ghettobatman | Night one

Night one

[Well, Matt didn't see anything. But he experienced it with all of his other senses - terrifying, overwhelming, inhuman, monstrous, horrifying, disgusting, infuriating.. Those kids didn't stand a chance. And neither would he, with his sense dulled.]

[It makes his world on fire burn a little brighter, and Matt may or may not have busted a few knuckles punching the foliage.]

[Regardless, once he's suitably calmed down, he'll seek out ahoge, sans panties. This might take a while, but somehow, he'll locate him.]

Hinata? May we speak?

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[Hinata is woefully out of place in this jungle. He's a kid from Japan who's biggest dream was going to school and making something of himself there. He has zero experience in this kind of thing. In the dark, he's kind of muttering to himself, trying to figure out which way to go. He definitely doesn't want to go toward that sinkhole, after all...]

Gah!

[And then he's startled. There he is again. That lawyer. How does he keep popping up like this!?]

Uh... yeah. It's Matt, right?

[it's like he's a superhero (?!) or something.]

[In any case, Matt is having some difficulty traversing the terrain even with his cane and careful movements, but Hinata's voice is easy enough to follow.]

[don't let him fall down the sinkhole.]

That's right.

...Are you alright?

[Nah lawyers can't be superheros.

Anyway, just listen for the sounds of his footsteps. He's not exactly walking away, but he is moving to a safe distance away from that hole.]

I... yeah. I guess. I don't know if anyone's fine, after what happened.

[Harvey Birdman tyvm]

[Matt will slowly gravitate towards him, stumbling a little. Maybe he should offer his elder a hand, gosh]

Understandably. I couldn't exactly make out what was happening, but... [he's definitely not going to ask this super high school level nerd to give the details] I got the gist of it.

I do have a few things I want to ask you, however.

[Clearly an outlier.

But nah, you got this, blind guy. Except not really, because Hinata kind of just. Wavers a second before offering his hand. Then belatedly realizing that the other guy probably can't see that.]

Uh... here, if you're having trouble, I can try to walk with you.

[Touches... his shoulder... don't freak out, man.

...But of course he wants to ask a few things. Hinata lets out a bit of a tired, annoyed noise, and just nods, again before realizing that that probably can't be seen either.]

Go ahead.

[He gets the gist of it. And yes, he'll take Hinata's arm, such a kind-hearted youth...!]

I appreciate that, thanks.

[As for the much more unpleasant subject matter...]

Now, I'm sorry to have to ask you this - I know this must not be easy to talk about - but I need to hear more about this... trip you mentioned before. With your school.

[Just don't try to kill him or anything-!]

...Why do you need to? I already told you it probably doesn't have anything to do with this.

[At least he's not mean enough to stop guiding Matt in response to the question... he kind of knew it was coming.]

[Nah, they can slowly hobble... somewhere together]

Even so, there's still a chance. And I need as much information I can - even from a similar situation - to put a stop to this.

Please, Hinata. I know it's not something that's easy to talk about - especially to a stranger, but I need your help.

It's not just that it's not easy to talk about, but... you saw what happened in the trial. No one knowing who to vote for... I don't think anyone's going to want to abstain again, either.

If more people know about what happened on that island, don't you think I'll be suspected? I don't want something like that to happen to me!

[He... actually sounds genuinely scared of that, though he's really doing his best to keep a steady voice.]

[Yeah, he's right about the abstaining. He'd expected repercussions, but "voting at random and the two top "suspects" being forced to fight to the death or else they both get eaten by a monster was not one of them.]

Having been in a situation like this before doesn't make you a murderer, it makes you a victim. Furthermore, sharing your experiences means being forthcoming; a wolf in sheep's clothing would hide it and use it to their advantage.

[but he knows Hinata is scared, but...]

I won't ask you to trust me. But I can guarantee that anything you tell me will stay between us unless I have your permission to share. I'm only interested in putting a stop to this game before more people get hurt.

[good luck with that, Matt]

...Yeah. I get it. I really don't know if it will help, but when you put it like that...

[Matt might suspect him either way, but if the lawyer is telling the truth, then telling him might be fore the best. He breathes a sigh and rubs his hand through his hair before starting again.]

The island... the killing school trip took place on an island like this one, Jabberwock Island. My classmates and I were taken there and told that the only way we would be permitted to leave would be if one of us killed the other. But I didn't kill anyone to get here. Jabberwock Island is technically five big islands surrounding a smaller, central island, so we were on a boat to one of the other ones.

