trial 4 afterparty

[exequte]

[Boy, that all sure Just Happened, didn't it? It Sure Hecking Did.

Akane helps drag anyone who needs it out of the theater as best as she, a tiny frail sick girl, can, before heading straight to Hubert's room and retrieving the letter he had told her was there, and then finding a sheet of paper, a pen, and a small knife, writing a short one of her own, and paying Charon to send it to the afterlife.

After this she brings Hubert's letter to the mess hall, as gathering for food after these things seems like the common thread that's bound all of them together.

Akane herself still has a lowgrade fever, and that last trial was not easy on her, but it seems to her like there's more important things to do at the moment.]

Comments

[autonomousthought]

[She is being good and not moving around all that much. But at some point she is setting herself down nearby.

...She is not finding words. Maybe she will soon.]

[superstylishsquid]

Ritsu?

[He seems a little surprised when she sits down next to him, but after a second, he pats her on the head.]

You holding up?

[autonomousthought]

[Her head is...pretty gross these days. She appreciates it a lot.]

I'm...managing. Are you alright?

[superstylishsquid]

[He might find carrion gross, but he can still handle a bit of decay.]

A bit tired. Acting might come naturally to me, but stringing you all along for most of the trial was a lot of work.

[autonomousthought]

You did well. You...got us to think it through. Like Moriarty-sensei...said to do.

[superstylishsquid]

That was the plan, yeah. Make sure you examined every angle so we wouldn't walk away from that trial without learning anything.

Their deaths really would have been wasted, if I'd just told you guys what I'd figured out from the beginning.

[autonomousthought]

A practical examination. We...need to be able to succeed. So we have...to learn to really examine.

[superstylishsquid]

And since Aoi didn't confess from the start, I had a feeling there was something he wanted us to notice.

[autonomousthought]

It's still all...so confusing. I feel like I need to defrag.

...Did we do well?

[superstylishsquid]

For biological creatures, that usually happens during sleep.

...And I think we did as well as the ship will let us. We got close enough to information that could have hurt the Zeroes' plans for it to use rule 6 as a justification, after all.

[autonomousthought]

...last night was the only time I've slept.

[Unless you count when she was a bit frosted over at the end of the third week.]

That's...good then. It means we passed. And...we have a real chance.

...this is...where Asano-san would move the goalposts.

[superstylishsquid]

Too late for Delta to claim what we've learned isn't scaring the ship.

[autonomousthought]

Not too late to change the game. New rules can...be added anytime. Isn't that right...?

[superstylishsquid]

Then we just keep finding new loopholes. We devils are good at that.

[He flexes his claws and drags them down the wall of the room.]

[autonomousthought]

"Succeed anyway"...you'd have fit in with Class E, I think.

[She gets kind of close to a smile.]