[fieldbox=Chiyo Imada, #fbceb1, solid, 10]
[October 30th, Afternoon / Hisakawa Academy, Outside Main School Building]
"You..."
"You really can't dismiss being attacked so easily..."
Oh, that's right.
"I mean, Lisa got attacked and she hadn't even come back yet. Hell, it was only for the fact that the Hacker wanted to show Sagawa could hack that Lisa didn't fall out a window."
Chiyo winced, her grin transforming into a flat line at the mention of her childhood friend.
"Honestly, it's rather insulting how you throw yourself to be the likely one to be attacked like that."
"First off, how do you even know that would be enough to be the victim?"
"Others are close. Iori and Michio seem to follow her like some sort of plague."
But, the two people he mentioned...they did have something that Chiyo didn't. Because of that-
"At a certain point, one of those two or someone else is also going to offer themselves to be the willing sacrifice. But to Sagawa's face, most likely," A slight pause.
"Sagawa actually wants to talk to them."
"But-" Chiyo tried to explain why exactly Sagawa wanted to talk about them, tried to explain how it wasn't like she
didn't want to talk to the peach. Though, she didn't get very far obviously, as her friend continued.
"Are you going to risk an attack basing it on yourself being the victim when even that isn't certain? That's sheer carelessness for the lives of others and yourself."
He looked around for a few moments, and it dawned on Chiyo that talking about something like this right at school wasn't the brightest idea.
"Let's say you're successful in this, what then? Surely we must plan for the outcome. To stop the hacker. But what if that fails? How do we save you? Sagawa can't, she doesn't have her chip. Who else can hack?"
Leo's gaze turned suddenly cold, a sight that made Chiyo move back just the tiniest. She couldn't remember seeing this expression on his face, or at last not when she was actively engaging in conversation like this with him.
"Hackers are irredeemable monsters, how do we know that they won't use you as a harsher example? Who's going to save you from that potential fate?"
"Things can go... so wrong."
"..." Chiyo remained silent- contemplating how exactly she wanted to convey herself to her friend. Before she could get too involved into her thoughts, though, Leo started to talk again.
"Look, I get it. You want to help, whether it's a selfish need or not. But just...calm down on this whole being the victim thing."
A smile appeared across his features, his worrying warping it into something Chiyo didn't want to see.
"It's a little scary to me."
"You probably won't listen to me anyway..." He sighed.
"Have you even talked to Sagawa yet?"
"...Umm, that was an extremely logical response, Leo-kun--thank you. But, while I would love to continue discussing this with you, perhaps we should move our location somewhere else?"
"Well, what do you say, Leo-kun? I think I have the perfect place in mind."
Although worded oddly, Chiyo glanced around as she picked up her things. Though, she didn't wait long for a reply, as she suddenly started walking anyways.
[October 30th, Afternoon / Late-Night Bus Station]
Most students who commute to Hisakawa do it by train, but there are few who also commute by bus (partly for the fact that a train is hectic, and loud, and more expensive than most buses--or maybe that's just the peach's own opinions talking). As such, there are a multitude of bus stops scattered around the city, much like any other. However, while it's easier to just take one of the earlier buses which leave shortly after school ends, Chiyo has discovered that- as a result from frequent times of either
a) missing the earlier buses due to walking the wrong direction, or
b) staying at school late from her Social Morals duties- most of those bus stops don't travel all the way to Onomochi in one trip.
Well, there was one but...she didn't want to bother her step-sister, so she never boarded that one.
With this in mind, she was always forced to take the late-night bus-- which of course has the minimum amount of stops in Hisakawa, the closest being located about a 25 minute walk from school, a short way into the small forest which resides near it.
The actual bus station was just a pair of benches, placed side by side underneath a wooden roof, with semi-thick walls on three sides to support the overhanging canopy. Ivy climbed over the majority of it, hanging off the edges and leaving it to look like a
very well-used bus station. The sign, placed on the side of the road outside of the small structure, was aged slightly with rust and dented in the pole--but nonetheless legible to read.
...Throughout the entire length of the walk, Chiyo remained silent. Then, right as she walked inside of the bus station, she abruptly started to speak.
"Ah, I'm sorry. The walk usually feels shorter once you're used to walking it, I guess. This is the first time I've brought along a friend, too, so...oops?" Awkwardly shrugging, Chiyo offered Leo a spot next to her on the bench. She offered a small smile, though her eyes shifted to the side, guilt forcing them to.
After all, she's been commuting to Hisakawa since middle school. This might as well have been the most secretive thing about her that--well, no, that'd be a lie. But, nonetheless, the fact was still that it was a secret.
