rakuen | (no subject)

Characters: Huashi and anyone who takes interest!
Format: Prose preferred, but action tags are doable.
This log is: open
Location: On the steps of the main building
Summary: Huashi finally takes a look at the legend fragment she had Suzaku buy her before. Early afternoon first day of round 2.

Things had been both busy and not since she got Suzaku to buy her the link charm that connected her and Kotarou now, as well as a legend fragment. When she got it, she'd simply tucked it away, intending to look at it later. Well, that later got to be now, because while she was aware it probably would be useless, it was possibly a good idea to get a look at it.

"Okayyy... Let's see what it says, then..." Huashi muttered, both to herself and for Kotarou as she fished out the now slightly-abused scrap of folded paper out. It didn't look particularly special. The strange thing was, when she unfolded it, it was empty. And the text didn't appear afterwards either, but instead it apppeared above the paper, framed in a sort of box.

"Eh?" Huashi blinked, stared and stared some more. "That's different!"

‘This is a very simple story that everyone knows. A Knight journeys to save a Princess who is captured by the Demon Lord. One time, the Knight reached a fork in the path. One road bright and safe, the other dark and dangerous, haunted by death.’

"Pfft, anyone knows you take the dark road. That's how stories start!" But yeah, she'd been right. How was this useful at all?

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Miwako didn't want to have to fight. She didn't even want to watch the first day's matches, though she supposed it would probably be a good idea to do so... Before they started, though, she spent some time walking around getting some fresh air. It would help her calm down.

That's when she came across Huashi, the strange-looking girl who'd "owned" her for the previous week. She slowed down as she approached her and folded her hands in front of herself. "G-good morning."

Huashi'd been busy tilting the empty paper this way and that, to see if the box would too, but it didn't, but at Miwako's greeting she looked up.

"Hello! Going to watch the battles?" Huashi tilted her head to look up at the girl. She always looked so nervous. Why was that?

"I... I don't know..." She fussed with the bottom of her uniform skirt. "I have to fight tomorrow..."

She took notice, though, of the strange box floating seemingly in midair. It looked almost like the boxes that had appeared in place of the students who'd disappeared a couple of days ago. "What is that?"

"Aww, don't worry about it!" Huashi paused to tug on one of the tails framing her face. "Dunno how easy it is to forfeit, and letting your opponent bang you around until you can't stand isn't nice either!" It wasn't the sort of advice she'd have given to herself; she'd never give up like that, but Miwako seemed very nervous and upset.

"Oh, this? You know they've mentioned legend fragments? I got one of them! Though I don't see how this is gonna help reveal anything about the place..." Huashi grimaced at the floating text box.

Forfeit? Maybe she could... She didn't care about winning, after all. She didn't see how it would help her get out of this place.

She moved closer, standing beside Huashi so she could look down at the box. "That's a legend fragment...? It just looks like something from some old fairy tale."

"It does, doesn't it?" Huashi waved a hand through the box, amused at how the movement didn't disturb the box itself, just her hand on one side and her fingers on the other.

"An' I don't see what's that gonna help here... This isn't even a proper story, just fighting." Then she paused and frowned. "If the giant tiger wasn't the dark path, but that doesn't work... No one chose that..." The last sentences had been muttered more to herself than anyone else, but the words were hardly hard to hear.

"...giant tiger?" She stared in confusion. Well, it was about time the monkey girl started acting as weird as she looked...

"Before you came," Huashi said breezily, waving a hand vaguely in the air. "They called it Round 0, and we had to fight our own shadows and stuff. Then at the end there was a giant blue tiger." She abruptly cut off and frowned unhappily. Experiencing dying wasn't fun, and she hoped Kotarou didn't remember much of that last part...

"N... no way..." So it wasn't just fighting like this. It could be even worse. She clutched on to the front of her shirt and stepped backward a little. "Why did they? Did they say?"

Frowning, Huashi stared down at the ground and tried to remember. It was a bit fuzzy, especially the beginning. What she most clearly remembered was that boy with the strange hair dying.

"Uhh... Not sure... Something about maintenance?" Huashi shrugged. She didn't see why it mattered, anyway. Whoever in charge of this place had just decided to kill them all of, and then bring them back. Nothing more than that, in her mind.

That didn't even make any sense. Miwako frowned, half in confusion and half in renewed terror. This certainly wasn't helping her opinion of this school.

"...oh."

Huashi shrugged and waved the scrap of paper in her hand, watching as the box moved with the movement.

"Don't think about it too much! Just try to figure out how you want to get through the fighting instead!" That, to Huashi, seemed like a much more useful use of energies... and worries, if you were laid that way.

"...oh, right. The fighting..." She sighed, and nodded. She'd have to either way, wouldn't she... At least she could wait until tomorrow.

"I don't even have any weapons... Not that I could fight if I did."

Huashi grimaced and shook her head.

"I'd have helped, but Kotarou wanted to go with Kallen, so we did!" And, well... if Miwako really couldn't fight, Huashi wouldn't have wanted to risk Kotarou even remotely.

"Is there places you can ask? Or people?" She thought she'd seen something like that, before she fought Mikoto, but she'd had no idea how to do it, and Kotarou didn't either.

"Ah... that's okay." She was a little disappointed, but it wasn't like Huashi could change Players now.

"Um... I don't really know anyone. I mean, I've met a couple people, but..." But she'd mostly kept to herself. She'd be surprised if anyone else even remembered she was here.

"Aw, it'll be alright!" It was given in pure belief of the statement, but if Miwako wasn't planning on even trying to win, she'd need more than one Weapon at some point, or be able to pick up someone else after she lost.

Huashi really didn't know that many people, because she had also kept herself (with Kotarou) apart, more from suspiciousness than fear or nervousness, though. But the fact was, she had no one to even potentially point Miwako at.

"I dunno lots of people either, though... So I don't really have anyone to suggest," Huashi shrugged, feeling a bit sorry for that, even if it wasn't really something to feel sorry about.

"I guess if I don't find anyone, they can't make me fight..." She tried to smile, but it just came out shaky. "Um, thanks anyway, Huashi. And, um, good luck figuring that out?" She gestured to the weird box.