Anyway... as an additional motive, Monokuma, the guy who took over the trip, told us that all of our school memories had been erased, and that more time has passed than we'd thought. That... might be why I can't remember my talent, but I'm not sure I can really believe a controlled memory loss, you know?

[He pauses, staring warily at Matt to see what his reaction is to the story so far.]

[Matt is listening very carefully, really wishing that his magical bullshit lie detecting powers worked. He is, however, trying to get a sense of Hinata's heartbeat as he listens.]

[His expression doesn't change much, but he's quite attentive]

Controlled... memory loss? How could they have the means for that?

Do you have any idea why they would do something like that? [not that psychopaths need a reason, but. This isn't the kind of story a kid would make up, as ludicrous as it sounds.]

[He's not so sure what to make of it.]

I don't know. On the island, we thought maybe some kind of enormous organization could have been behind it, but I just don't know.

[If he can hear Hinata's heartbeat, it's a bit quicker than a usual resting pace; what with the stress of the jungle by itself, this whole situation, and talking about Jabberwock Island, this boy is a bit of a wreck at the moment.]

I don't know the reason, either. Monokuma kept going on about filling us with despair, [Though heartbeat aside, Matt should be able to all but hear the air quotes,] as if that was supposed to mean something.

[He's softening his tone a little.]

[Air quotes and all]

A man kidnapping a schoolful of teenagers to force them to murder each other so they can be filled with despair... I might not have believed it, if we hadn't ended up here.

[then again, he lived in New York.]

...But I believe you, Hinata. I'm sorry you went through something like that.

[now please tell him all about Monokuma so he can make late night plans for fun visits]

I wouldn't call Monokuma a man, exactly. A black and white stuffed bear that could draw a machine gun out of nowhere, more like.

I don't know who was controlling him, or what their real reason is, but... that's that, I guess. I know it sounds unbelievable, but... do you really think this information will help with anything?

Edited 2015-08-13 13:22 (UTC)

[okay, what the actual fuck]

A... bear.

[He's just. gonna have to roll with this. A giant monster ate two girls alive, a short time ago.]

[Matt's from MCU. Surely.... stranger things have happened.]

We really need all the information we can get, Hinata.

[A pause.]

How about the murders? Was it similar to this?

[A stuffed bear, yeah. Yeah, Hinata wouldn't believe it if he hadn't been there himself.]

Not... similar to this, no. Togami... Togami was stabbed with an iron skewer from beneath the floorboards of an old building we were in. He was like... our leader. He'd vowed to protect everyone and make sure no one was killed, and then... he was the first victim.

But... there was enough evidence that we were able to piece it all together and solve that Hanamura was the one who'd done it, so... Monokuma executed him. Hanamura's... was... the Super High School Level--

[He pauses a moment here. He was going to say 'Cook,' but Hanamura's words: call me Chef! rings through his mind instead.] Super High School Level Chef, so Monokuma buttered and breaded him and dropped him in a volcano like a piece of fucking tempura.

[Oops, he sounds really, really upset about this now that he's talking about it. He's never had to put the executions into words before, and it just makes him angry, the level of absurdity.]

[Of course he was. The more Hinata goes on, the more he thinks about how crazy that all sounds. Crazier still, he finds himself believing it.]

[Doesn't that make him the crazy one?]

So it was a trial, and investigation. A so-called justice system, ran by Monokuma?

[but he can see Hinata starting to get upset, and though he's tense himself, he's putting a hand on the youth's shoulder]

I'm sorry. [what else can he say, other than "I'm going to make it my mission to find that bear and torture him within an inch of his life."]

Yeah. None of us are police or detectives, so a lot of it was... well, Mioda was able to use her talent as the Super High School Level Musician to tell voices apart, and... we were lucky. With all of us working together, we were able to reach a conclusion.

[Well, most of them.]

That's the thing, though. It was just us. The "trial" was when we were able to argue and present points for each other. There were no lawyers or anything involved. It was just... us. So in that respect, it's... kind of like here. At least we have you and Detective Skye, which... kind of adds some legitimacy to these proceedings? It doesn't help when there's no evidence.

[That's a lot to say, and though Hinata's shoulder is stiff under Matt's hand, he doesn't exactly push his hand away, either.]

Don't apologize. It's... it's not your fault, you know?

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Night one

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