Realistic or Modern [IC] Carnage Toilet (惨殺便所)

[Giant Rubber Ducky]

Carnage Toilet
惨　殺　便　所

"Just who is in the toilet?"
「便所の中には何者だ？」

OOC | IC | Character Sheet | Rules | Misc Information
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Niigata, Japan
Narukami City
​

On the evening of 6 January 2017, something appeared in one of Narukami High School's toilets. Nobody had any idea what it was, and for the most part, nobody saw it or even knew it was there.

But it killed Student Council President Saichi Yamamoto. The second person who entered the toilet that evening found his dismembered body strewn across the floor and clogging the sinks. Finding no trace of foul play, the police could only conclude that Yamamoto's death was the result of a gruesome and highly bizarre accident, the details of which they could not ascertain.

A terrible start to the final term of the year. Nevertheless, the Principal was adamant that school life and curriculum was to carry on as per normal. He had the problem toilet cordoned off, and the remaining toilets installed with security cameras.

That didn't stop the thing. On 2 March 2017, just a few days before the school year officially ended, 2nd-year student Miyu Hayashi entered the female toilet on the third floor of the classroom block, and didn't come out. Three hours later, another girl entered the toilet and found Hayashi's head in a sink. The rest of her body was missing.

And thus, the school year ended on a horrendously bloody note. Further investigation by the police found nothing of interest except for a strange ammonia-like smell rising from the drains.

The new school year, which began on 3 April 2017, saw the beginning of a paranoid atmosphere engulfing the entire school, like the entire student body of 1,263 was in a perpetual state of mourning. It was absolutely sickening.

It was a burning desire to change this that led Class 2-B to open up a clandestine investigation of their own, to hunt down the perpetrator of the two gruesome toilet murders. Whatever it was.

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This RP begins on the 3rd of April, 2017, the first day of a new school year. You will be playing as a student (or students) of Class 2-B, which, although barely familiar with each other, has decided that something needs to be done about the toilets. After all, how can learning ever take place when there's a thing killing people whenever they use the toilets?

With the help of their homeroom teacher, Class 2-B sets off on a mission to find out just what has been lurking in the toilets for the past couple of months, independent of the police and without the knowledge of the Principal...

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この作品はフィクションですので、実在の人物、団体、事件などには、一切関係ありません。
This is a work of fiction. Any references to actual persons, organisations, and events is coincidental.

 

[Giant Rubber Ducky]

10 Ōju Street
大樹10丁目

3 April, 2017
1:15AM

​

Inspector Shūsaku Matsuo had resigned.

Following the death of Saichi Yamamoto of Narukami High School on the 6th of January that year, Matsuo had been placed in charge of Narukami's students' safety, with an arsenal of CCTV cameras and a platoon of 30 men under his command. He'd wracked his brain night after night, trying to think of ways to prevent similar accidents from happening in the future.

His efforts were in vain. Unwilling to close down all the toilets, Matsuo had opted to close just the problem toilets; quite clearly, whatever horror was lurking in there wasn't restricted just to the 2nd floor male toilet of Block B. 16-year-old Miyu Hayashi, having entered a Block A toilet in the late afternoon, was found dead in the toilet. Or rather, only her decapitated head was found, lying in a sink; the rest of her body was missing. The cameras informed Matsuo and his team that nobody else was in the toilet at the time Miyu Hayashi was in there.

Ashamed and disgraced, Shūsaku Matsuo and his top two subordinates in the case resigned at 9:30PM on the 2nd of April 2017, just shortly before Narukami High School opened its doors for a new school year on the 3rd. His position was filled by Superintendent Junya Fujita, a stone-faced man of 60 with vastly more experience than Matsuo.

In Japan, it was very much common for those in positions of great responsibility to resign over the slightest mistake. Cabinet ministers and top corporate executives did it all the time; police commanders were no different. And this was a major screw-up, one that cost not just money, but the life of an innocent 16-year-old. It screamed "resign" from the moment it was reported in the media.

And although the official reason for Matsuo's resignation was his incompetence, the former Inspector had a second, more personal reason for his stepping down.

"My daughter Yotsuha is in Narukami High School", he confided with his two former subordinates, as they dejectedly walked down a quiet street of Narukami City's suburban areas, their suits stripped of their police insignias and in disarray. "It will certainly not do for her to be protected by an incompetent commander like me."

The three middle aged men, all of whom were dishevelled and slightly rotund from years in admin positions, slowly trudged down the empty street, towards a 24-hour udon establishment that, coincidentally, also served alcohol of a large variety.

