Author Topic: The 4th Day (Read 7198 times)

Hanako Tachibana · « **on:** July 01, 2012, 06:32:32 PM »

Another day, another newspaper. You already know the drill.

Well then, off you go. You are halfway there...

FelyxZephyr · « **Reply #1 on:** July 01, 2012, 08:45:57 PM »

Serako wakes up earlier than her normal time. 7AM. Not because she chose to do so, she had a damn hard time falling asleep in the lobby of the hospital. She wakes up to a nurse telling her that Alissa has woken up. Serako nods, rubbing her eyes and looking to the chair next to her, where she emptied her pockets. Her phone, notebook and pen rest neatly on top of the newest paper.

Serako sighs. I guess it was too much to hope for...

She picks it up without looking at it and follows the nurse down to the room holding Alissa. Serako greets Alissa and waits for the Nurse to excuse herself.

"Alissa. I'm sorry to spring this on you as soon as you have wake up. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have about what happened to you, but first I need to ask: do you know anything about 'The Newspaper of Horror?'"

DonQuixote · « **Reply #2 on:** July 03, 2012, 03:28:08 AM »

I regain consciousness at around 10:00 in the morning and immediately wish that I hadn't. My head, my goddamn head.

Ugh, and I'm on the sofa again. My back is sore all over and...

...oh, another one.

I pick up the newspaper and bring it with me into the kitchen. God, my head. Hangovers, hangovers...

A glass of orange juice and a few glasses of water later, I feel capable of looking at the paper.

....huh.

Well. That's a thing. Guess there's not much point in preparing for class today.

I suppose that, if this is going to happen, I might as well face it with equanimity. I drink another several glasses of water, then several more. Once I actually feel alive again, I shower, shave, brush my teeth, and put on my best suit--the one I wore during the graduate school interviews.

That done, I pull up a chair. I'm seated facing the door, with a good ten feet of distance between me and it. On a side table next to me, I have all the issues of the Newspaper of Horror that I have received.

The time is 11:00. I sit comfortably, and wait for an hour to pass.

Hanako Tachibana · « **Reply #3 on:** July 03, 2012, 05:49:35 PM »

Alissa replies to Serako's question with "Newspaper of Horror? I've never head of it. It sounds like some weird occult thing. Why?"

FelyxZephyr · « **Reply #4 on:** July 04, 2012, 12:35:09 AM »

Serako maintains her smile. "Do you mind if I take a seat? It's a bit of a long story. You might think I'm crazy, but I'm just gonna tell you what has happened, then I'll leave you alone. Now that you are safe, I feel better."

Serako conveys a brief amount of what the Newspaper of Horror does

~*~

By 8AM, Serako is walking out of the room and unfolding today's issue.

No horoscope...

Despite herself, she holds her tradition of reading everything in reverse.

When she finishes, she stops. Her fingers dig into the paper until it tears under her frustration.

"What the FUCK" she says too loudly for a hospital. She clenches and unclenches her hands over and over, perforating the newspaper and staring at the two names at the top. She rips the newspaper and throws away everything but the top half of the newspaper, including the articles above the weather section. She folds it and puts it in her pocket.

She fishes her phone from her pocket and pulls the card of the clerk. She dials the number as she exits the hospital and goes towards the bike rack.

Hanako Tachibana · « **Reply #5 on:** July 04, 2012, 12:37:32 AM »

The phone rings once, then stops. "Hello? You have reached Kurokawa Occultism." an unfamiliar voice says over the line.

FelyxZephyr · « **Reply #6 on:** July 04, 2012, 12:40:01 AM »

"Ah... uh......" Serako pretty naively assumed that he was the only person working there. "Is Shun there? Shun Yukimura"

Hanako Tachibana · « **Reply #7 on:** July 04, 2012, 12:42:28 AM »

"ah, no, I'm sorry, he's out today. Something about an unnatural weather phenomena. If there is anything you would like to ask, though, you can ask me. I'm pretty knowledgeable about the occult."

FelyxZephyr · « **Reply #8 on:** July 04, 2012, 12:52:43 AM »

Okay. I'll be there in fifteen minutes.

~*~

Serako walks through the front of the shop. Hello? I'm the woman who called before.

She sighs a little bit. Honestly, the only part of this that she was looking forward to was perhaps making a last stand with someone she didn't know. If she had to die today, she wanted to do it in a romantic, or at least cool way...

"Do you... happen to know anything about the Newspaper of horror?"

She figures she might as well ask. Nobody else has, she is beginning to wonder if this was a curse that was inflicted on her specifically. Maybe it is some weird family curse that skips several generations. Maybe Her Great great great great grandmother dishonored a shinto shrine or something... maybe she broke one of those mirror things inside of them.

She looks around the shop for anything that might be misconstrued as a weapon.

Hanako Tachibana · « **Reply #9 on:** July 04, 2012, 12:58:04 AM »

Eventually, you actually look at the person behind the counter. It takes you a bit, but you recognize her as the headphones-wearing girl from the cafe on Green Hill.

"The Newspaper of Horror, hmm... I have heard of it, but I can't say I know all that much about it. Is there anything in particular you wanted to know?"

FelyxZephyr · « **Reply #10 on:** July 04, 2012, 01:02:53 AM »

"Wait.

You.

