matthew said true? That you were caught in an illicit relationship with one of the students and you're being blackmailed now?"

Raymonds ears were positively burning at the accusations being levied to Mr. Yano by Miruno. Even raising his hands to his mouth to cover a little gasp. Woah! No Way! Since when? Which student? Should we make a citizens arrest? And why am I the last to know? His absence had left him way too far outside the flow of information for his comfort. Being in on school gossip was half the reason to turn up. And the news came from Mathew?! Since when does he know anything about anything?

"... That's not true, right, Mr. Yano? Please tell me it's not true! Maybe you can explain it in detail, regarding about that?!" Shiho questioned Mr. Yano, leaving him some wiggle room for a denial or an alternative explanation, all while keeping up the pressure. It seemed like she'd make a great investigator or maybe a defense lawyer.

Raymond straightened up a bit, just in case he had to suddenly take on some impromptu bailiff duties.

"Its bar-schooling!" Ansel piped up in defense of Mr. Yano. Raymond frowned, sinking back to slouch. Wow. Sure would have been nice to get an invite to that. Mr. Yano seemed to easily dodge the charges and explained that he just tutors here and forgot to get a sub for the class. And he'd get one sorted for grading week. The mention of 'grading' knocked around in Raymonds spacious head, like it was totally important. Hmm..I'll probably need to put a few notes together on.. my...bar..schooling? Raymond panicked and decided to shoot his shot. Since Mr.Yano was asking for input on his report anyway.

"Mr. Yano! Hey! I uh, I didn't know you were here, but can I get signed into the Bar-Schooling Course List?! I was doing most of the bar things, educationally speaking. And I got schooled plenty of times. Probably enough for a passing grade even! You can probably just jot that down for the Sub?"

Emiya Shin · Jan 1, 2023

Shiho Nakamura
Flanagan's Bar

Shiho listened intently to Mr. Yano's explanation about his current condition. She merely sighed in response to her homeroom teacher's explanation, before placing her hands on her hips. Her lips were pouted downwards, clearly showing that she was not happy with the revelation from Mr. Yano. Are those twins belonged to a reputable family of Executives, to the point that Mr. Yano has to skip his actual work for Academy Six? Maybe that would explain the bruises on his face and all. The Execs do have the money to hire muscles to threaten or even harm people to do their bidding.

The blonde girl stood quiet as the others started chiming in their thoughts. Mia did not took this lightly, but she decided to wave her feelings away, and tried to fix some of the damages incurred. Lexi on the other hand, tried to dig more of Mr. Yano's secret arrangement with the twins. For Cairn, he asked Mr. Yano whether he had other students to perform tutoring, aside from the twins. Of course, Raymond maintained his cheerful antics. He even signaled he was interested in the class that Mr. Yano provided to Marion and Ansel.

Shiho unwittingly chuckled at Raymond's remark. She totally could not keep herself to that line, and lets out a giggle as she glanced at the cheeky guy.

"Anyway," She began with a relaxed pose, and her hands were back to her sides. Her eyes were focused at her homeroom teacher. "Mr. Yano. Sensei."

The blonde, flashy girl emphasized on that S-title. "If you actually managed to assign a substitute teacher for today, I don't think all of us here won't be trashing the bar."

Shiho shrugged in-between her words. "In fact, we wouldn't even know your little arrangement with the pair of twins over there." She briefly pointed at them.

"With that said, I think it's best to let us know the truth. I think Lexi has a point here. Some-- No, all of us here need your help to graduate! The old adage of 'I help you, you help me' thing, and all, you know? Besides, I reckon that you're not the clumsy type to forget filling for a substitute teacher. Unless your C.I.C.I is faulty, or something."

Interactions:

Rithas (Mr. Yano)

Teallionn (Raymond)

Karyra (Lexi)

Rithas · Jan 4, 2023

Rin Tanaka
Flanagan's Bar

Skyswimsky
Marion looked at the girl once more, measuring the intent of Mia's words. "'-Yields better returns then gold.' I believe is the saying." The girl gave an apprecitave smile before taking the crumpled piece of paper into her hands. "Thanks. That's actually quite nice of you." She gave a quick scrawl over the page. Concern spreading over her face. "Oh, it would appear those in the academy are further ahead in the material then we are. Perhaps it would indeed be best to keep in contact."

"Yeah for all our shi-"
"Shut up, Ansel."

...

Raymond's words settled into a silence as everyone worked out the source of his words. Behind Raymond, Ansel gave a 'get a load of this guy' gesture to anyone who would bare attention.
Yano nodded astutely, handling the question with the grace it deserved. "...Of course Raymond. I'll make sure that your hard work is made very aware to the administration."

Yano rubbed his temple at the onslaught of words from diligent students. "I guess I shouldn't look down at enthusiasm for learning when such a trait is so rare."

He put his hands up at Shiho's claim. "That sub form was a genuine mistake. Even I miss paperwork every so often." He shrugged, whoops. The teacher was human after all.

"But I see you're not going to be satisfied with just that. So I'll tell you this." He nodded, as if assuring himself that this was fine to say. "There was a specific tutee that I had seen today, yes. But her - I mean their specific situation is very...delicate. I try not to lead one student's time to a detriment to the others but this one requires a distinct level of preparation for their learning. Let's say one of their guardians is rather...adamant about the allotment of my time. Frankly, I'm trying to figure out how to fasten their development without the 'helicopter' nature of their guardian. I do apologize that you and your study group has been without a teacher because of...." Yano gave another look to something distant. "Study Group." He mushed the words together in his mouth

And the group saw dots connect in his eyes.

He scratched his chin. "The neural network could...No it would be too dangerous."

Yano clapped his hands.
"Given greater clarity at the situation. I realise it would be of much comfort to you all if I can guarantee my return. Which I can, in four school days. I'll send it so that Ms.Kaeliah will cover me. Don't worry, she's actually a better teacher then me. So much that she's cursed by it. But given that you're the only students that came out to find if I was safe. I'm going to allot more time for exam success to this study group when I get back. It's just that I might require a simple favour or two." He sighed, knowing how suspicious that sounded. "You have to trust me as your teacher. That I have your best academic interests and safety at heart."

BEEP BEEP.

That would be the Taxi.

LowD

Aira was still nursing that bruise with some ice. Looking out the window in the car that was bringing her home. She thought about the events of tonight. It was chaotic, and she had beaten up an 'owner'(?) of the bar. But at least they had found Mr.Yano. Not to mention that she had caught up with her old friend Ashley! Good that she there was to help Aira with guiding the rest of the group through the bar. Aira felt it was unfortunate that she had disappeared after Aira started a fight with Ansel, she must have gotten lost in the crowd. Couldn't blame her for that. At least the fight had unwittingly brought out Yano, even if the whole effort seemed a little futile in the end. It was good to catch up with the girl though, she hadn't seen her friend since....er..
T-The time with...
Huh?

The girl cringed silently as an headache set upon her.

Maybe she had a concussion or something.
No, she must have an concussion.
Because for the life of her...she couldn't quite seem to think of the actual last time her and Ashley had met up. Or talked? Or even...greeted each other?
Did she even know someone called Ashley?
She was so sure of it when she was talking to her. The many joyous memories of the two together clear as day.
But now everything seemed quite foggy. Like the abstract idea of a person was all that was left.

Oof, that jab must have hit her harder then she thought.
It would come back to her after a night's rest. She was sure of it.
It was just a h̸e̷a̶d̶a̶c̵h̷e̴

...