Upon stepping in, Matsuo and his two equally disgraced former underlings hastily took their seats at the bar, each ordering a kitsune-udon and a free flow of Paulaner Weißbier.

Several glasses of beer later, and the only one still remotely sober was Matsuo himself.

"Shunichirō Oda, Tadakuni Kusanagi", he addressed his two men, who by then had turned bright cherry red and were leaning back heavily on the backrests of their bar stools. "From now on... you're not subordinates... and I'm not a superior anymore. From now on... we're just incompetent morons who can't do our job properly."

Kusanagi burped.

Slowly getting out of his chair and sliding ¥2000 across the table to pay the shop's proprietor, former Inspector Matsuo stumbled out of the establishment, leaving his two companions to sleep in the shop. There was nothing he could do to get them out.

He, too, collapsed in a flaccid lump the moment he stepped out of the restaurant. Just as the clock of the City Hall tower (visible from 10 Ōju Street, where they were) struck 2, Matsuo found himself a bench beside the road, where he sat, buried his face in his hands, and quietly contemplated his life.

His life, and that of his daughter, who was about to begin her first day of school as a 2nd-year student of Narukami High School, the school which he had failed.

"Please, Jesus... let Yotsuha be okay...", he murmured to himself, the smell of malt heavy on his breath. "...don't let her come to harm... because of her lousy father's mistakes..."

 

[Giant Rubber Ducky]

Kitabayashi Station
北林駅

3 April, 2017
7:30AM

Kitabayashi Station, located along the Kazami Line (more commonly known as the Blue Line), was not known for anything particularly interesting, except as the station which connected Narukami High School to the rest of Narukami City. The generations of students who attended the high school were all very much familiar with the station, to the point that jokes arose about whether the station should be absorbed into the school compound. As the 68th Student Council President succinctly put it in a tongue-in-cheek joke in his valedictorian speech in 2011, "because nobody else ever uses it anyway".

For Ryūji Yamamoto, in the first year he had spent at Narukami High, the station had become a safe haven of sorts. Throughout his Year 1 days, he'd spent a good number of occasions just sitting on one of the metal park benches arranged neatly outside the station, drinking Taiwanese bubble tea and either chatting with his classmates or judo teammates, or simply relaxing there, texting and looking at the poster pasted on the billboard

(For the first one month Ryūji was at Narukami, it was a poster advertising an AKB48 concert. Then it was a rather gimmicky ad for toothbrushes which stayed for a surprisingly long time, and then, just before school ended for winter break, it was Rogue One. After that, he'd never bothered to pay attention to the posters.)

"Forty minutes before school starts, eh?"

School at Narukami High started at 8:10AM, although students were expected to assemble at the courtyard by 8:05AM for morning assembly, though that was still much later than most other schools in the country.

Despite having reached Kitabayashi Station 45 minutes early, Ryūji headed straight for school nonetheless. Many of the other students who came early tended to visit the bookstores or pop by the nearby Starbucks for a drink or two, Ryūji seldom followed them; usually, he would just buy himself a hot Boss® Rainbow Mountain coffee from the vending machine outside the station, and then cross the road and head straight for school.

Today, there was a surprisingly large number of people in the school ground by the time Ryūji had reached. It took him a moment to realise that many of them were the Year 1 students, his roughly 400 new kōhai, all of whom had yet to be educated of the Narukami High School culture of not going directly to school if you arrived early. At the front of the courtyard, three whiteboards had been set up, all covered in papers listing the class allocations for the year.

Thankfully for Ryūji, who hated crowds, the second whiteboard (i.e. the one with Year 2 allocations) wasn't particularly crowded.

Just imagine if it was like that whiteboard the Year 1 students were all awkwardly crowded round. How horrifying it would be to have to jostle around with at least thirty other people you hardly knew...

"Oi, Yamamoto. We're both in Class 2-B."

Nearly dropping his half-full can of warm coffee in shock, Ryūji whirled round to face the taller student who had placed a hand on his shoulder and called him.

"Ah! You're-"

"Satoru Nihei", the other boy introduced, cutting off Ryūji's sentence.

"Yes", Ryūji affirmed, a bit awkwardly. "From the debate club?"

Satoru nodded and smiled, running his hand through his long hair.

"I checked the list just now", he explained, taking out his phone and briefly showing Ryūji a picture of Class 2-B's register, which he had taken a picture of earlier. "We've got some interesting people in our class this year."

"Like..."

"Like my girlfriend." How Satoru was able to divulge that information with a straight face was something Ryūji admired very much.

