I think so! You keep everything pretty close to the vest, so learning anything about you is a secret. [As they walk, she's going to just listen patiently.]
I think aliens are a little scarier than the economy, yeah. I remember getting that sense about your world...how was the training going? So that means it was more like a battle academy, right?
Satsuki-sama built it to be a free-for-all meritocracy. The better and more capable you were, the more access to funds and resources you got. If you became a club captain or president and your club flourished, you would live in luxury.
[ If you were a student who tried at nothing at all, you kind of lived in poverty. Haha. ]
But a little over a month ago.... or is it two months now? Satsuki-sama dissolved all the clubs to be remade again by those who really strove to do something. As it is now, it's less training and more fighting to survive.
There are a lot of worlds like that, it sounds like. "If you're at the top, you get the best of the best." I don't really understand why when that puts some people at a disadvantage, but obviously there's a reason.
It sounds like her second plan will work out a lot better. If people reached the top would they have anything else to keep working for? Being designed to help seems really effective.
[...] Anybody can learn to be better, can't they? With the right people around them.
Back then, our methods were a little different. We were planning... [...] A lot of things. We were trying not to raise suspicions because we were working closely with our enemy. We had to act like them.
[ They were hiding a huge secret. They had to seem like they were working for the world's destruction while retooling all their resources for the opposite all right under the nose and supervision of the person they were trying to stop. ]
Yeah, I don't want to admit it, but I'm better with the right people around me. [ She looks away and laughs a little. ] Don't tell anyone I said that. I don't need that many people thinking I'm soft.
[ It makes her ache a little. She misses.... She misses... ]
Will you tell me about your friends? Are you allowed to tell me more about them?
Makes sense. The best way to get intel is to think like your competition. It's still a dangerous method if people don't realize that's what you're doing though. It requires a lot of bravery, I think.
Your secret's safe with me though. [A wink.] I think a lot of us are like that even if we don't want to admit it. People are what inspire us to be who we are. I'll never forget that.
[But there's a slow nod.] I think so...our team was made up of eight people. You've already met Yu-senpai, but he, Yosuke-senpai, Chie-senpai and Yukiko-senpai all met each other first. They're in the year above me. Chie-senpai and Yukiko-senpai have been friends for years, but Yosuke-senpai had just recently moved to Inaba about a year or something ago, too. And then there's Naoto-kun. She's a junior detective and she used to be working against us, but she joined our team later. And Kanji's Kanji. The textile shop belongs to his family. We're all in the same grade.
And Teddie's...different. He's still got a lot to learn.
That sounds just like you. [Fondly. That doesn't surprise her at all, and it makes her even more impressed with Nonon. Into the bookstore they go though and she leads her in to start browsing.]
We were trying to solve a string of murders in this town, but Naoto-kun was suspicious of us and how we were doing it.
Right. It's also why I was really adamant about not wanting you guys to kill anybody. Originally it was just Yu-senpai and Yosuke-senpai and Chie-senpai, but then they rescued Yukiko-senpai after she was kidnapped into the TV world. Kanji came next, then me and then Naoto-kun. Teddie was always around helping but since he's a shadow and stuff it was a little harder to get him between the worlds.
[She's just busying herself with manga tbh.] Mm...it means that someone was taking prolific people, or people who had showed up on TV, and started throwing them into the TV world.
...there's a rumor back home about the Midnight Channel. When it rains, at midnight you can turn on the TV and see the image of your soulmate. It was just a cover though. The real Midnight Channel was a place where monsters called Shadows lived.
Mmhm...it's a gift all of us got from Teddie when we joined the team. They're special because they help us see through the fog in the TV world, so we can navigate people's dungeons and fight the Shadows that're around and rescue whoever's in there. Yosuke-senpai's are orange, Chie-senpai's are yellow, Yukiko-senpai's are red, Naoto's are blue, Kanji's are sunglasses and Teddie doesn't actually need them because of what he is.
Something like that. We didn't...before we started working on the cases, two people had died including a friend of Yosuke-senpai's. If we figured out where the victims were being hidden in their dungeon and helped them face their shadow, we could save them.
...this place and the things that happened here is a lot of why I want my world to be a certain way. I don't want people to suffer like that ever again.
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I think aliens are a little scarier than the economy, yeah. I remember getting that sense about your world...how was the training going? So that means it was more like a battle academy, right?
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She's not the exposition gay. ]
Satsuki-sama built it to be a free-for-all meritocracy. The better and more capable you were, the more access to funds and resources you got. If you became a club captain or president and your club flourished, you would live in luxury.
[ If you were a student who tried at nothing at all, you kind of lived in poverty. Haha. ]
But a little over a month ago.... or is it two months now? Satsuki-sama dissolved all the clubs to be remade again by those who really strove to do something. As it is now, it's less training and more fighting to survive.
[ Nothing will matter if you die. ]
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It sounds like her second plan will work out a lot better. If people reached the top would they have anything else to keep working for? Being designed to help seems really effective.
[...] Anybody can learn to be better, can't they? With the right people around them.
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[ They were hiding a huge secret. They had to seem like they were working for the world's destruction while retooling all their resources for the opposite all right under the nose and supervision of the person they were trying to stop. ]
Yeah, I don't want to admit it, but I'm better with the right people around me. [ She looks away and laughs a little. ] Don't tell anyone I said that. I don't need that many people thinking I'm soft.
[ It makes her ache a little. She misses.... She misses... ]
Will you tell me about your friends? Are you allowed to tell me more about them?
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Your secret's safe with me though. [A wink.] I think a lot of us are like that even if we don't want to admit it. People are what inspire us to be who we are. I'll never forget that.
[But there's a slow nod.] I think so...our team was made up of eight people. You've already met Yu-senpai, but he, Yosuke-senpai, Chie-senpai and Yukiko-senpai all met each other first. They're in the year above me. Chie-senpai and Yukiko-senpai have been friends for years, but Yosuke-senpai had just recently moved to Inaba about a year or something ago, too. And then there's Naoto-kun. She's a junior detective and she used to be working against us, but she joined our team later. And Kanji's Kanji. The textile shop belongs to his family. We're all in the same grade.
And Teddie's...different. He's still got a lot to learn.
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When I asked Satsuki-chan if I could join her, she told me it'd be dangerous. Do you know what I said it return? "That's how I like it."
[ She looks at Love while she talks about her friends. "Kanji's Kanji" is kind of funny to Nonon. ]
Working against you? What were you doing that a detective was against you?
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We were trying to solve a string of murders in this town, but Naoto-kun was suspicious of us and how we were doing it.
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Murders, huh? So not too different than what some people try to at trials.
[ Love and Yu make a bit more sense to her now. ]
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Nonon isn't disbelieving, but that doesn't mean she understands all the context. Wild shit happens. ]
Uh-huh. [ A lot of sheet music is sure flying off the shelf and into her arms. ] So what does being kidnapped into the TV world mean?
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...there's a rumor back home about the Midnight Channel. When it rains, at midnight you can turn on the TV and see the image of your soulmate. It was just a cover though. The real Midnight Channel was a place where monsters called Shadows lived.
...has Senpai ever shown you his glasses?
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He wore a pair of glasses once.
[ That she hates!! ]
But I know he's wearing a different pair this week. It matches the description on his statue.
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Like these, right?
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Yeah! With different colors, but yeah. [ She tilts her head. ] Is that something you share with your group of friends?
[ She's connecting some dots. ]
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I'm going to nod and pretend I understand what that all means, but it sounds like you were doing your best trying to help people no matter what.
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...this place and the things that happened here is a lot of why I want my world to be a certain way. I don't want people to suffer like that ever again.