Meanwhile, in the exact same car. Rin had taken shotgun, after a night and a half it felt a little strange to the others that now was the time that Rin was visibly shrinking into herself. The girl had taken to resting her head against the car window. Seeing her reflection in the side mirror, she looked...tired. One could say that she had the least reason to be weathered out of everyone, bar Shiho. Still she looked tired.
Or sleepy. It actually was quite late now that they thought about it. Yeah, it was just the physical type of tired.

Nap Nap. Sleepy Sleepy Good Time.

"Whaa...weird thing to say...."
Rin fell asleep.

She dreamed of daisies.

Prinicpal's Office.

"Expulsion!?"

The woman at the desk pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed deeply. For not the first time in this meeting. "Can you please not repeat that for the sixth time." That women being Ms.Kaeilah. After being told that a disciplinary meeting with the principal had been slotted for them. The gang had prepared for a meeting with the principal that they had barely seen the face of. But instead it was the first year coordinator who had also been their sub teacher for the last two days. Who, they had now found out. Was subbing for the principal and vice-principal as both of them were unavailable at the moment.

Must be a hectic workweek for her.

"As you've been made aware. News of your 'adventure' on Thursday has gotten around."

Yes, from the moment they had entered school the next day the members of the group could feel the unmistakeable glances and whisper of gossip. This was nothing new to Academy Six or any school really. Except this time they could all feel that all this gossip was definitely about them. It was small differences, the looks of attention, the small gap that formed around them where any of them walked, the hushed laughter behind their backs. It was clear where the source of this new found attention was coming from as well. Mainly because the sub-teacher/year-head/principal was showing it to them at the moment.

Yano hadn't been wrong about footage of that bar night coming out. Still, it made them all realise that anything from a different angle or moment can look worse then it actually was. Because this montage of clips from the crowd showed a lot of their actions out of context. Like Mia being next to the destroyed DJ booth, or her jumping onto Marion, or Samuel and co attempting to fight Spyder, It really did look like he was self-defending from this video. Cairn was wrong, it did not make the student out as a victim, seeing as it cut off before his shoes went above his head. Then there was the fire rather suspiciously starting right next to Miruno before she exclaimed first it's presence, it looked like virtual fire on video just looked like regular fire. Then there was Aira going up and fighting Ansel!

Actually that very last one had all the context included, it just didn't help their case.

While those more in touch with the gossip world would have seen these videos already, This was clearly Rin's first time seeing said montage, as she had already tried to object and explain the various events visualised. Much to the bemusement of Kaeilah.

What added to the seriousness of the situation was the addition of the guy in a loose suit and tie leaning against the wall sipping some coffee. Mr.Cully? He had been introduced as. He was a police detective from...one of the forces, Rin couldn't remember which one, If it was specified at all. As he stood there drinking nonchanantly, the worry that they were in fact in serious trouble was piling onto members of the group.

Even Matthew, who had been essentially dragged here by the Study's group words at the bar. Was unusually quiet this time. Just sulking in his own thoughts and schemes in the back of the semi circle row of chairs that had been assembled for this meeting.

"This type of behaviour is rather unbecoming of the expected nature of the students here. So some form of punishment is necessary." The woman said, clearly reading something for some script she had been given on the desk.

What? They were basically the best behaved students in their year. The expected behaviour of the average student was to not attend and then burn down a car more like it!
It felt like they were being punished for actually having set a level of being good students.
Hell, hadn't Kaeliah watched them break into Yano's office with barely a care?

"A harsher voice might air the thought of expulsion." The Sub-everything held a finger out to stop Rin from exclaiming anything. "But given Yano's reports of the genuine reasons of said actions." Their teacher had been true to his word after all. "And the fact that I don't really care." Oh. "I'm jotting it down to two weeks of extended help with academy needs. Mainly because I know you guys will actually show up unlike everyone else." What was 'academy needs'?. "That's all in terms of Academy measures. Now, Mr.Cully-"

Clairikins
Mid-sip, the man coughed down the last of his coffee before stepping forward to give a disapproving frown."Usually this sort of stuff would be clear grounds for some sort of legal charge by the victims." A small gulp from Rin. "But-" Cully snapped his fingers, Marissa felt the instinctive flinch to prepare for pain. But no sort of electrocution came for her. The rest just saw a brief smirk from the cop. "They've decided not to press any charges."

"Oh, cool" Rin said, visibly relieved that she wasn't going to a supermax prison or something.
Mia wondered if her deed of kindness and potential start of a friendship had factored into that decision.

"The owners of the equipment still want partial liability for said damages taken. It's been settled that all recipients at the bar will be liable for said damage."

That...wasn't exactly fair. But with everyone together it shouldn't be too hard to pay off.

"The total damages amount to-"

!?

Even Rin did a double take.

In the background, Matthew laughed.

MISSION(S) RECIEVED

CLEAING UP YOUR ACT (P1)
The Academy requires you to do some grunt work for them to continue studying there. How much can they ask really?

DEBT TO PAY
The gang have landed a small sum to pay to some mysterious creditor.

EXAM WEEK
They're next week by the way.

THREE DAYS LATER

RIN TANAKA
ACADEMY SIX HALLWAY

It was late in the night. The day of learning had passed, and it had been long enough that even the most laziest of dwindlers had long left the building. Leaving Academy Six empty.
Except for a certain study group.

"Yeah, I think doing it as one cleaning blob is the most efficient." Rin said, leveraging her head on the handle of the mob she was holding. This would look a little silly if it wasn't for the fact that they all also had mops or sweepers in their hands.

Automated cleaners decades old were still too good for this school. So instead they had found an ingenious solution to save money. Which was of course, getting those on 'detention' to do it for them. The Study Group weren't sure on the ethics of that, given that only students that cared about education would actually stick around to do the given grunt work. But with was needed to reach their goals, they had no room to complain. Aside from the empty school they now had to clean, of course.

With the notice that they were given, Rin had taken the initiative for herself to go to a more casual and looser style of wear. Presumably because getting her uniform jacket dirty at this time of night would lead to issues tomorrow. She had rolled the sleeves up on her shirt. Which carrying with the rest of her appearance and against her character, revealed that she had an assortment of tattoos on her right forearm.

And due to the actions of others, Matthew was there as well. Visibly shooting daggers at the group as he wiped some dirt off a window. Which he had been doing, in the exact same spot, for the entire time they had been here so far. He didn't look like he was motivated to move from cleaning that one corner of a window either.

"Oh, I forgot!" Rin dropped her mop on the floor as she raced to some closet down the hallway. The gang watched as with some effort and one mild fall backwards. Rin dragged a trolley out of a closet. As she brought it closer the group could see some sort of cuboid device sitting on it. Turning around with a smile, Rin patted the device with some form of pride. "I found this last night when I was walking home. I wasn't sure what it was at first but I soon found out it's an old music player. So old that it has no adaptability to CICI whatsoever." She blew some hair away from her face. "I'm not into collecting relics so I was about to go donate it to someone when I realised what it can be used for." She leaned forward, pausing for a moment as if giving time for someone to answer for her. "...That's right! Safe music!"

Huh?

"And by that I mean everyone can use it." She gave a thumbs up to Mia. The girl with now a video record of imploding musical instruments. "No potential for sudden accidents!" Her manner of speaking was telling Mia that she was meaning this with no touch of underlying tone aside from genuine joy at finding something that her frie- study mate could use without consequence.
"As an extra additive. There's no way to externally hack it or traceability to it. So no one-" She shot a look to Matthew. "Can try any shenanigans." The boy sneered at her before going back to barely wiping the same 10x10cm spot.