"Well... that's good for you, I guess", he replied, chuckling.

"There's also Hamasaki, the painter", Satoru continued, "and then there's Maruyama, our resident basketball nut. And we've also got Fukuda and-"

"Kyōshirō Fukuda or Yasumasa Fukuda?"

"Kyōshirō. The one who chews his pencils. Thank God it's not Yasumasa, that oversized ball of smelly pink teflon. Then we also have Sasaki, AKA Mr Americano-"

"Yūya Sasaki?"

"Yes, of course. I know six boys named Sasaki in this school, but only one of them has ever lived in America for two full years."

Ryūji pursed his lips, impressed at Satoru's vast knowledge of other people's class posting results. If the rest of the year could be judged by their conversation thus far, then it was going to be a very interesting year. At least, as far as school life was concerned.

There was just one more thing...

"I hear rumours", Satoru added, thrusting his hands into his pockets, "that we've got a police superintendent personally setting up shop here, just to monitor the toilet shenanigans personally. Apparently, the previous guy resigned..."

...

T That_Irish_Person PanOtterPus

 

[PanOtterPus]

Hiroki rolled out of bed at the sound of his alarm, hitting the off switch as he gave a large stretch. He had learned early that his mother was no longer taking responsibility for him getting up on time now that he was 17. Scratching his head, he got up and dressed himself, dawning his uniform in his somewhat scruffy fashion - the sign of a typical jock. Hiroki loved basketball and had joined the school's team as early as he could, now known as the local basketball nut. He took no offence to the name, he wore it like a badge of pride.

Hiroki had risen early enough to manage a quick toast breakfast before grabbing his backpack and leaving the house, with a quick kiss on his mother's cheek. He walked with an air of purpose on his way to the school building - it helped to stop people from approaching him while he was in his "morning mood". He wasn't a morning person at all. Given the current state of things at the school, it only made his moods worse. He knew there was more going on than what the students were being told. With a yawn, he reached the courtyard, giving it a quick, half-hearted scan for any of his friends, not overly bothered if he had no-one to talk to before school began.

Hiroki could see Yamamoto and Satoru chatting away to each other. He knew them both from seeing them around the school, he believed they were even in the same class this term. Hiroki gave a silent chuckle at the sight of the new first years. They were crowded around each other like sheep surrounded by wolves, looking for strength in numbers, regardless of who knew who. He himself simply wandered over to a nearby wall, perched on top and waited to be called for morning assembly.

 

[That_Irish_Person]

The sound of the alarm rang through the small room of Misaki Hamasaki, It was time to start a new year of school. She slowly made her way out of her bed patting the sleeping cat that kept her company that night. She wore a red and white school skirt reaching just above her knees, her white button up blouse with a bow matching the skirt, and her mother's navy blue sweater. She greeted her family and bid them goodbye as she made her way to school, the coffee in her hand slowly getting cold.

When she reaches the school she sees everyone talking to each other in large groups, standing at the gates she gives a loud sigh and steps into the school grounds and made her way to the boards with classes on them throwing the coffee in the bin. "Okay.... 2B.... Huh..." Misaki has a habit of talking to herself, there wasn't much surprise or happiness in her face, just a little bit of disappointment.

As she turned around she saw Satoru Nihei and Ryūji Yamamoto talking and smiled a little, "What are those two up to now?" She made her way to Satoru and the group offering her hand out to shake, "Misaki Hamasaki, best student in the school, I believe we're in the same class this year?"

 

[Giant Rubber Ducky]

School Grounds
学校場所

"Why, yes, we are", Satoru replied, cocking his head and smiling halfway as he shook the girl's hand, Ryūji looking on a little awkwardly. "Nice to meet you. Hamasaki-san."

By then, the school grounds had become significantly more crowded than when Ryūji and Satoru first bumped into each other. For one, a good number of Year 1s had already been ushered to their rows in front of the flagpoles by the Year 3 councillors, whereupon they quietly and awkwardly sat cross-legged on the ground, still too dazed and shy to talk to each other.

Aside from them, a few familiar faces had also popped up in 2-B, like basketball nut Hiroki Maruyama (whom Ryūji, who waved, was slightly acquainted with), as well as Kyōshirō Fukuda the pencil chewer (a rather well-built guy with a case of acne self-described as "screwed up like a lasagna") and Miyuki Nakata, the undisputed Queen of bottle flipping.

