PC: Tama 💀

[resumed]

Comments

[ballies]

People use hypnosis for driving people to actions sometimes. Some people here can control fire, I can manipulate electronics, Ryuki’s eye is a disco party.

I don’t think it’s weird to consider someone running this might be hiding a power of their own, do you?

[resumed]

...we still don't know what everyone's team powers do. And we don't know that there aren't other powers people just aren't talking about. I hadn't wanted to really consider it, but it's starting to look like there aren't other options, are there?

[ballies]

Other than finding out where these higher ups are grabbing them by the neck?

… My team’s powers aren’t enough to be able to manipulate someone into murder. [ she sighs. ] You haven’t seen anything like someone acting suspicious? Someone who knows more than you think they should?

[resumed]

I've been looking, believe me. Someone has to have a better idea than we do. It doesn't make any sense that everyone's in the dark. But I'm not even sure what I should be looking for at this point.

[ballies]

“Things that seem out of place” is a pretty vague guide to begin with. Maybe I should talk to Phoenix again and see if I can’t wrangle more out of them.

[ bleeeeh. ]

But…. you’re not wrong. There’s always someone who knows more.

[resumed]

You might have more luck than me. I've told Phoenix everything I know, so they should be up to date as much as I am. Maybe more, depending who else has spoken to them.

[ he nods slowly. ]

...what bothers me still about yesterday is that note Will found in that bento. About what Norma's wonderball did and when it would be used.

[ballies]

…

Right. We assumed it was Chiemi’s because we had no handwriting to compare it to, but— do you think someone saw what was going on, but couldn’t intervene?

[resumed]

It must have been. Where else do you think it would come from? [ but he's thinking this over slowly. ] I wonder how they saw things happen. Or why they couldn't intervene at all. What was stopping them?

[ballies]

They could be trapped in an observer's role...? Like a power by with limitations. Maybe they can only see what's going on, but after it's occurred.

[resumed]

The rest of us are limited, so that probably makes sense. [ thinking, thinking. ] You think it's like an aftermath then and that's why they can't tell us? Because it's too suspicious otherwise.

[ballies]

There's got to be something stopping them from interacting. Think about it -- it's not like they had to leave a note, but they did.

Doesn't that suggest that someone is trying to intervene however they can?

[ i also, truly, forgot we had roles. ]

[resumed]

[ becks im crying. ]

Yeah. I'm mostly impressed that the note wasn't burned with the rest of the stuff in that store, but it makes me think either they placed it somewhere that wouldn't get burned, or...somehow they circumvented the fire. I don't know. We all looked everywhere on Friday after we put out the flames. Knowing that something like this is possible now, we're going to have to look at everything even closer. What if we'd missed it?

[ ... ]

Not that it really helped us solve much of anything, but the effort was there I think.

[ballies]

[ we haven’t had them for so long i completely blanked the idea there was a role doing their thing in trial ]

Knowing it’s there is half the battle, really. The person who left the note probably saw that it didn’t work out the way they’d hoped, so maybe they’ll try something else and see how that goes.

Ultimately, we solved what happened. Or— we think we did. [ stares at francy who i just called norma, and jan ] So it wasn’t useless.

[resumed]

I hope you're right. Other people besides us are bound to be talking about the possibility, so they'll probably hear about it and get new ideas. If it's something meant to help us, they'll find a way.

[ there's a sigh. ]

Completely right answer in a wrong direction? I'll take what I can get.

[ballies]

It’s not like people are plugging up their ears or anything. They’re bound to hear something.

[ hmm. ]

Well, we did figure out what happened to Chiemi. But we’re assuming what happened to Norma — it adds up, but we’re not going to know for sure.

[resumed]

For now we're going to have to assume that's what happened. If something comes up later that says otherwise...well, we'll have to ask Chiemi for forgiveness later. I think it's easier for people to draw that conclusion though instead of thinking we let a different culprit walk away.

[ballies]

[ she had used bullets and jan would give francy surprise freedom. ]

Yeah… there’s always a chance more will come out later. But we shouldn’t let it distract us going forward.

[resumed]

Right. Getting too caught up in the small details is just going to trip us up further. [ he shakes his head. ] So what is forward today? Just regrouping?

[ballies]

Regrouping. Giving ourselves a moment to just— not get overwhelmed? Not get too lost in the whole mess?

[ ✨ depression? ✨ ]

[resumed]

[ a sigh. ]

...it's hard when we all want to fix things right away, but that's probably the right answer for now. We just have to remember to be kind of patient.

[ballies]

Especially not when you have … well. A deadline, I guess. Twice isn’t a coincidence.

[resumed]

The rules aren't either. They really want to emphasize that this is our new normal here. At least for the duration of the competition.

[ballies]

[ she pulls a face. ]

I wonder if we can hijack it and rewrite the rules.

[resumed]

We'd have to find out who's updating the rules in the first place, wouldn't we? I don't even remember how it happened, just that the phone updated.

[ballies]

It’s gotta be coming from somewhere. Rules don’t just manifest from nowhere.