rakuen | Notification

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Notification

On the second evening of Round -2, the following notice is broadcast on the Utopia online network, and also displayed on the video screens in the lobby with an accompanying voiceover.

"Please be aware that the following facilities are off-limits to Weapons without the permission of their owners, or unless required for classroom use: The library, computer labs, swimming pool, gymnasium, and boathouse. Repeat: Be aware that the following facilities are off-limits to Weapons without the permission of their owners, or unless required for classroom use: The library, computer labs, swimming pool, gymnasium, and boathouse. A written permission slip is acceptable.

"Tonight's after-dinner dessert will be chocolate fudge cake. Please note that Weapons may only have dessert with the permission of their owners."

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Koharu shook her head, a littled disconcerted herself. She knew they didn't have Tomoko at least, she'd memorized the names of the others who were already here. Yuki, Reiko, Sora. Her weapons.

"...I'm Koharu." She whispered and held out Sora's note, "For you so you don't have to ask me."

"...Yuki or Reiko. Tomoko isn't here yet."

"I'm sorry, Koharu," Sora managed, before it slipped away again. "I don't know if I should hope everyone gets here. This is better that before, right? But... Haa, this is giving me a headache." She sat down next to her, and took the note. Focus on that instead, Sora. "Thanks. Did you want to go to the gym sometime? Maybe we could practise."

Suzaku looked around to pin point the person who had spoken. He didn't know if they were actually speaking to him or to themselves but they seemed to be responding to his muttered comment. He spotted them, a girl, probably of a similar age to him sat in a wheelchair. She had muttered the words but Suzaku was sure she had aimed them at him. So he responded.

"Well slavery in so many words is illegal, but stuff like this," he waved towards the screan, "happens all the time." He wondered what this girl had forgotten. Of course he had heard some people talking about other worlds, but he did not believe them. There was no such thing as other worlds, unless you counted something like the world of C, and he did not think thats what these people were talking about.

"Discrimination has never been illegal, at least not with Britannia. A small group of those who are strong having everything and everyone else having to serve them to get anything. How is this anything different to what happens elsewhere in the world?"

"Well that's dumb!" Molly said loudly, "My weapons can do whatever they want!"

Grenn shook her head, and rubbed her cheeks. Well, she'd talked to him, now she had to actually stand up to that.
"Actually, where I'm from, someone 'belonging' to another person, if it's made under..." what word was she supposed to use? One hand waved in the air aimlessly, as if she could grab the right word physically and insert it into her sentences. "Under duress, would be considered slavery."

Another shake of her head "And of course it happens..." Grenn grimaced. Not just like this. Not just like what Sora and Koharu had described with Utopia. Not just with the level of discrimination that had existed in the past.

Britannia? Ah... Wasn't that... She thought harder. Oh, he must be from some version of Earth that had the British Isles named into Britannia at some point. Not her past.

"Yes, it--" Euphemia is cut off by Gino's interruption, and her eyes go wide when she sees him. Familiar face! "Ah! You... umm, Gino Weinberg?" She smiles small and unsure. "It's been a while."

Suzaku felt a little bad for his outburst, he seemed to have upset the girl and he hadn't want to, he had maybe put his point across a little harshly. "I'm sorry, I just..." he paused gathering his thoughts and looking around at the group.

"Surely after everything, being brought here against our will, having memories Geassed from us something like this," he waved towards the screan again, "Like not having cake, surely thats a really small thing to get upset about." There was no point in getting angry over being discriminated against, the only thing to do was work at changing the system that was discriminating against you.

Musing that this Execlan system really was just like Britannia, and probably ran by them he looked back at Grenn. "But really, you're just vowing to serve someone, in return for protection and these small privaleges," he waved towards the screan yet again. "How is it any different than swearing fealty to someone, or becoming a knight, or joining the military or even getting a job. It's not the Players fault, they chose this just as much as the rest of us." Which was not at all. "We all need to work together to get out of here and that means playing along!"

Hearing that voice, Reiko's head turned. She stared. Hiyo was here, too? When had that happened? "Ah..."

"That's really nice of you," Fletcher commented. And then he had to ask...

"Um, I was reading my manual, Molly, and um, I figured out that this symbol means I have a Player," he explained, gesturing to the symbol of ownership on the back of his left hand. "And, um, you and Dave are the only Players I've met, so I think it must be one of you..."

"But I don't have a Player yet. They're being unfair! There are only four or five of them and lots of Weapons!" Understandably, Mei sounded outraged by this. Her outrage wasn't very intimidating, though. It was more like a really mad kitten. "They should have put up pictures of what they looked like if they expected us to find--"

Wait.

Gino Weinberg?

"Aah!" Mei pointed. POINTED. At Gino! "You!" She looked at Euphemia again. "He's a player!"

He grinned again, wider, like a satisfied housecat. "I am! Guess that means I have cake privileges, doesn't it?" He thought about just offering to make the vow - hey, joining someone because you wanted cake made about as much sense as any other reason - but something held him back. He wanted to see if she'd think of it herself, and if she'd ask. To add to Mei's possible frustration, he nodded at Euphie. A bow would have been more appropriate, but calling attention to royalty in a strange place was never a good idea.

"Hey. It's been a while."

She's thankful he doesn't bow-- she has always hated people bowing to her-- and nods in his direction as well, smiling gratefully. She looks to Mei and puts her hand to her mouth, thinking a second.

"Umm, Gino and I already know each other, but what's your name? It feels wrong to go on without an introduction... I'm Euphie."