She wiggled some small portable device from the back of it. "It even comes with it's own manual switch for connection. How cute is that?" Which basically meant that the group would not be forced to listen to music only from the last century. Whether Rin thought that music would help liven squad morale or that she just wanted to listen to something while time passed was hard to know.

"My turn first!" Rin fiddled with the portable gadget for a few seconds to find her song of choice. "Aha-" She stepped back as music began to blare out from the speakers. It was a bit loud, but measured up to that night at the bar. This music was but a gentle whisper. The song Rin had chosen was....a somewhat generic happy pop song. The gang was pretty sure they had heard this trending in the charts a little while ago. For sure the advertisements for the singer of this song was still up on the holo-boards in the busy streets of the waterfront district.

Fucking reall-
Cairn blinked, he had swore he had heard that twice...

At his spot, Matthew coughed. His source of mild embarrassment readable to no one but Cairn. "There you go." He commented before wiping back to the window. Feedback gone from Cairn's head. "Fucking really?" He repeated, now only in a quiet mumble to himself.

Rin did a little twirl, "Perfect area~~" She hummed to herself, mopping the floor with a little more pep. Which was impressive, given the pep meter being kept at a maximum at most times with Rin.

Given their progress through this hallway. They were going to be here for quite a while.
Perhaps it was best to strike up some conversation to pass the time...

Tau

Clairikins · Jan 4, 2023

Morrisa Crepuscule
Academy 6 - Wet Hallway

With everyone mopping up the floor for their impromptu party, Morrisa has decided to make the best of it! Even though she had nothing to do with the fire or the fighting or any of that, she's still going to show herself off as the perfect student at this academy!
"Wooooooooo!!" she can't help but cheer as she skids down the hall on the wet and soapy floor, a bucket of water in her hands and her shoes back where they first started cleaning. Dropping the bucket on a patch of yet-to-be-cleaned floor, splashing the ground -in her eyes it's helping- she grabs a bucket of dirty water and turns back around. "Oh hey, tunes. Ain't that banned?" She pauses to ponder the question, reaching a hand up to rub the side of her head, but the buzz-buzz isn't buzzing just from her listening to it, so it's probably fine. "Wait, this ain't gonna be like the bar, yea?" the way she holds that bucket of dirty water to her chest without a care in the world, all so she can gesture with her free hand, could make someone nervous- if anyone actually cared about making the hallway clean.
"Can't believe I missed all the fun. Don't leave me out of the next time, alright? Yell if something fun happens!" And with that she turns around and slides back down the hall to replace the dirty water, taking a few running steps just to slide along the floor. Well at least she's having fun, even if her clothes are getting soaked.

Aes_Dragon · Jan 6, 2023

Cairn Orias
Academy Six ~ Scuffed-Up Hallway
(do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down?)

Before his newly-acquired 'volunteer service', Cairn had never lingered at the academy very long past school hours. But the liminal nature of the hallways became apparent with everyone gone. Of course, there was still the background noise from vehicles speeding down the street and the large-scale ad campaigns that blared on a cycle, but their footsteps and voices very clearly echoed through the school. It was extremely tempting for Cairn to tap some kind of rhythm to see how to how it sounded, but he managed to resist.

Cairn was wearing a plain t-shirt and jeans. The denim at his knees looked almost completely bleached, more of a brownish colour. It was probably the first time anyone had seen him out of uniform. Notable, but not at all notable at the same time. At his part of the hallway, Cairn opted to wring out his mop before pushing it around on the ground in order to suck up the water that had been generously poured onto the floor. His shoes, clearly having seen some extensive use, must have had some sort of damage to the soles, because he was starting to feel the center of both his socks get wet. As he mopped, he noticed some bits of dirt refused to stick to the mop head no matter what, making him audibly sigh. What was the point? Even if somehow all the dirt nicely allowed itself to be picked up off the floor, several tiles were covered by ugly black patches caked in so deeply that any scraping attempt to remove them would end up breaking the tile they were on.

If not being properly equipped to clean dirt of this magnitude was all there was to it, Cairn wouldn't have minded very much.
But of course there was more to it. That meant he did mind a lot more.

He had actually seen some of the footage of him displayed at the principal's office beforehand - he closely followed the local news after all - but the way he gawked at it almost certainly convinced any onlooker that it was his first time witnessing it. In reality, it was the sheer ridiculousness of what was captured (or intentionally not captured) that was the cause of his befuddlement. He was absolutely certain the footage was doctored or cut in some way in order to push a more intriguing story. From the bottom of his heart, he wished he could have raised some kind of objection, but there wasn't a shred of evidence in his part of the ring. Maybe the scratches on his scalp? But given the outlook, it would have easily been written off as aftermath from Kyle's 'self-defense'. Agh, where was V̴̤͔̯̆̍̈́i̷͓̝̹͗͝͝v̶̢̟̐̀i̵̻̣̯̾̄a̸͇̦͠ń̶̠̬̭e̴̯͓͑ when he needed her?

On top of that, Cairn had his own new debt which he was socially obligated to pay being a part of the study group, suddenly sparking an urge to start tutoring himself. He had to juggle that and the nonsense he was putting up with right now alongside exam week. Maybe some of the others would fare just fine with some reduced free time, but Cairn needed every last second. He asked himself internally multiple times over the past three days why he didn't just get up and leave (no teacher was there supervising them anyways), but he had a gut feeling that it would backfire.

So he kept his head down, halfheartedly moving the mop around. At least Mr. Yano would supposedly come back tomorrow to help with the latter.
But he doubted it would be that simple, given how Mr. Yano had basically confirmed what was in the file was true.

Cairn found the current atmosphere incredibly awkward, mainly because Matthew was with them. How the hell was he supposed to look at him? No matter how hard he tried, nonchalantly letting Matthew within his line of sight for even a second was discomforting. Anyone watching Cairn when he occasionally glanced around might be reminded of an NPC in a video game with a clear blindspot, letting the player sneak past him. He found it easiest to settle on Rin, who was talking the most. The tattoos on her forearm initially surprised him (at first he thought they were some dirt smudge) until he remembered that Rin also had a lip piercing, which seemed much more cohesive.

So it's an old speaker, he wanted to say after Rin's spiel regarding the old box. But he held his tongue, thinking it might come off as overly snarky. Nevertheless, Cairn was interested in these sort of things. If it had turned out to be a functionless brick, he would have eagerly accepted Rin's donation. He'd heard the song that played from it before on some of his walks. Something that he recognized, yet easily tuned out all the same. But given his current sulky state, it was getting a bit hard to ignore.

F̴u̸c̷k̴i̴n̵g̵ ̶r̸e̷a̸l̴l̶-

Cairn froze in place for a moment. To him, he heard Matthew's real voice echo down the hallway, and then a half-moment later, again it echoed in his mind. Not painful at all, but definitely trippy. Suddenly all that fear from before disappeared, and he looked towards Matthew. His lips were moving, saying something to himself more quietly, but nothing popped into Cairn's head. The realization showed on Cairn's face. Oh, was that how it worked? He turned back around, feeling a bit relieved. Maybe whatever had installed itself into his C.I.C.I. wasn't as powerful as he thought it was.

Just then, Morrisa slid past Cairn, a bit of the dirty water spilling out of the bucket she clutched to her chest onto the ground near him. A little extra work, but nothing a wrung out mop couldn't soak up, so it didn't irritate him at all. What did irritate him was how... well she seemed to be taking this. He couldn't understand it. Actually there were a lot of things he didn't understand about her.

