Akemi Meets Katsura (Log1)

Fra Mauro has been relatively kind to Katsura Tsuruya; her years of feeling ill-fit for school have given way, at long last, to a happy-enough ending. Turning it around enough to get into Fra Mauro was a feat -- and actually being there has felt almost like a dream.


Of course, it hasn't been perfect, exactly. Between her faint country accent, her insistence on sticking to the boys' gakuran and schoolboy cap she favored in high school, and her apparent tendency to blow off studying in favor of hitting the local arcades, she's rapidly developed a reputation as a weirdo.


Hasn't stopped her from going to class every day and knocking it out of the park, though. She seems to really have taken to her science coursework, for the most part, and currently sits outside one of the larger classrooms, fiddling with a somewhat old-looking laptop. She sticks out like the sorest possible thumb.

One of her boots is untied. She has yet to notice.

Akemi rubbed at her eyes, at bags that would not quite go away. It had been yet another long night. The nightmares, again, robbing her of sleep. At times she began to think that they robbed her of her sanity, too. For why else would she be entertaining this notion...
She muttered to herself quietly.
 Why else would she be deliberately seeking out someone to validate her hypothesis that the town was, in fact, bewitched? That was stupid. So, so stupid.
 There was someone. Odd enough to entertain bizare hypotheses. Smart enough, maybe, to discount them. And, admittedly, anyone was bound to be more looped into the rumor mill than she, given her antisocial behavior.
 "Excuse me, miss?" She asked the odd girl. "I'm conducting a survey for my sociology class, and I'd like to ask you a couple questions? They are non-personal and I can provide nominal compensation if neccisary. It'll only take a very few minutes!"


 Nailed it. Nobody suspects a thing.
Folding up her laptop and shoving it into her bag, Katsura looks up to the older student, gnawing at her lip slightly. "Sure thing," Katsura says, with a small nod. "I can give you a few minutes, no big deal." There's nothing weird about this -- nor is it the first class survey she's been contacted with this week, actually.


She seems totally unsuspecting. She gestures for Akemi to take a seat next to her, looking her over a little. She looks tired, she thinks... probably an upperclassman? "What kinda compensation are we talkin' about?" she adds, evidently having had her attention captured

 Woops. Lies breed further lies.


"Nominal. I'll pay you enough that I can honestly say your time has been compensated in a fair fassion. That usually means one hour of minimum wage. Particularly valuble responses might yield more. It all depends," she says quickly, ",but mostly on how much I have to spare." That would be little-to-nothing. If she wasn't careful, at this rate Akemi would wind up having to pawn something. And pawning something for this dumb hypothesis would be. Dumb. Very dumb.


 "There's this report going around, about people having really weird dreams. Stuff like, the moon is giant, or fountains fill with blood, or any such imagery. These dreams are supposed to be repeated over a long period of time. Have you had this dream, or do you know anyone who has had this dream?"
After hearing the actual start of the questions, Katsura finds herself gently shoving her bag aside and taking off her cap. Her demeanor changes completely; where before she'd been conversational, now she's very, almost eerily, calm. "We're not going to talk about this here," she says, trying to look calm and totally blowing it. "I... think we're gonna go to one of the labs 'n' have this talk there, instead. I know there's no one in the Computer Science lab room this late."


She stands up and immediately starts walking, at first failing to even look back to check if Akemi is even following her. After about ten seconds, she stops, turns around, and makes absolutely certain; she doesn't say anything else, though.




 Akemi's heart came to rest squarely in her throat. Shit. This was somewhat conclusive proof that her hypothesis was factually correct. Or that the new girl was going to kill her and hide her corpse in the server main, where the cool air would keep it from decaying and she wouldn't be found for weeks, probably.


 So be it. You don't get ahead in life by running from anything.


 "CompSci. Sounds good," Akemi says, her long legs matching Katsura's strides easily.


Leading Akemi through the building, Katsura comes to a stop at the compsci lab, opens the door, and gestures Akemi inside. Once they're both in the room, Katsura neatly closes the door, the much shorter girl looks Akemi over carefully and begins to speak.


"Those, uh... jeez, where do I begin, I had a whole crew of people to explain this shit to me," Katsura starts, suddenly out of 'cool and businesslike to the point of autopilot' and into 'barely managing not to stammer.' "Those definitely aren't dreams!" she says, doing her best not to turn it into an awkward outburst and failing miserably.


"That happens to... a decent chunk of us. Definitely double digits, probably not much into triple," Katsura explains. "So, uh... what do you really wanna know, here?"



 Akemi's heart, once tenant of her throat, has most definitely returned home, because she can feel it hammer in her chest, threatening to burst.


 "I had... I had suspected as much," she begins, "but there wasn't any real reason for me to think it wasn't just a dream!"


 And now she is yelling, rather failing to remember the reason they had come to the computer lab in the first place. "What the hell's going on? How is this possible? What does it mean? Why was that kid I was tutoring briefly a coffin?" Her voice quiets, but she is shaking with... something kin to fear. "Sometimes, I hear sounds. Terrible sounds, outside my door. I don't want to say monsters, but if you're positing..."


