towerofanimus | 1st Lie

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?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

「Ehhh? But you hear about them all the time... in literature.」

「Lancer! That's a pretty exciting name. You say this isn't a manga, but you sound like you just popped out of one! I feel ashamed my name is something as boring as Kumagawa, standing next to you. Or rather, please don't stand so close to me.」

Eh, it has to do with my job.

[He takes one step back.]

And the world isn't a story book.

[Really, the shit he has seen might be too weird for even stories. Only through living them could he say for sure that they were real.]

「Of course not. Only the lowest of the low would try to treat reality as if it were all fiction.」

Exactly. That is, if they don't get killed by reality first.

「Yeah. Reality can be really harsh like that, can't it? How many times has it gotten me... well, that's why I deny it.」

[He can only stare a the boy blankly.]

Wait, what?

[Stares back, just as blankly]

「Huh, what?」

You just said...reality got you a lot of times? You probably aren't talking about dying, are you?

[Either this kid doesn't die when killed or he's completely talking out of his ass.]

「Hahaha, what else would I be talking about? Well, it's got me pretty down on my luck as well.」

H-haha very funny, kid.

[He frowns, trying to figure out whether the boy is serious or not.]

...What are you, anyways?

「Me? I'm just a completely normal highschool senior! Please don't look at me like I'm some kind of monster. I've put that kind of role behind me. Nowadays I'm just everyone's lovable Naked Apron-sempai!」

[A snort.]

Yeah right. "Normal" high school students don't come back from the dead.

「Wow, no reaction to that last part?」

「I guess you got me though! I really am not a Normal, or even Abnormal. A Plus like that... really doesn't suit me. I guess even after all this time, I'm still just a Minus.」

I don't care what the hell you choose to call yourself, just what powers you might have.

[Besides, he's not really opposed to naked aprons.]

What's a minus?

「Hmm, well... it's just what it sounds like. In life there are winners an losers. Heroes and cowards. The lucky and unlucky. The blessed and the cursed. The Plus and the Minus.」