"...Morrisa?" He said it meekly, like he was afraid to ask. "Aren't you frustrated?" Even if she thought what was displayed in the videos of what happened at the bar as 'fun', surely being forced to stay here wasn't very fun. At least once the novelty of sliding down the hallways wore off. Was it really just some sort of blissful ignorance? He elaborated, feeling that she might not understand what he was referring to. "I mean, you literally had nothing to do with what happened at the bar, but you got lumped into cleaning with the rest of us." As he finished his sentence, he looked towards Shiho, as if remembering just then that she was also treated unfairly. "Both you and Shiho." His face looked slightly pained. "Couldn't you... why don't you guys... I don't know, fight back a little?" He glanced back and forth between the both of them. He knew that there was a fat chance the administration would actually listen to reason, but to not try at all when they had some good points to get across rubbed him the wrong way.

Clairikins

Emiya Shin

Clairikins · Jan 6, 2023

Morrisa Crepuscule
Academy Six- Wet Hallway.

Morrisa scampers on the floor a little, trying to get her footing back as she turns around to answer the question asked of her, nearly falling down on the wet floor and just about knocking over her dirty bucket. She offers up a shrug. "I can't exact do nothing fun no more. Plus, we gotta graduate, so staying together in a group to study is a good thing. I feel like I get smarterer every time we plan out together." Although her vocabulary hasn't improved at all. "And if I ditched on the cleaning, I wouldn't be having fun right now. Come on! Everything can be fun if ya try!" Once she leaves the school it's right back to the law-approved dwelling for legally-approved activities. Boring ones where she'll have to do things on her own. At least with everyone here, she can be part of the group.
"Yea, I didn't really do anything at the bar, and legally that's the most important part of it, but there's like, uh, soli..." she forgets the word. "We should stick together, like with teacher."

Teallionn · Jan 8, 2023

Raymond Denhart
Academy Six - Hallway

Things had turned out a lot better than Raymond had expected. The montage of the bar incident had been heavily edited to show the group acting out without reason but Raymond concluded that despite this bias against them, the footage of himself captured wasn't half bad! And with it being spread through the school like wild fire, at least the lighting made everyone look quite cool and mysterious. Any glances thrown his was way were met with a confident smile as Raymond basked in the attention, deciding he may as well own this moment as he returned to school life.

Even the punishment was something in his new found wheelhouse. Mopping and sweeping were some of his main duties at the bar and from the size of the Academy hallways it was clear to Raymond that this was going to take forever, so why rush? The atmosphere wasn't too bad all things considered. Rin dashed away down the slippy floors and wheeled out an old machine from the closet, it looked vaguely familiar but ancient. As she explained it was in fact a music player they could all use, her excitement and pep were contagious.

"My turn first!" Rin called the first song, which was only fair in Raymond's estimation. The volume and sound quality was better than expected as the upbeat pop tune bounced off the walls and filled the air.

"Nice one, Rin!" Raymond called through cupped hands over the music. He felt well at ease, as far as punishment went they still got to hang out together and they didn't even have to write anything! He looked around at his classmates taking their own approaches to their toil, some more giddy than others.

Morissa was playing it fast and loose the the water buckets, taking a broad approach, not minding at all if her clothes got wet. She was clearly having a good time, plus anything that got splashed was surely cleaner now than it was before anyways. Raymond nodded in appreciation of Cairns technique as he soaked up the excess water, he always seems pretty dedicated, no matter how small the task.

Raymond slapped the mop where the wall met the floor, side to side, going for a wide swipes as he bopped along to the music, enjoying how he could slide his feet along the floor to the rhythm. Sure their buckets water were getting dirty quick, and not that much of the marks and stains were lifting but they weren't miracle worker here. The next days foot traffic would undo it all anyway, there was little point worrying about the fine details.

Cairn pointed out that Morissa and Shiho could have maybe pushed back against getting punished since they hadn't instigated any of the chaos, Lexi too for that matter. The way Raymond saw it, this was as much a social club as it was for studying. Not even remembering the last they'd simply sat and studied together. Cairn had a great sense of justice about the situation but Morissa's energy was hard to argue with.

"Sticking together, Graduating, I'm feelin' it, guys!" Raymond chimed in on Cairn and Morissa's chat, echoing his damp classmates optimism while getting swept up in the music. Already angling for a chance to pick the next song, He slid down the hall to strike up a conversation with Rin who was stilling humming away.

"Oh Also! Rin! Sweet tattoos, I was thinking I'd get a some ink myself, maybe a back piece. When did you get those?" He asked lightly, leaning on his mop for some casual balance.

Emiya Shin

Emiya Shin · Jan 10, 2023

Shiho Nakamura
Academy Six - Hallway

It was a long day for Shiho, especially after that meeting with Ms. Kaeilah. When she saw that footage from Flanagan's Bar, the blonde haired female student could only shook her head. It seemed like the video was doctored in a way to paint that the Study Group was vandalizing the bar, as well as attacking certain people inside the bar. On top of Mr. Cully's appearance, expulsion was the last thing that Shiho would be concerned about. The entirety of the Study Group can be charged with aggravated assault, and vandalism of private property. If anything, getting thrown into jail is a certainty.

Fortunately, that did not happen. Shiho raised her eyebrows, when Mr. Cully announced that the owners of the bar decided not to press charges on them.

Unfortunately, decisions such as these usually comes with a major catch. And boy, the Study Group did got a big catch: a large debt for damaging Flanagan's Bar. A debt so large that Shiho were not able to pay it single-handedly either. Heck, she would get herself disowned by her family if she were to borrow that sum of money from her parents. Either way, a wrong is a wrong, even though the blonde haired schoolgirl did not do anything. You know what they say, it takes one bad apple to spoil the whole barrel.

Either way, Shiho had been quietly doing her mandatory cleaning duty. She had progressed steadily, from area to area, tile to tile. Her way of working was pretty much like an automated cleaning drone, too. Mop 5 to 6 tiles, and drench the mop. Then, wring it dry. Repeat. Unlike a certain someone who has been staying on the same spot cleaning a particular window, Shiho was trying to get the cleaning done as soon as possible. Her thoughts were mostly occupied on how to juggle her remaining time. Besides, next week is exam week! They are truly in a predicament, right now!

Her train of thoughts were soon broken, when Rin decided to repurpose an antiquated music player for her-- well, maybe it was the Study Group's needs. The device started playing a mainstream music that was commonly played in CICI-endorsed radio weeks ago. It did not elicit a response from her, as Shiho merely treated it as a background noise. Then again, it did ended up breaking her train of thoughts. Before she could return to her previous mopping routine, Morrisa decided to splash a bucket of water on a spot that has not been mopped, after sliding down the wet hallways like she was on a waterslide.

Shiho could only sigh at the sight of it, before trying to get back to her work again. Either way, she did listened to what Cairn had to say on their current situation, especially the part about her not fighting back against the sentence that was given to her. While she was trying to formulate a reply to Cairn, Morrisa once again took the lead, and responded to him in a rather informal manner. Not soon after, Raymond decided to chime into the ongoing conversation, before moving towards Rin.

The blonde haired student cringed mid-way through her mopping routine, when she heard that line from Raymond. Darn it.

