1st Lie

[fictionalize]

Characters: Kumagawa and you!
Setting: Various parts of the tower
Format: Any
Summary: BIG HUGE LOSER exploring the tower
Warnings: Screws, random acts of violence, some gore?

[Dormitories]

[First order of business is, of course, putting on his uniform. He can't wear white! It really just doesn't suit him. Even if he's not on the student council anymore and should really wear the normal uniform. Of course, this didn't really look like Hakoniwa Academy...

Plus, the last thing he remembered was having just rescued Shiranui, so this was pretty mysterious. Had he been hit by some kind of style?

Well, whatever! He's going to look for someone to harass. No matter who you are or how busy you look, there's an annoyingly smiley face bothering you]

「Hi, do you have a few moments to fill out a survey for the latest issue of Shounen Jump?」

[Cafeteria]

[Kumagawa is just. Staring at the oatmeal.

Yeah, no. He doesn't want to eat this.

You, who were passing by, gets a tug on your sleeve or other grabbable piece of clothing]

「...I don't suppose I could get the shiyo ramen instead, can I?」

[Floor 75]

[The snowy of the ruins of the castle here look like they've been through a more recent battle: there's blood and ichor everywhere, the bodies of dead monsters all over the place, ranging from the more mundane and even completely harmless to a few that look like they'd be quite dangerous. The most striking feature of the scene is how they were apparently annihilated: everywhere, there are giant screws stuck into everything, drilling through their heads, their guts, armor, carapaces, pinning them to the ground, the trees, even into the walls of the castle.

Investigate?]

Comments

[fictionalize]

「Because well... I hate oatmeal! So they're both pretty terrible.」

[tohko_amano]

Yes..but one is much more horrible than the other, and not everyone is going to hate oatmeal like you.

[fictionalize]

「Well, then they should probably serve something else to them.」

[tohko_amano]

Sadly, they're not going to. We should probably just count ourselves lucky that they don't decide to poison our first meals here.

[fictionalize]

「I don't think they'd have many guests if everyone kept dropping dead! People die when they're killed, you know.」

[tohko_amano]

Not here. If you die here, they'll just replace your body. I wouldn't recommend dying for foolish causes or wasting your body though..they may get tired of reviving you and stop.

[fictionalize]

「Bringing people back to life? That's completely ridiculous! Who could possibly have the kind of power to nullify death itself?」

[tohko_amano]

They do. When you die, they take your soul out of the body you have now and put it in a new one. I'm sorry to say..that the body you have now isn't your original one. That's lying back in your own universe.

[fictionalize]

「My soul, huh...?」

[He's never really considered those kinds of matters before. Well, as someone who had died many, many times before, he guesses it wasn't so weird.]

「So... does this body have any cool new features? Like maybe a rocket punch, or special powers?」

[tohko_amano]

No, it doesn't. Not unless you originally had those powers to begin with. The Administrators tend to keep you at your normal power levels, and even then, they can restrict you.

[fictionalize]

「Ah, well, it's not like any powers I had come from my body. A Minus isn't that sort of thing...」

[tohko_amano]

Pardon..but what do you mean by 'a Minus'?

[fictionalize]

「It's like a curse. The kind of thing that only the lowest, ugliest, worst kind of people can use... for those of us who smile in the face of despair as we crawl through the mud, a wonderful power to drag down everyone else with us.」

「Like your first heartbreak」

「Like failing a test even after you studied your hardest」

「Like not even qualifying for a participation prize」

「Like not being able to do a single thing when you're completely left behind.」

「It's that sort of youthful feeling that you just want to share with the rest of the world. That's the miracle that a Minus like me is born from.」

[tohko_amano]

But..that doesn't sound like a miracle, or a good power to have. Doesn't that mean that you're just constantly experiencing negative emotions and putting other people through them?

[fictionalize]

「Right? Because we're Minus, we're detestable. Because we're detestable, we're Minus. That's something that... not even she can change.」

[tohko_amano]

But..you don't seem like a detestable person, and if you are, then you can change and not be a Minus. And whose 'her'?

[fictionalize]

「Not detestable? Then what do you call the kind of person who is happy to have their arms broken by their friends? The kind of person who tore off a girl's face just to see if he loved her? The kind of person who almost made the entire student committee come to school in nothing but their underwear?」

[...]

「Now that you mention it, none of that sounds too bad! I guess i must not be very detestable at all! No wonder I've been feeling better lately.」

[tohko_amano]

[At that, Tohko sighed and scratched her head.]

I would call the first person a masochist. The second person would be a cruel lover, and the third would be an odd prankster..but you do realize that people can change sometimes, right? It's never easy, and sometimes, it's impossible..but you can do it sometimes.

[fictionalize]

「If you change too much though, you cease to be you.」

「And if you do it too suddenly or without some kind of amazing reason, they'll accuse you of acting out of character!」

[tohko_amano]

Not necessarily. You're still you, even though you try to change. And that's the beauty of being a human being instead of a character from a story-no one can accuse of of that, since we're not in a story. At least, not that I know of. And, even if we were, if you wanted to change, I don't think many characters would call you out on it.

[fictionalize]

「What makes me be me? If you describe me by my characteristics, then wouldn't changing those characteristics make me stop being me? The only connection is that I continue to have consciousness between being me and turning into someone else - so if I give someone else my memories, does that make them me? If I erase your memories, will you stop being you?」

[tohko_amano]

Now, we weren't talking about memories or your consciousness at all! You would still be you, just with different characteristics. Of course, if you like yourself, then there's no point in changing, but if you don't, then you can.

[fictionalize]

「If we're not talking about memories our consciousness, then how do you define "me"? If not by characteristics, then what am "I"? Please don't say that just because the same sack of flesh and guts and bones is being moved around that it can be considered the same "person" if you change all those things around. If that were the case, getting a leg chopped off would be more important to my identity than having my entire personality rewritten.」

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko sighed and scratched her head, trying to both figure this person out and phrase her words so that her point would get across.]

We weren't talking about your memories or your consciousness because I wasn't suggesting that you change those things. It's near impossible to do so, and I wouldn't want people to do it anyway. It's painful. However, if you don't like the fact that you keep hurting others or hurt yourself, then you can change that. It would be another experience in your memory, but it wouldn't overwrite them or change you at your core. Does that make any sense?

[fictionalize]

「I'm asking you to define that "core". Are you calling the memories my "core"? Or something else? I think ones characteristics make that up, but you're saying I should change those. What if my Minus is my core?」