"I didn't really think that going to the majority of places other students would be was the smartest of choices, considering the circumstances...so this was the first place I had in mind. Sorry for any inconvenience, Leo-kun." After a few seconds delay, she placed her hands in her lap, idly staring at her feet as they swung through the air.
"But, about earlier...?" The air around Chiyo seemed to become a bit more heavy, an unusual effect seeing as most of the time she was trying to make the mood lighter.
"I apologize, Leo-kun. I didn't realize how selfish of me it was to share those thoughts with you. It was...pretty morbid, actually, wasn't it?" A small giggle escaped her lips,
"Ah, I shouldn't be laughing at that. Sorry."
...Maybe if she treated this like a Social Morals assignment, it would be easier? After all, that was technically what the investigation was, wasn't it? Chiyo decided to go with that mindset, and after a small breath, she began to speak.
"First off, today was Mizunohara-san's first day back at school. During lunch she tried to talk with me and Iori-san, but seeing as how I had made a certain deal with the other Social Morals officer in our class, I couldn't get the chance to talk with her. I was planning on doing so tomorrow."
The glasses girl stared out ahead of her, her head moving to stretch her neck as she continued.
"I believe the hacker picked Lisa-chan because of her reputation. As we both know, Lisa-chan is one of the most pacifist souls the school has yet to know, and because of that there's lots of people who enjoy her company, I believe. But, she's also friends with Sagawa Mizunohara, the computer whiz who everybody has no issues in proclaiming she's a hacker. There's a complete turnaround on the opinions and thoughts when it concerns her, and that clashes with the reputation that Lisa-chan has. So, if Lisa-chan is the "princess"... and Mizunohara-san is the "witch"...what type of conclusion do you think the story would take?"
Chiyo stopped talking, her feet falling to limply hang beneath her feet.
" 'The princess is always tricked, punished, or deceived by the witch.' Is that what you thought of?"
"Of course, these are just my own opinions and conclusions, so they're probably wrong. But, like you mentioned, Iori-san and Michio-kun both have valuable reputations as well within the school, correct? So, seeing as how they look even closer to Mizunohara-san, shouldn't they have been more valuable in the sense of being a target?"
"But, we're all forgetting the one thing that both distinguishes them and protects them--their own reputations."
"Michio-san is one of the best Social Morals officers I know of. He always goes the extra-mile if it means he can help somebody, and his own moral code has him well-known in our committee. That is to say, he is an important aspect to Hisakawa life, and if something were to happen to him like this...I'm sure either Yuri-san or Kokoro-san would be more involved. Not to mention that there's no way Sagawa-san would hurt him, so the entire idea of him becoming a victim just to frame her makes no sense. And now, rumors are spreading about how Mizunohara-san cut off ties with him...and how he agreed. So, if the hacker wanted to hurt her using Michio-kun, then he should've tried to send Michio-kun out of a second-story window."
"As for Iori-san... she likes fighting in virtu-ava battles, as I'm sure you've found out. I have suspicions about her being involved in some shady business...but even if that was true, the fact that she is 'a maid of a social moral officer' might have been enough to keep the hacker away from her. Though, it probably would've had less of a social impact had Iori-san been the one to be thrown out of a window, against Lisa-chan."
"And that is why I believe Lisa-chan was the victim, rather than those who were closer to Mizunohara-san. But, that was just a basis for why I thought that by becoming somebody "close" to the person this hacker wants to damage, it would provide reason enough to attack me. After all, I'm not very important in the huge aspect of things...I'm just a silly dreamer who has great friends." Trailing off for a few moments, Chiyo looked upwards, towards the weary wooden ceiling of the stop.
"...Though, even if my plan worked, I wasn't really thinking past the fact of 'Iori-san and Sagawa-san will be able to identify the hacker'. They wouldn't need to save me if they could just focus on doing that...Besides, it's not like the hacker is going to strike again in the middle of the day, correct? That would just prove Sagawa wasn't to blame, and would collapse all of their plans, I believe. So, if I managed to get into a somewhat-isolated location, with Iori-san and Sagawa-san nearby...well, you can imagine it wouldn't be very hard to identify the hacker then."
As she finished talking, she looked at Leo, smiling.
"But, if the hacker did decide to attack again in the middle of the day, my friends would be able to recognize something was wrong, correct?"
"Ah, but I started talking morbidly again...oops. Maybe, you shouldn't pay much attention to those details Leo-kun." As she tried to lighten up the mood, Chiyo joked with her friend...though dark humor
probably wasn't the smartest choice to use.
[/fieldbox]
@Rithas
@MorelikeBubblesFromOuterSpace