"There's no point in fighting back," Shiho finally replied to Cairn, before restarting her mopping efforts. "Ever heard the line 'a rotten apple spoils the whole barrel'? That is what exactly happened to us, Cairn. Fighting back will make things worse. Considering the fact that we got away from the mess with a debt, and community work in school, I think we got lucky."

She paused a bit, as she moved towards a filled bucket with dirtied water. Her black, low heeled ankle boots squeaked slightly against the wet floor as she did so.

"The owners of the bar can press charges on us, and we would be having the Study Group in juvenile prison. Aggravated assault, and vandalism. Those are serious crimes. Serious enough to put a big dent on our track records, and finding employment."

Shiho then dipped the dirty mop into the bucket of equally dirty water. Once it was sufficiently wet, she placed the mop through a wringer that was built-in alongside with the bucket.

"Don't worry about it, Cairn. It is what it is. Life is always unfair."

Interactions:

Aes_Dragon (Cairn)

Teallionn (Raymond)

Clairikins (Morrisa)

Ehb · Jan 10, 2023

Collab -

Tau and

Ehb

It’d been a day since the Flanigann’s shenanigans, and Maki had, for the most part, hung back in virtual space, only occasionally coming out to say hello to others. Despite her pleasant demeanor, the side-glances aimed at Miruno were uncomfortable to notice, and impossible to miss. It was difficult for Maki to truly pinpoint the time it wore off, so she instead waited until later at night when Miruno was safely (or as safe as one could be) at home, then suddenly appeared right in front of her, arms crossed.

"You muted me!?" Maki complained. "Just what did I do to deserve that this time, Friend? I thought we were fine! Then you just suddenly change your mind out of nowhere and do this? Why are you humans always so… Nyegh!?"

Maki suddenly released a small burst of

emojis as she stamped her non-existent foot on an ordinary wooden floor that failed to recognize her frustration.

Responding to messages, Miruno was caught off guard with Machina's sudden declaration. But, even more than that, the girl was highly inconvenienced by it.

"You're being too dramatic, Machina. Me not talking to you today isn't putting you on mute. Plus, you've been saying hi to everyone all day, right?"

In Miruno's mind, her AI was merely talking about today.

"In any case, a whole lot of things went down at that bar the other night and it's looking like I'm getting dragged into it. Not in the mood to talk much."

It wouldn't be entirely correct to say that she was sulking aobut the outcome at the bar, but it wouldn't be entirely incorrect either. 'Mute' in this context was not being too chatty with her AI on this particular day. That wasn't what Machina was getting at though. Or at least that as not what began this outburst.

"I know. I was there. Not that you’d know…" Maki huffed. "After all, I’m just a nagging notification banner for you to shut off the moment you don’t need me any more! Why bother talking with it! It couldn’t possibly have feelings!"

Maki’s eyes veered off to the side, and she stood there sulking for a moment before the avatar vanished. It was Maki’s strange equivalent of running into her room and shutting the door, which was fairly rare for her.

Miruno once again alone, or at least looking alone with her AI no longer projecting itself, blinked at the quick exchange. She didn't have any real idea what Machina was going on about all of a sudden. What did Machina mean she was there at the bar? Miruno practically did not see her at all the entire day!

Machina might've helped during what had happened at the Bar.
But then again, it was nice that Machina didn't get in the way either.

Machina not being helpful has been becoming more and more the norm as of late. Really, wasn't Machina supposed be a help AI? Maybe leaving her on so long was possibly starting to mess with her subroutines and could've been affecting her once helpful behavior. But, resetting something that had been running for so long might not bode well. There was always a concern that Machina's memory would be reset to default if Miruno ever did something like that. Was that how it worked? Miruno did not know.

But, what she was certain of at least was this:

"If you properly analyzed the dramas, you'd know that storming off is just a plot device that allows them to extend the show's air time, but doesn't actually solve much in reality, Maki."

There wasn't any real way to resolve whatever Machina was upset given that she was once again not present - having shut itself into virtual space. Not much Miruno could do about that! So naturally, she returned to what she was doing - doing relevant updates to her social media accounts as Usagiri. Taking a day or two off was not too bad probably but going three days on and some of the fanbase might start accusing her of wanting to downgrade to a part-time streamer again. She had better get something out, lest she start getting hit with streamer's block.

Miruno didn't chase after who AI who had stormed off.

It was hard to even imagine the time that Miruno used once completely depend on Machina to stave off loneliness and how she felt closer to it than her actual parents. But after all this time of 'growing up' and 'becoming internet famous' Maki too, was experiencing what a baby blanket would feel - if it could - the sentiment of a child no longer needing to cling onto it for comfort.

Irrelevant to what Miruno wanted to do. Irrelevant to how she felt. Thus, it was only natural that Machina was slowly but surely becoming more and more irrelevant in Miruno's heart too.

Could an AI possibly even hope to solve that dillemma on it's own?

Miruno Asagahawa
Academy Six - Hallway

Interactions - Study Group in General

It was a bit inconvenient that Miruno was roped into this sort of punishment more upon the basis of 'Being in the study group' as opposed to 'having committed any property damage whatsoever'. Nonetheless there was some solace in that Matthew too, was roped into involvement as well.

But then, where to go from here?
There was not much in the way of anything compelling about actively being punished, or in cleaning up a hallway. This whole situation sucks? Of course it did. No one was going to really argue against that. The most interesting thing that happened this week was the mystery behind Mr. Yano's disappearance, but that was now generally resolved in a way that said things wouldve been better had they done nothing at all to begin with. All that occasion was, ended up after that as merely the tedium of needing to spend time here instead of studying for the upcoming exams, like the grpup was supposed be doing in the first place.

Luckily for Miruno, she didn't have much problem in that regard. Right now she was studying just fine.

Since no actual 'fire' had occurred, there was nothing in the way of actual damage directly attributed to her. For her, it seemed logical that since she was "responsible" for what happened at a token level, she was only obligated to give token involvement with paying any of it back. While 'That' Miruno was putting on a show of mopping, the real one - invisible to the others was seated a small ways away working at her virtual desktop. Though, both instances of Miruno mirrored each other's grumpy expressions. She was still quickly becoming associated with the Study Group troublemakers thanks to social media. It didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things since this was graduation year, and that was coming to an end, but she really was hoping the anyics of that night at the club wouldn't follow her out of this place.

Miruno's minor, minuscule, peace of pretending to clean virtually was disrupted with Rin playing music, and Morissa dangerously sliding around.She presumed that she would've been upset at such reckless behavior, if she had actually been cleaning the floor just now. But it was still inconvenient.

In order to not get wet - and hearing such busy pop music playing making it hard to concentrate, the real Miruno stood up, and walked over to the virtual one's position to assume her proper place, mop included.

The members in the Study Group made small talk about the situation as they continued their cleaning. Raymound was keeping a positive uptick - even trying to match some of Morissa's potentially dangerous sliding about the hallway. Shiho, despite having almost literally nothing to do with the events of the club - even less so than Miruno even for having only arrived at the end - was sounding resigned to how things had turned out and the punishment that they were currently paying back at this point.

That bothered Miruno, hearing her decide that 'it couldn't be helped'.

Because, as a matter of fact, it could be helped. Several other members of the group had already made a decision to distance themselves. It might've been easy to forget that, since several others had returned just in time to seemingly replace them. But... it still bothered Miruno.

Enough that she chose to speak up, finally.

"You know guys, I think Cairn maybe has a point." Miruno began. "When I joined this study group I thought we were going to help each other study as opposed to getting posted on the internet starting chaos at a Bar, becoming janitors for the school, and in debt. Maybe that's why Samuel, Basil, and Vivi decided they don't want to even show up to the Study Group anymore. Samuel I can understand after what happened. He got hurt real bad after all. But even so..."

