Chapter 01: The Calm Before the Next Storm - Starry Sky [Video/Action]

[kamiyandisease]

[Someone is feeling a bit adventurous and daring tonight! If you’re walking by or looking out your window of House 4, you’ll find that one misfortunate loser who just so happens to be sitting on top of the roof. For a moment, he looks a bit uneasy because plenty of bad things could happen when you’re sitting on a rooftop! But regardless, he still

Comments

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[repudiationist]

No, I'm fairly sure that you're the only idiot who would go and sit on a roof at this time of the night, Kamijou-san.

[ The voice isn't coming from the journal though, but rather from a little bit below and next to him - Ange is standing on the road next to the house, looking up to where he is sitting. And despite calling him an idiot in her usual deadpan voice, she is up and about now as well. She's never been one to sleep much or at regular times, so instead she goes out to at least be able to walk and move, and happened to run into him like this. ]

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[repudiationist]

Ah, so I'm the one getting it wrong here, Kamijou-san? I thought part of this whole 'being friends' deal involved friendly teasing. [ She won't lose this battle, okay!! Although that last part.. ] And if it's a romantic mood you're looking for, you should have taken an actually cute girl here.

... [ okay, that makes her a bit more B|.. Tsuntsun. ] I'm not so sure if I want to be part of this. It's not like I need to open up, either way, so it's all just useless.

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[kamiyandisease]

Well, yeah! That's true! But coming from you... It's tough to tell if it's teasing or blunt insults. [HE'S JUST SAYING!!! Whoa, whoa... That actually makes him pause.] Eh? Well... I don't know about that, but you don't think you're cute at all?

[No, Ange, no! This is progress!!] Yeah, you do. Nothing is useless since everything happens for a reason. This Kamijou-san still has a lot of things to teach you!

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[repudiationist]

Rest assured, if I had any insults for you I'd just state them properly. [ keep the jokes to your haircut, etc, etc.. at the second part her deadpan fades just a tiny bit, enough for her to blink a bit curiously. ] Not really? Should there be any reason for me to think about myself in terms like 'cute'? It seems pretty unfitting.

[ but what is being social.. ]

In that case, give me one good reason why I should have to open up.

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[kamiyandisease]

.... [How did the conversation go in this direction? Touma takes a moment to think...] Hmmm... Should I say 'pretty' or 'beautiful' then? Those terms would suit you better since you aren't a kid. Aren't all girls supposed to see themselves as attractive in some way?

If you want a short version from me... Then it's because if you form bonds with other people, then new doors and opportunities will open up! I guess it's like how positive energy attracts positive things around you.

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[repudiationist]

Not all girls. Or.. well, I guess I can only speak for myself, but I've never had any sort of interest in that sort of thing. The way I look is just the way I look, no matter what you want to call it. I don't see what's so important about it that's enough to make other people throw a fuss.

[ 'new doors and opportunities'.. More like more chances to be betrayed, most of the time, she has learned by now. ] ... You're too much of an optimist, Kamijou-san.

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[kamiyandisease]

Eh? No one's throwing a fuss at all. It's just having an good self-image on yourself. Expressing how you are on the outside from the inside, you know? I guess that's how I see the situation anyway.

[He'll blink at look over to her.] ... Huh? Why do you say that?

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[repudiationist]

I'm more talking about those people obsessed with good looks and all. A few girls back in my old school were like that, to a point where they would start to constantly complain about haircuts to each other.. Probably since they could do little in the sense of fashion with the school uniforms and all.

[ She shrugs a little at that, but.. the next part is slightly less deadpan and more serious, down-to-business. ]

New bonds with people aren't such good things at all. New bonds mean that there's a new chance to get lied to or manipulated or worse. It also means there's the chance of losing that bond again. There are just too many negative things about it for it to be worth it.

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[kamiyandisease]

Haaaah? I'm not telling you to become obnoxious like that... Absolutely not. I couldn't really picture you doing that at all. [That raises a question for him, though.] What was your school like, anyway?

.... [Touma reads this and he'll follow up with his own serious tone. Again, he remembers how he lied to Index... Even if she forgave him, he still can't fully forgive himself for that. What kind of friend could he call himself?] Lied to and manipulated, huh? I've already been through that, but that didn't mean that I fully given up on people right then and here. I'd rather trust people at 120 percent than trust no one at all. I don't see how anyone could possibly live like that.

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[repudiationist]

That's good. I'd have to start questioning your wild imagination if you would be able to picture that. [ Then she.. frowns a little, maybe for a moment, but shrugs it off again just as quickly. ] It was the kind of private boarding school. You know, a place where they ship spoiled rich kids off to so society won't have to deal with them until they're at least more grown up. And to spend the time a little, they bother each other endlessly instead since just school would be too boring for them.

It's not that hard. ... At least not impossible. [ But even as she says it, it's not completely true that she manages to live that way. After all, even if she doesn't fully realise it, she does slowly start to trust people sometimes. But from her own point of view trusting nobody is exactly how she lives. ]

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[kamiyandisease]

Eh? Who said that I had a wild imagination? It's perfectly healthy like any other teenage boy. [Keep telling yourself that, Touma.] That sounds more like a prison than an actual school. You don't seem all the spoiled to me. Quite the opposite, in the fact.

... [He cannot fully buy that at all.] I don't believe that. Humans aren't made to live on their own. If you show me a lonely person, then I'll show them a fun time.

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[repudiationist]

No, if there's one thing I have learned by now about you, it's that your imagination is definitely above average. Not that it's exactly a bad thing, but you shouldn't go too overboard with it or people might start to think things and all. [ it's okay, she will just tell him the opposite.. ] And.. well, I like to think I was one of the exceptions in that school. Maybe that's why they decided I was the excellent target to pick on.

[ for a moment she goes quiet. ]

... Do you really think you can help anyone at all with that?

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[kamiyandisease]

...??? Eh? Um, thank you... Wait, think things-- [Oh. Oh. She meant it like that--] Gah! How can you say such things with a complete straight face?! That's scary! [...] People had picked on you? [Ouch. That hits a sensitive spot for him.] ... I'm sorry. I wasn't there to do anything for you, so... Maybe things would've been different if I could've been there.

If it can make them ten times happier than they were before, then I would do everything I could to help.

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[repudiationist]

There's no need to apologize over 'what-ifs'. They don't matter either way. Things just happened the way they did, and there's no changing it.. That's all. [ Luckily she can just casually shrug a little about it by now, even when thinking back on it. It was rather unpleasant back then, after all. ]

And that would be why I'm.. a project of yours?

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[kamiyandisease]

E-eh? From how you're saying that... It's like I'm going to perform an experiment!

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[repudiationist]

It comes pretty close to that, doesn't it? Especially when you're just going to go ahead and give it weird titles like the "Opening Up Ushiromiya Ange Raising Project". Soon I might just start to feel like a lab rat.

[ not that she seems to be complaining, exactly, it's more just her usual deadpan. ]