Mei took in a deep breath, but before she could launch any demands on Gino, the lady with the beautiful pink hair chimed in. Oh, if only a distraction hadn't come along. How should would have gushed over Euphie's hair.

Her name? Aaaa, she kept getting ahead of herself and not giving her name right away. "I'm Mei! It's very nice to meet you both."

Introduction over, she rounded on Gino again. More pointing has been engaged. This time with demands. "Mister Weinberg! I'm going to be your Weapon!" No, he does not get a choice.

He couldn't help the laugh that slipped out. He'd been hoping for a reaction, but she'd definitely outdone his expectations. The laugh faded away and left behind a faint, friendly smile, and he dropped to one knee so she wouldn't have to point.

"Right, right," he thought briefly about how the vow went, and used the time to grin at Euphie. It wasn't exactly as formal as their last meeting. "How's this? Ms. Mei, I'll protect you and let you eat as much cake as you want." He held out one hand, palm up, for her to take.

"It's good to meet you too, Mei."

Euphie smiles and laughs a bit at their antics; the girl had energy and she appreciated it. She wonders upon her own situation. She has no Player, and as such has no way of doing much of anything-- be it cake, reading or returning the memories she'd lost to her mind. Euphemia had noticed a few things out of sync-- she can't remember her mother's face for example-- and hates that. So perhaps...

She stays quiet for now.

That went just as planned! Mei beams at Gino, triumphant. Before she reached for his hand, however, she made something clear. "It isn't just about cake! ...as much as I like it. There are bigger things at stake here!"

Bigger things at stake than cake, everyone. So much bigger.

After saying that, Mei took his hand. Now it was time for a serious face to replace that big smile of hers. "And I'll help you for as long as I am your Weapon and as long as your intentions are never cruel!"

Vows need to go both ways, right? She didn't care if that wasn't in the rulebook.

"Oh? Bigger than cake?" Humouring her was easy, almost like teasing Anya was. He tilted his head, then, on a mischievous impulse, lifted her hand to kiss her knuckles in the time-honoured tradition. His expression when he let go of her hand was harmless, if a little overly amused. "Count me in."

"Of course!" Mei had people to get back to. People to save, or at least make sure they had survived. Though then that oh so knightly kiss to her hand has to go and shatter her serious business expression.

If there were an expression akin to keyboard smashing, that would have taken it's place. Mei will just have to settle for blushing and stifling a giggle with her other hand instead.

"...um." What were they talking about again? Oh right! "Good! Who do we fight first?" The tiny girl paused and looked skyward, thinking. She might be getting ahead of herself there. "After dinner," she amended, "Who do we fight first after dinner?"

"Don't know yet!" He thought about it. He could try to win Kevin back, but he wasn't sure if the younger boy was still talking to him after the defeat. Better to leave him for a day or so. That left the girl in the wheelchair, his other roommate, and Koharu. "Let's just see who's around."

Again, he looked up at Euphie. She seemed to be waiting for them to finish, so he shuffled around, still on one knee, until he was facing them both equally. "You too?" It was said like a joke, giving her all the room in the world to refuse, but he was intensely aware that she was the closest thing he had to a ruler at the moment. If she'd have him as her protector, he'd accept without hesitation. Hopefully Mei wasn't the jealous type.

"Me? Ah-- well," and she hesitates a moment but then takes a breath, a cleansing sort of thing. Serious, she says: "Yes, if you will have me."

There are things she needs to accomplish here, and without a Player she can't do that. She needs to return all her memories and then go home.

Cake? What had cake to do with anyt--- Oh right. It was one of the things mentioned forbidden to Weapons without Players. No dessert. And then another unfamiliar word. Geassed? Huh? She could hear the intended capital letter, so it was something else than a slang verb she couldn't be familiar with.

Shaking her head, Grenn tugged on a bit of hair hanging close to her cheek. He talked so much, it was hard to keep up. But at least it was more about opinion of fact, than intention.

"Privilege is one thing..." Grenn trailed off, looked up at the ceiling, then back to Suzaku. "It's the combination of technically being owned by someone, along with needing their permission for certain things, that is wrong."
Secretly, Grenn thought that despite this new curveball being introduced making her feel like she'd lost stable ground, discussing this was fun. That was secretly, however.

"Probably," Grenn agreed with Suzaku's last point. It didn't even really matter if people actually liked each other or not. Playing along, since this was a 'game' was almost impossible.

She turned her head, spotting the older blonde princess, and feigned a smile. "Ah, hello there, Reiko-senpai! Uwah, did you hear that announcement just now? It's totally not fair!" she whined, putting on her mask of a bubbly, whiny, little middle school girl.

Reiko sighed and put one hand to her forehead. Please tell me she didn't forget that we know better. Please, please, please tell me.

"No, it's really not."

"They really have the Weapons on a tight leash, don't they? But I guess it's always been like that, even in an alternate universe, huh?" Hiyo looked to Reiko and shifted her weight from one foot to another, slightly leaning towards the older girl.

"But I bet you could get them, right, senpai? You're probably owned by a really nice person~" she commented, already knowing from seeing the list somewhere that the one and only Sora-sama was not a Player this round. But for all Hiyo knew she didn't know if Reiko was owned or not anyway.

Reiko put on her mask, the smile she wore when she didn't want others to worry about her. In this case, it was also a way of keeping the overly-perceptive Hiyo from guessing what she was really thinking. "I sure am. Actually, I have the nicest Player out of them all, this round. She's not Sora Himoto, but she'll do."

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