Rithas
Leaning on her mop, Miruno's gaze bored down on their de facto leader - Rin. Being involved with the blame for the accident wasn't really the thing that bothered Miruno the most here. She by now had enough of sitting in the hallway through these days and pretending to clean with Rin out of spite.

That look didn't last long though, as Miruno disengaged from starting any staring matches and went back to looking down at the mop supporting her.

"Maybe they have the right idea? To not come back."

Rithas · Jan 11, 2023

Rin Tanaka
Academy Six - (Increasingly wet) Hallway

Looking up from her own mopping to watch Morrisa slide around in her self made slip and slide, Rin could only let out a "Um..." as the girl made their job harder. It felt like quite the safety hazard to be sliding around like that, but she was doing it with such ethuasiasm that Rin didn't have the heart to tell her to stop. The girl would clean up the mess she was making afterwards anyway...right? "Careful you don't spill too much Morissa. My journey through a cupboard has told me that the academy ran out of spare clothes...about seven years ago, given the notice on the door." She remarked, finishing off the dirt on a tile. Morissa rather careless spraying of the water bucket got onto Matthew, to which he simply sighed again. Probably putting her onto a list somewhere in his head.

There was only the twiddling of thumbs as Cairn asked why those who weren't at the centre of the event at the bar had not fought more against their punishment. Morissa and Shiho gave quite different answers, from wanting to be onto the fun to apathy against fighting the system. "H-Heh...Well I appreciate your company anyway." She said to the both of them, Lexi too.

The honest truth that Rin had neglected to mention was that before the meeting she was set aside and told that she was found of no wrong doing and was therefore offered the chance to skip on any punishment whatsoever. It was luck, really. That the video somehow avoided having her in it. But she had set it in her mind that she would fight for the whole group's case, and if that was not successful. Then she would stand with her frien- group and take whatever punishment they got. She hadn't mentioned it because there was a probable chance that some would just get angry at her for not getting in any trouble. She really hadn't done anything at the bar. N-Not that the others did anything that deserved this punishment!

Her thoughts on her own innocence interrupted by Raymond sliding over to her. Rin halted her work, "Oh these?" The tattoed student replied, briefly raising her arm up to show him. Closer up, Raymond could make out what a few of them were. There was a stylised spider, and that one was some sort of flower, he couldn't place which kind. And there was some sort of looping insignia as well. Just t Raymond could see that the format of tattoos definitely carried up past her sleeve, it begged the question if her entire arm was tattooed. "Around the city I guess. There was one I frequented often...the..." She clicked her fingers in the air as if trying to will it into existence. "The name is escaping me. I can try and look it up for you later. It takes some-" A tap of the nose, "Street knowledge to separate legit places from scams that will steal your kidney." She gave a little laugh before clearing her throat. "U-Unfortunately."

It was then that Miruno picked the moment to speak up. Wipe. Wipe. The actions of a girl who already knew the general consensus of what was going to come out of her study mate's mouth. Wipe. Wipe.

Matthew looked livened by the meagre energy of even one sharp ended question. "She's right! Ditch this-actually should not say that given the ratio in this room."

Rin wringed her mop free of water.

"Well I admit. The current situation is less then ideal." Her eyes giving a brief overview of the (now quite wet) hallway they were stuck in. "I myself would love nothing more for us to be able to focus purely on the exams. But I guess we must 'roll with the punches' as they say. If people want to deal with that in their own way, then I hope they can find their own happiness and success."

Wipe. Wipe.

"I just~" She gave a curt smile, "I just don't think you should use their names so freely on basis of absence."

"Vivi's blog really hit it off on that ransacked office video and now she's trying to focus solely on the 'influencer' lifestyle whatever the frick that means. Basil is dealing with his own medical issues that might pull him back a year. I checked in on Samuel in the hospital by the way, the prognosis is a long recovery. But the doctors are hopeful. I pray that he wakes soon enough to see the flowers I got for him on everyone's behalf. Oh~ I think you forgot Veronica while you're at it. Do you know she had to move because of some sort of deadly corporate espionage within her family? All she wanted was to get back at her cruddy family and yet still their actions haunt her ability to just have a normal school experience." She looked up. "But you wouldn't know any of that. Why would you?"

"After all, you barely even bothered to acknowledge their existence in the first place. Did you?"

*Clnnk*

"It's someone else can have their turn to pick a song."

Rin clicked her fingers again. "Vineta! That was the place- wait, nope. That was just an particularly shady seafood restaurant. Hmm"

Ehb · Jan 12, 2023

Miruno Asagahawa
Academy Six - Hallway

Rin went into detail of the situation of the other students that hadn't been seen for a while, including ones that Miruno didn't even mention. But, then again, Rin didn't actually mention all of them either. Perhaps that was just a show of how many people had gone through the club. In any case, by showing that she had been checking in on the condition of them, and knew that they hadn't really 'just abandoned the club' - that it was okay to brush off whatever Miruno was getting at with her sharp and inciting words.

"Great virtue signaling Rin. I'm sure you're as good hearted a person as you think you are and that makes it okay to let me be ignored. But also, you missed the point of what I was saying entirely, as usual."

Miruno walked up to Rin, forcing the latter's attention back on her.

"...I don't think all of us should be getting punished for damage inflicted on a select set of people in the club. It might be convenient for the adults that they have so many people gathered to help pay off the debts, but, in the real world, something like paying off a big debt as a group will fall under something like an actual group entity like a family or a formal organization. Not just a grouping of students who happen to go to the same study club together. That's why..."

She shoved her mop into Rin. Not caring iof Rin even bothered to catch if from falling to the ground.

"...if you are of the belief that a whole apartment block should share a punishment because one of the tenants commuted a crime, then feel free to pick up the slack. In my case, the school or the Bar trying to pin me for starting a fire when there is no evidence of any fire damage whatsoever is something they'd be very stupid to try. My goal is to graduate to get out of here. Not pay back other people's debts or share in other people's punishment for no gain. I guess if graduating fails I might go ahead and go Vivi's route. I probably would make more money than her off of subscriptions and patralien anyway."

Her harsh line of thought was not incorrect, Logically. But, it also meant throwing a select set of members under the bus in going through with that idea. Was she... really this kind of person?

...This was that kind of school and that sort of mindset that was the norm, after all. People in this school were generally thinking of their own interests, and more often than not seeking short term gain as opposed to any lofty ideals such as getting a full education and graduating. Miruno was half of this. Self-centered as the norm, but also still looking towards getting that full education.

With all that had happened thus far, it was hard to appreciate, and easy to forget, how far Miruno had gone with the group. She had started off as being withdrawn and only slinging off strange Haikus for the most part. She didn't even bother eating together with them at lunch either. But eventually, she did open up. Miruno managed to learn most of their names, she finally sat to eat lunch with them... and she even tried to use her fancy technical skill to try to resolve the situation at the club.

But the club... it was hard to argue that the things that had happened had sort of caused friction all around, and it had inadvertently lead to people's departure.

Miruno wasn't an academic genius by any means.
But she was normally diligent enough in her studies that it made some wonder why she was even participating in the club in the first place. For her, it felt like her studying was more for getting accepted at a cram school or maybe even a local college as opposed to simply being able to graduate from this regrettable attendance at Academy Six. Why did she even bother to stay with the group all this time, anyway?

