ROUND -1

[utopiamods]

This morning, the marks of ownership disappear from the bodies of every Weapon who was owned during the previous round. The woman from the introductory video appears on the Exaclan video screens across campus, and on all of the computer screens as well.

She doesn't look very happy.

"My, you weren't very enthusiastic this time, were you?" she says, frowning and waving one finger in disappointment. "That's no good. If you don't fight, you can't earn Tokens to buy your powers or your memories back! If you don't even have those, imagine how hard it'll be to earn Legend Fragments!"

She smiles; the shift from her previous expression is sudden and startling. "You know, if you hear the legend, you just might learn a few things!

"We didn't want to do this, but it looks like we're going to have to. Okay! From now on, Players, you can only go three days without fighting. After that, we'll start taking away one Token a day. And you want your Tokens, don't you?" She smiles even more widely, as though she has no idea why anyone might be upset at being forced into such a situation. "To get you all started, we've given you some free tokens! You already had three each, you know, and we've added seven more. That means you all have ten tokens, so visit a booth and get spending."

She pauses, and then snaps her fingers, "Ah, but only Players can do that, so if any of your Weapons want to buy something, you should do it for them, okay?

"I know you can do it! Believe in yourselves and each other, and you'll achieve utopia!

"Now, here are the Players for this round!"

The screen goes blank, and the following appears:

PLAYERS FOR ROUND -1:
Fletcher Tringham
Kevin Smith
Mei Chang
Meryl Silverburgh
Oichi
Suzaku Kururugi
Tsuki Aoi

Comments

[isur2ndprincess]

She frowns at the mention of Tougyu but then smiles lightly at Grenn, "I don't even notice it," and she meant it. As someone who spent a lot of time injured, she wouldn't judge anyone on an injury, because that's what she assumes it is. Either way, Yuki is kind enough to be completely honest about it, she really takes no notice of it.

Yuki blushed and sputtered again, "I don't have anyone who would give me charms, and you should keep yours to get your memories back."

What about her? She hesitated to answer but Grenn had opened up to her, so she could return the favor, "I'm afraid of being used again."

[summerstars]

Frowning, Grenn tugs at her fingers, though, perhaps thankfully, not hard enough to accidentally crack her knuckles.

"I'm sure..." No, she can't be sure, she had no idea the culture most of the people here came from, but general, free-for-all discrimination was 'normal' before. But not, she was quite sure, like that other 'Utopia' Yuki and her friends had come from. Grenn shook her head.

"I think most people here don't come from the sort of... attitude, your school built up." But that's not a guarantee for not being used. It never was, because the rich and powerful looked for those who were weak... unnoticeable... easily discarded... She's missing something.

Then, her mind latched on what Yuki said before, and she shook her head again.
"I can't use the charms on myself, you know." Grenn paused, wondering if it was okay to just say something like this, but how did you otherwise form any sort of connection?
"And... I like you, so you'll get at least one of mine." There. She felt good after saying it. It had come surprisingly easy too.

[isur2ndprincess]

Yuki looked at all the other students. Sure, they have all come from different backgrounds and upbringings, and they didn't participate in the game that the males she was used to did. But still she couldn't help but feel slightly afraid of them, even if (like Sherlock or Gino) she considered them nice, or (like Fletcher and Kotarou) were young and most like unaware of the evils of the world.

"It's true what you say, but it's still hard to rid yourself of a mindset you have become accustomed to," she answered after a few moments.

Startled, Yuki asked, "You can't use charms on yourself? Why is that?" Was that possible? Were some students not allowed to use the charms, but then why keep them here and what forces them to fight? Her mind flooded with questions.

But instead of asking them or thinking over them some more, she blushed, "Thank you, I like you too."

[summerstars]

Grenn nodded to Yuki's observation of the difficulty of changing your mindset. That was probably one of the hardest thing any human could attempt to do...

Then she frowned and wondered if she'd understood the rules wrong, but she was rather sure she hadn't...

"Well, as I understood it, you can't use a memory charm you've bought on yourself. You have to give it to someone else... So," she paused with a smile, feeling slightly embarrassed but not seeing why, "Better give the charm to someone I like."