You were there at the cafe.

What were you doing there? Why didn't you stop that newspaper woman?

No.

No.

First. Who are you?" Serako chances her luck.

"And do you know anything about the murder of Mr. Rattigan?"

Serako pulls out the torn newspaper from her pocket and unfolds it, handing it to who she believes to be H.A.

Hanako Tachibana · « **Reply #11 on:** July 04, 2012, 01:07:15 AM »

"Hmm? You can call me Headphone Actor." the girl replies. "And it sounds like you've heard of me."

She takes the piece of newspaper. "This must be from the Newspaper of Horror. That would explain why I can't read it. Did you know? Only people who are sent the newspaper can read it, so if you want me to look at something, you're going to have to say it out loud."

FelyxZephyr · « **Reply #12 on:** July 04, 2012, 01:19:53 AM »

Serako makes a noise of frustration and reads:

Culprit Found in the "H.A." Murders
The culprit of the "H.A." murders has been found. Witness reports were able to link a student from Silver Spring Industrial High School, known only as Headphone Actor (Aries), to both the Green Hills murders and the murder of Mr. Rattigan. Headphone Actor was confronted last night outside of Moongate Park, but managed to overpower her pursuers and escape. The Silver Spring Spirit Police Department will assemble a larger team, and attempt to apprehend Headphone Actor at 12:00 PM today.

You've been making the front page since the Thirtieth. They have recorded two murders done by you.

But...

Ugh.

Serako holds her head. She pulls out her notebook. and looks at the prior issues, where she wrote her notes. I wonder if anyone else could be involved in this (Asking for an opportunity to roll to discover the pattern of "Summer Heat" in the Horoscopes)

But you are in danger.

And so am I. I stopped the results of the newspaper from coming true, I saved a woman from a pack of kitsune. The newspaper is targeting me and a Scorpio guy today, some guy named Angelo Cadenza.

Hanako Tachibana · « **Reply #13 on:** July 04, 2012, 01:23:20 AM »

"I'm in danger? Lol, I wouldn’t worry about that, the Silver Spring Spirit Police Department are pussies. And besides, its happening at 12:00 PM, so there isn't anything to worry about. I'm more interested in how you are in danger. If it has to do with the supernatural, I might be able to help you. You've read about my exploits, I'm pretty strong when it comes to that kind of thing."

FelyxZephyr · « **Reply #14 on:** July 04, 2012, 01:57:14 AM »

"What do you mean? The weather says that there is gonna be a blizzard at noon. Do you know anything about that?

You said that yukimura was checking out a weather thing, is he looking into the blizzard?"

Serako sighs again. She might as well tell this high school girl what is going on, but it is embarassing.

"Like I said, I am being targetted by the newspaper. Unfortunately, it is quite unclear about what will kill me. Their collector is a woman made of newspaper who has been sucking on my life expectancy. The newspaper announced that it takes a year of my life for every newspaper, which is once a day, but I didn't register for this and the 'how to cancel' section doesn't seem to exist. Regardless, I've been targetted. I have to stop whatever is gonna kill me at exactly noon today. Along with you apparently. The newspaper is only wrong when I have made it wrong.

Oh, since you are the the expert here, there has been a lot of talk about Luck locusts in the area. There is talk in the news paper about the possibility of a nest in the area. I don't know what those things are though.

Hanako Tachibana · « **Reply #15 on:** July 04, 2012, 02:01:00 AM »

"Lets see... how should I go about explaining this. Okay, first, if the newspaper says you are going to die at noon today, you don't have anything to worry about. It is impossible to make any predictions about anything that would occur after noon today. As for the Luck Locusts, I've never heard of them so I can't help you there. As for the blizzard, I know a little bit about it. At least I think I do. That information came from a pretty well trusted source."

She sighs

"if you really want to know about the blizzard, and why you don't have to worry about any predictions past noon today, well, I guess I can tell you. It probably won't make you any happier, though."

FelyxZephyr · « **Reply #16 on:** July 04, 2012, 02:04:02 AM »

"I don't presume that it can't be worse than death, but you might as well tell me. Frankly, I've seen two people die from this newspaper and the only reason the yesterday's prediction didn't come true was because I managed to stop them."

Hanako Tachibana · « **Reply #17 on:** July 04, 2012, 02:05:51 AM »

"Well, today at noon the world ends. 'Fragments of the heavens will fall to the earth like snow, and the world will end.' At least, that's what Mekakushi says. So yeah, things don't matter so much after 12:00 PM. There won't be a world for things to matter in any more."

FelyxZephyr · « **Reply #18 on:** July 04, 2012, 02:09:00 AM »

Serako stares at the High school student for a moment.

"So Yukimura is doing something about that? What are you doing? You don't seem terribly worried about that entire end of the world thing."

Hanako Tachibana · « **Reply #19 on:** July 04, 2012, 02:11:19 AM »

"The boss? No, he's just trying to investigate the storm. He doesn't know anything about the end of the world. And why I'm not worried about it? Well, how could I be worried about it? Worry is only useful if there is something you can do. I can't stop the world from ending, so there is no point in worrying. And I suppose I've had some time to get used to the whole idea, make my peace, that sort of thing. I did say that it wouldn't make you any happier..."

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Author Topic: The 4th Day (Read 7198 times)