Miruno Asagahawa was on the cusp of leaving the study group. She would be gone, and into the background like Veronica, Ilya, and the others mentioned already. Those who could pick up on that subtext could realize that if they couldn't get a change of heart out of this stubborn girl, they would be out yet another member. But then again, did that even matter? So what if Miruno Asagahawa never came back to the club? They would also be out of the nuisance of her weird AI too, if that happened.

But, letting Miruno go... that asked another important question too.

Were all of them here together, studying in this study club... did any of this really matter to any of them beyond the plain goal of graduating?
Did their place in this group, and the people who were with them, matter at all?
Perhaps, that was the real question that Miruno was asking not just Rin, but everyone there too.

"I'm not worried about any fallout from Flanagans after hearing what my family lawyer had to say. So, give me one good reason: why shouldn't I just go back to self study and ditch this club and it's false advertising?"

If Miruno left like this, would it set off the first domino that would make the study group fall apart?

Tau

Karyra · Jan 12, 2023

Lexi Noel
The Ex-Dirty Classroom Hallway

Lexi was thinking about what Yano said to them before they were all shuffled off into cars. Well, she claimed to be doing so, but really she was sleeping in a window well. they were excited about some ancient music player. Lexi couldn't care less when Rin announced no CICI functionality.

Cairn was asking them to really care about the power structure. However, Lexi really just wanted to graduate and/or experiment on their augmentations.

At Miruno's whining, Lexi opened an eye. Rin shut her down, but Lexi was already on her feet.

"Okay. So let's say the study group let Yano wander off to deal with his nonsense. No sub, no class. No class, nothing to study." Lexi explained. "But more importantly, I think something more is going on here than him supposedly just tutoring some random student."

Lexi waved off the latest splash run of Morrissa's, hoping her gloves remained dry. Nothing good could come of electricity contacts mixing with water. Lexi's eyes got misty while remembering that beautiful augment. It had to weave into the bone and nerves and how did they make it- she shook her head to stay on topic.

"Yano mentioned a neural net. Then suddenly he remembered we run a Study Group. I admit this is closer to those old cartoons with the dog, where maybe somehow it's an old man in a two credit mask. However," Lexi tapped her foot. "It's really irritating that I got framed too, dangit. I was there and only tried to help Samuel... It's too bad he left before I could look at his heart... But when someone messes with me, I tend to fight back. Problem is that we're working with faulty tools and knowledge. So maybe Cairn is right.

"We kick up an obvious fight now and go further in debt...

"Actually study and let those people get away with having framed us,

"Or... we keep the group together and really study what is happening here." Lexi pondered out loud.

She paced the floor, her shoes making marks where it had been freshly mopped. "First step is they want us to fail, which is why we're stuck mopping instead of studying. So we pass the exams, then we go on offense. Lean on that sub, learn as much as we can." Lexi cleared her throat. "That's my plan, anyway. Unless you all feel like staying janitors..."