Of course, there was also Nagako Arima, the much envied girlfriend of Satoru Nihei, gracefully walking through the school gates carrying a gigantic Starbucks frappe and a copy of the morning's Yomiuri Shimbun tucked under her armpit. Upon seeing Hiroki perched atop the wall, she wagged a jokingly accusatory finger at him and winked.

"Better get off that wall, Maruyama", she cautioned, dropping the honorific. "You wouldn't want to fall and break your spine and become quadriplegic."

Nagako Arima attributed her caustic sense of humour to her boyfriend's influence.

Seeing the whiteboards, around which Misaki, Satoru, and Ryūji stood, Nagako walked straight over.

T That_Irish_Person
PanOtterPus

 

[That_Irish_Person]

Misaki Hamasaki stood there watching Nagako, she knows it is rude to stare but over the break she had changed so much. Jealousy filled Misaki's mind which is very un natural for her, she is usually polite about things and accepts things but clearly not this time. Is this why she didn't talk didn't talk to me over the break? Because she was too busy looking even more pretty than what she looks like! Of course Satoru has her as a girlfriend, look at her, look at Ryūji looking at her.... Perv. These thoughts aren't right, she hasn't been this envious since her older brother had stole all of her friends at her 10th birthday party.

"Great.... Here comes Nagako," mumbled under her breath "What a wonderful wonderful surprise." Stop being so rude! Misaki couldn't help but notice that Ryūji was really shy, so she gave him a smile of confidence. There was something about this 'start of the new school year' that felt amazing, the new uniforms, the new stationary and bags, the new students. It was a nice atmosphere, everything was new and bright and full of good vibes.

She pulled out her phone and looked at a text from an unknown contact, 'A new year, a new beginning, watch out." Misaki is baffled by the text and what it meant by "watch out" until a ball hit her right in the face, the books in her hand being dropped out. No one taking ownership of the ball, Misaki's face stinging a little. Ow you stupid idiot! "Ow...."

 

[PanOtterPus]

Hiroki was quite happy to sit and watch as the others formed their groups before choosing one to join himself. He even returned Ryūji's small wave, smiling to himself. That kid was a quiet one, so they hadn't talked too much, but he was the kind of kid anyone could like really. Swinging his legs slightly, he watched more students pile into the grounds.

Hiroki's smile widened at the sound of a familiar voice. "Hello to you too, Arima." He jumped down from the wall, following her over to the others, giving them each a small nod of hello. He knew most of the faces here by now, and it was looking like they'd have an interesting set of class-mates this year.

At this thought he spotted his childhood friend, Fuyuko Suzuki, walking through the gates. He waved the girl over and almost turned red when she began skipping towards the group. Skipping.

"Ohayō~" Fuyuko sang to the group, giggling at Hiroki and pinching his cheek as a personal greeting. My, my, quite the collection we seem to have this year, she thought to herself, scanning the crowd as Hiroki rubbed his cheek.

At the sight of the ball smacking Misaki, Fuyuko bent over to help pick up her things. "Are you ok?" She asked with a concerned frown, looking around for the culprit.

 

[Giant Rubber Ducky]

School Grounds
学校場所

Instead of heading straight for his girlfriend, Satoru went, instead, for the ball that had just hit Misaki squarely in the face, much to Ryūji's shock. He lifted the offending object in the air, inspected it with a scrunched-up nose, and then hurled it back in the general direction from where it had come, without so much as a second thought.

"We need to have our basketball nut here."

Turning round, Satoru grinned at Nagako (who acknowledged her boyfriend of two months' presence with a simple nod), and then walked up to Hiroki.

"Maruyama", he called, jostling gently through the crowds of students who had begun to file into the school through the gates as the clock ticked closer and closer to 8:00AM. "We're in the same class this year."

As Satoru spoke, along came Yūya "Mr Americano" Sasaki, a small, timid, bespectacled boy who looked more like a first year middle school student than a second year high school student, his head buried in Atsushi Nakajima's The Moon Over The Mountain, followed closely by a short-haired female student councillor with a golden, athletic complexion.

"Americano! Yoshi-Yoshi!"

Sasaki merely took his eyes out of his books and smiled a clumsy, crooked-toothed smile back. "Yoshi-Yoshi" looked up at Satoru with a dagger-expression.

"That's Yoshiko Yoshida to you", she shot back at Satoru with a smile of mock irritation. "Or Yoshiko Yoshida-sama."

"Two of you are in our class", he said, ignoring her correcting him.

Smiling at the others, Yoshiko added, "Unlike our resident loudmouth Satoru, I've got council duties today. I'm giving morning announcements."

"That's nice", Ryūji said genuinely.