 Her voice trails off, and she regains a hint of composure. "Wait a moment," says she, "how do I- I mean- is there any proof?"
"Well... I dunno if anyone actually knows all the details, but the quick 'n' dirty version..." Katsura pauses, realizing that she's only /marginally/ better off than this girl is, despite feeling like she's been at this for years. (Indeed, if she does the math, she /has/.)


"All I really know about it is that it's the Dark Hour and that kinda weird stuff happens there. There's a few other weird things going on, too -- the TVs in Inaba, where I grew up, have been letting people who're still up when the Dark Hour happens go inside 'em... uhhh..." Katsura attempts to figure out if she's missing anything, glancing up and to one side as if deep in thought.


Eventually, she explains, "Proof... ehhh, not really the right question. There's people who suspect stuff, but for the most part, it's just people like us. If you're lookin' to show the world, or whatever... you're barking up the wrong tree." There's a little bit of a tremor in her voice there that doesn't quite match Akemi's fear... remorse, maybe?



 Akemi gnaws her lip. On the one hand, this should cinch it- girl is crazy, there's been an obviously terrible mistake, she took the weird reoccuring dream way to seriously and it's time to gracefully bow out and go see a psychologist. On the other hand... Akemi shouldn't have believed it. She knew why she believed it anyway. To have your deepest fears validated like this...


 "I'm not about to go showing the world- who'd believe me? I just... I mean, how do I know you're not just exploiting an innocent girl's reoccuring nightmare for your own jollies, no offense. It's... you mentioned others? Are there people more well-versed in this than you? Are... what's going on here?"
That prompts a long, slow breath from Katsura, and a glance to the side. "Well... uhhh..." She sighs, saying, "I'm not really sure what parts of this I can really explain, but... yeah. Okay. Let me sorta... take a second, here." There's some trepidation, there, and a little bit of what might just be purestrain exhaustion.


"I'm gonna see if we can match details. So far, you said the moon is giant and fountains fill with blood. That's it." There's a pause, before she adds, "Wait, no, you said people turning into coffins, too. Shit, that was the easy one. Uh..."


What else /is/ there... "Oh right!" With a sudden outburst, Katsura adds, "Electronics don't work! And if you don't try to just sleep through it, you get really tired..." She can't exactly prove it with her Persona here, she doesn't think -- so making sure their stories match is really the only thing the resourceful young lady's got.




 "...I honestly thought the dream just always started with the lights going out and my computer turning off. So it's all over? I hadn't noticed the tiredness thing, but it's also been... three years, since it started. Maybe I'm used to being tired?" Akemi says. Her lip slowly turns to pulp under gnawing teeth and she'd have to stop that soon. "Okay. So. I mean, maybe you're really good at cold reading, I don't know, but I'm inclined to believe you. Can you answer me this- is it dangerous? I'm innately distrustful of it, but I'm also innately distrustful of a lot of things that aren't dangerous. I've never been outside my apartment when it hit- what happens if I leave?"
"... yeah, it's pretty dangerous, as things go. You hear scratching at your door, you probably don't wanna open it," Katsura answers, sticking to the facts now that they're one hundred percent on the same page. "As for whether it's all over... not exactly. It's been on Port Island for a while, and I guess it's out into the rest of Sumaru a little bit now, too?"


It occurs to her that she should probably more directly engage the question of 'people who know more.' "Anyway, uh... best I know, there's some students here who know better than I do, plus if you ask around at the Kuzunoha Detective Agency you can probably get some smarter answers. Sorry I can't help you out much more'n' that, miss, uh..." It is at this point that she realizes they haven't even really introduced themselves.


Katsura's expression turns to totally mundane embarrassment, at this point. At least something normal happened!
"Ehem. Akemi Ohashi. I'm glad to have made your aquaintance. I mean, I wish it could have taken place at a time in which I hadn't just learned that everything I know is a lie, but. These things happen," Akemi says. Her shuddering has subsided to a vague shiver, but still lingers, and her heart still hammers in her chest.
"Katsura Tsuruya," comes the reply, with a nod. "Look, uh... trust me, it's not as bad as you think it is. Like -- it sucks, but, you can still, like... sleep through that whole thing if you want. As far as I know nothing bad happens to you if you just sleep through it."


With a small sigh, she adds, "Anyway... uh... sorry I can't help you out too much besides confirming this stuff. It's..." She gestures vaguely, saying, "My first experience was a little... different."



 "It's, uh. No, you've done quite enough. I know where to go from here, at least. Thanks again for the help, I mean," Akemi stammers. She moves towards the door. "I'll, uh. I'll see you around, then?"
Looking down a little bit, the blunette frowns. "... Yeah. Hey, don't be a stranger, okay? Like... this stuff is way easier to navigate when you've got a buddy, and, uh, there are some pretty awful buddies out there." She likewise heads toward the door, saying, "I'm around the building most of the day, so... uh..."


Ruffling her own hair a little, she adds, "... Later."
Akemi nods, and steps out of the room, meandering through the halls and hoping nobody stops her on account of her wretched appearence. To go home and sleep this all out, is all she wants.