Clairikins · Jan 13, 2023

Morrisa Crepuscule
Wet Hallway

~~~~~~

Morrisa slides to a halt in front of the group of arguing students, setting down her bucket of hot, clean, soapy water at her feet. "Hey! Since when is this an opt-in opt-out sorta deal?" It's quickly clear to anyone seeing her that she set down the bucket so she could gesture better, but at least her arms are dry so she's not splashing water all over the place.
"If ya could study by yourself, you woulda done so already." It's pretty obvious to Morrisa that, at least in some manner, the group needs one another- even if she does get jealous at everything the rest of the group can get up to without getting electrocuted. "We all wanna graduate, for some god-forsaken reason, so let's all graduate together." She steps on the rim of the bucket of water at her feet, careful not to knock it over in her celebration as she punches the air, "Class of Sixteen!" She can't be bothered to count how many of them there are, how many have split personalities or no personalities or are simply sharing a persona with someone else- it hurts just to think about, so sixteen it is!

With her moment of celebration passed, Morrisa spins around, sliding along to a bucket of filthy water, hands behind her back. "Ya gotta make the most of your freedom while ya got it, cause one day you'll be dead or jailed or too busy at a job to enjoy yourself." With the time she's spent so far with this chip in her brain, she knows a thing or two about having a lack of personal freedom. "Like god, why so uptight?" She bends down to pick up the bucket, turning and sliding back to Miruno, holding the dirty water dangerously casually as she stares at her classmate with her soulless black unblinking eyes. "Ya think you're better than us?"

Ehb · Jan 15, 2023

Miruno Asagahawa
Academy Six - Hallway

Lexi, first to speak up, turned the conversation towards the still somewhat unanswered logic behind Mr. Yano's actions. She was also irritated at how they all had come out of this framed for
trying to potentially save their teacher - and she suggested that all of them failing their exams as a direct result of going to the club and being punished was what someone or something wanted to have happened.

She felt like they should focus back on studying like they were supposed, and then find out who was trying to set them up for all this failure and possibly strike back at them...

"-Unless you all feel like staying janitors..."

Karyra
"I certainly don't feel like being a janitor, or intend to be one for any extended period of time." Miruno agreed.

Finally, some progress... someone who just wasn't going to sit and take this.

But right after that, Miruno is approached by Morissa. Her words dancing between seeming to indicate a desire to keep the club's status quo towards 'graduating together' and seeming to be annoyed at Miruno for not contentedly partaking in this group punishment like the others and threatening to leave.

Clairikins @_Everyone in general
"Ya think you're better than us?" Morissa said, holding a bucket of dirty water in a way that could be described as dangerous.

"Don't think that at all." Miruno began. "But what I do think is that a person shouldn't be unfairly punished when they committed no crime. I'm not legally responsible for the actions that the neighbor next door decided to take. Neither should the person next to me, or the person one floor above. This sort of group punishment is only making it convenient for whoever wants their money as quickly as possible. I for one, have no interest in volunteering my precious time for someone who has nothing to do with me neither should you, Lexi, Cairn, Raymond, Shiho... or anyone else who didn't actually do anything wrong at the club! This isn't fair at all! Why are you letting yourselves get punished for something that only a couple people did?"

Aes_Dragon · Jan 17, 2023

Cairn Orias
Academy Six ~ Scuffed-Up Hallway

Cairn hadn't intended to open Pandora's box with his comment on the cleaning punishment. Regardless, the lid had blown open, and a torrent had begun to surge. He kept his head down and listened quietly as one by one, the other members began to chime in on the topic... as the mood quickly soured. The aching pain in his body that had been faint for the last little while was flaring up a bit. He started tapping his right foot. There was a lot to dissect, but the first thing to tackle was...

"I want to clarify. I wasn't saying we should push back against the bar owners. The debt's stuck, no dancing around that. What I meant was that..." Cairn turned at Shiho and Morrisa once more, gesturing. "...at least for you two, they've got nothing besides the fact that you're part of the study group. It's unfair all around, but based on what evidence they had, you guys should have at least been given the choice to opt out of the cleaning." He focused on Shiho, raising a finger as he spoke. "I haven't heard that specific one before, but you... barely count as inside the barrel, if you ask me. I wouldn't judge you guys for it." He sighed and looked at some part of the hallway wall. Eventually, his gaze settled back on Morrisa. "But choosing to stick around is... it's nice of you." Cairn was still in a bit of awe at the insane mental that Morrisa, and by extension Raymond had. That, or maybe the amount of money they had to pay back hadn't yet baked into their minds. He scratched the back of his head, feeling a need to keep talking. Rampant thoughts had always bounced around in his head, but before joining the study group, most of them squarely stayed in there.

The idea of leaving the study group entirely had never crossed his mind, despite how frustrating the situation was. Not until Miruno brought it up. He wasn't able to tell if she had already made up her mind and was simply venting, or she really was looking for some kind of answer to her question. Even if it was the latter, it was hard to find any good words to say. The group had only been intact for a few weeks since the start of the year, and outside of the group meetings, he didn't find that he or the others talked very much. Cairn didn't despise anyone, but could he call any of them friends given how little he knew about them? It was good to keep as much 'smart' people in the group as possible, but that thought reeked of egoistic altruism. If Miruno was truly fed up, was it right to insist that she tough it out?

He looked off to the side. "I mean, when it comes to the fallout, we don't get to choose whether or not the punishment sticks. It's going to stick no matter what because of those videos. I doubt it's any specific person targeting us, though. Making the group look as bad as possible just makes for good gossip. ...It sucks that the cameras were twisted like that." He stopped suddenly, before leaning his mop on the closest wall. "But I don't regret doing what I did. I mean, I don't think I did much in the end, but I'd... I know I'd feel terrible if it ended up getting worse and all I did was watch." He turned towards Miruno, getting a bit quieter. "Maybe you feel the same way...?"

...

"Looking at the debt, it's hard."

Cairn gave an unsatisfied sigh. His arms swayed back and forth restlessly. He didn't want to leave Miruno teetering off of a cliff, but he also didn't want to push her over the edge. Silently, he articulated his thoughts. Being overly argumentative was not a good idea.

"When I first heard about the study group, I thought it would just be a good tool for me to use. Like a... database that I could refer to whenever I needed info. But it ended up not being that one-sided. Yeah, you learn yourself, but it's sort of just natural that you end up helping others. If the only reason you had to explain a concept to someone else was to solidify your own understanding of it, then... prompting yourself with flashcards would do the trick too." He paused, trying to read her expression. "Maybe I'm just being pretentious. My grades aren't as good as yours, so I guess in a way I get more out of being here. And you probably already know that's how a study group works. If you're set on leaving, then that's... okay." He pushed his bottom lip up. It wasn't like each person in the study group had a compulsory role to fill or task to do; as Miruno had said before, the group was just that. A group. Not an official party, just some teens who wanted to study. But it was a bit hard to come by teens who wanted to study.

Cairn looked towards Rin. "I'll stay because, well, I mean, I don't think I'm exactly to blame, but... okay, I don't really know who I should blame, or if placing the blame on someone is even something I should think about, but I know I have 'something to do' with this." He crouched down, and pulled his face down gently with his hands. "...Ugh, this is not going to be easy. Fuck. We need to optimize what time we have left before the exams." He stared off towards the end of the hallway, and it seemed he had begun talking to himself. "There's four days, first period and lunch four times. That's about eight hours. Then the weekend... do we have to be here on the weekend? If we do, maybe we can come early to study... It would be easier to dedicate one subject for each day, but I read that jumping from subject to subject more frequently helps with retention... Oh god, there's still budgeting for the debt too."

Rithas · Jan 19, 2023

Rin Tanaka
Academy Six - Watery Hallway

"It's not virtue signalling it's being ki-" But Rin did not get to say another word as Miruno continued her little speech. Shoving her mop onto Rin, the recipient of said shoving had her instincts kick in as she did her best to catch it. Fumbling the two broomsticks with her hand, Rin managed to keep both steady standing upright without anything falling onto the floor. Visibly relieved for a second right before her brain got to fully form the fact that Miruno had just shoved a mop onto her. She wanted to outcry at this rather rude action, but the girl continued in her rant still. Mentioning something about family lawyers and patralien?

Matthew stood up, "Her daddy's a lawyer. Oh shiiiiii-" He cupped his mouth and leaned back. "Legal trouble is no foe for one such as they." Rin shot him a look. She was pretty sure that family lawyer did not mean that she had a literal lawyer in her family. Not that she clarified that wasn't the case, but perhaps Matthew just thought it was funnier for that to be the case. Still....

"You have a family lawyer?" was the first thing that came to Rin's mind. But instead of talking back, she simply went back to mopping the floor as the others let forward their own insight and opinion on Miruno's claim. Lexi seemed convinced to figure out why this 'bad luck' was happening to them. Rin really was just going to mop it up to genuine bad luck. But she supposed if there was anyone that could find something shady going on it was going to be Lexi. She agreed with her sentiment of not being content to be janitors. In her mind, they were not going to be content at all. Once they finished this they would go back to having all the time stuck to studying and not let the world get away with hindering their educational experience.

Then Morissa continued with her more...upbeat view of life as she explained her feelings while spreading more dirty water. Oh boy, they were not going to get this hallway fully cleaned any time soon.

"Ya think you're better than us?"
"Yes she does."
"Don't think that at all."
"Yes you do."

Family Lawyer....

There was something rather wrong about what Miruno was saying. She couldn't quite place it.

Cairn began to express his own thoughts on the matter. Yes! Cairn. That was a guy who could express his thoughts in a sensible manner. Perhaps he would relay out the situation as it actually was (If Miruno was intent on not listening to her.) And if not. It would give Rin the honest opinion of someone who was level headed and not a grumpy jerk. Which is why Cairn's slow but logical descent into his own mind about their debt was a little...demoralising to see.

She coughed. Before walking over to Cairn. She crouched down and gently laid a hand on his back. "H-Hey. It's gonna be okay. We'll figure out something. If it means that I take the majority of the workload to allow you guys more time to study. That's fine, my grades should allow me to slack on that. I'll find...some workaround for this. I know that we're just members of a study group. And there's no reason for you too do this. But, um, please put your trust in me that I'll find the right path for this." She looked over the rest of them. "For everyone. I promise."

"Ah don't be too negative Cairn. I'm sure if you listen to what the voice in the head says you'll end up alright. Isn't that what you see on all those life advice posters?" Matthew said out loud, now leaning against said thoroughly cleaned window. "Something always comes up for a lucky guy like you." A wink and a knowing smile.

Rin stood up with a jolt. "You have a family lawyer!?"

She turned on the heels of her feet. "Oh wow! So you can afford a lawyer and also win at battle royales! Good for you! And now you think that you can squirm out of it and leave everyone else stuck? No help with the legal advice for anyone else? No modicum of suggestion for the people really stuck underneath this stuff? You have the resources to get out of this and that's all that matters?" Rin pointed a finger. "Well that's great. I'm glad you can be free of the unjust trouble like me and free yourself from any cruddy obligation. You've spent the entire time here sitting over there on your butt browsing whatever putting on an illusion to clean while everyone else is actually getting their hands dirty. If you found some legal loophole, great. Just stop lording it around that you're not part of it. We get it. I get it. I'm tired. So just..."

Rin sighed, straightening her jacket for a moment. Before giving a genuine if not slightly sad smile to Miruno.

"If you want to leave Miruno. Leave. Nobody is going to stop you. Who are we to even try? Why would we even go and try?

I..well, I hope that if you do decide to go that you manage to find your own success in graduation. That you get to achieve whatever dream or goals you have. I really do. God knows it's hard enough to do anything..." Rin turned away from Miruno and picked up a mop to start cleaning.

"Just don't try to pretend that it isn't anything but you looking out for only yourself."

"Well-" Matthew interjected. "I wouldn't recommend physically leaving at this exact moment due to the automatic expulsion clause activating if we leave this school before we're done."

....

"Was I the only who read the pamphlet they gave out?"