"Have fun, I guess", added Yūya "Americano" Sasaki, his accent distinctly foreign.

...

PanOtterPus T That_Irish_Person

 

[That_Irish_Person]

"Thank you, I'm okay...." Grabbing the books from her hands into her own. Misaki has a goal this year to make new friends, to be the head of the student council next year you need to have the most votes, what better way to get votes than to make friends. She fixed her hair and smiled showing her gratitude, she becomes very shy around people she doesn't know too well.

Misaki looked at her phone 8:02. With a sigh she had to make her way to the bathroom before the assembly. "Okay guys, I need to go, I will see you guys a bit later." She waved goodbye and walked off towards the girl's bathroom in the closest building. She was slightly satisfied by leaving the group, her friends still not here, although they are usually never at school on time, or on the first day to be exist. She opens the bathroom door slightly paranoid, but continues to walk into the bathroom and looks in the mirror. Oh god... I look horrible....

Her phone buzzed, she slowly took it out and saw it was a text from her brother, 'I'm not going to be home this afternoon so I won't be able to pick you up'. A groan comes out of Misaki as a group of girls make their way into the bathroom gossiping and giggling about the latest gossip. She walks out of the bathroom putting her headphones in and listens to Kpop loud enough to not hear the people around her.

 

[PanOtterPus]

After a frown in the direction the ball had come from, Hiroki turned back and nodded at Satoru's announcement. "Seems that way. Arima too, lucky you." Hiroki had few previous interactions with Satoru, but he knew how much Nagako liked the guy in their short time together, so he was looking forward to getting to know him a little better.

Fuyuko offered a beaming smile to Misaki before the girl took off. At the arrival of Sasaki and Yoshida, she returned back to the group and listened to the lot talking. "2-B huh? Looks like you get the joy of having me too!" Fuyuko grinned, excited to be in the same class as Hiroki again. The two had been somewhat inseparable for some time now, except for club activities.

Fuyuko wrinkled her nose at the thought of Yoshida's morning announcements. "I don't know how you do it, I can't stand public speaking." Hiroki knew this for a fact, remembering one occasion where they had to do presentations and the girl came very close to vomiting. Her grandmother had to pick her up from school and take her home for the rest of the day.

 

[Giant Rubber Ducky]

School Grounds
学校場所

8:10AM

Sniggering somewhat playfully, Satoru pulled one hand out of his pocket to scratch his nose, looking up at the sky and exhaling deeply, releasing a jet of thin mist from his lips.

"I mean", he said, his tone darkening slightly, as he adjusted the navy blue armband clasped round his arm that denoted he was a student councillor (student leaders, on the other hand, wore maroon armbands), "we've got other things to worry about. Like what's in... the bathrooms."

He stressed heavily on the word "bathrooms".

The Year 1 students were informed of the situation at hand before they even joined the school officially, as was the general public through the media. Narukami High School was stuck in an awkward limbo; two deaths was tragic and shocking, especially given the horrific nature of how they'd died, and the foul-play-but-not-foul-play ambiguity that surrounded the whole case. Yet, it wasn't enough for the local administrators to endure the disruption of shutting the entire school down.

Ryūji swallowed uncomfortably.

Eventually, the conversations were cut short by the chiming of the Westminster chimes, heralding the beginning of a brand new school year. As the last few students were rounded up into the courtyard quadrangle by armband-wearing Year 3 councillors bearing megaphones, supervised by the odd teacher here and there, a quick march with a distinctly German vibe to it began to play on the loudspeakers. That was, as those in Year 2 and Year 3 knew, the signal to stand up, arranged in orderly rows according to their classes, to prepare for morning assembly.

30 students (not including Yoshiko Yoshida, who stood beside the platform). Class 2-B was complete.

Hmm... hey, look! It's Takeru Ikeda, from the choir! He's in Class 2-B too?

Two student councillors hastily raised the Japanese national flag and the deep blue Narukami High School school flag on the twin flagpoles, before taking their leave. Then, the legendary Principal of Narukami High, Dr Yūma Kagakui, took to the podium.

"Good morning, school."

And then he bowed. The 1,200 odd students standing in the gigantic courtyard, in return, bowed to the Principal in greeting.

...

 

[That_Irish_Person]

Misaki wasn't able to see anything on the platform because of her height and I giant in front of her. She has never been that fond of her height, she can never reach anything and can't wear long dresses or skirts. The thing she hates most is people patting her head like a pet dog or cat but not many people know that.

This is meant to be a high school, not a Nazi camp! Why can't we just sit down like normal students, it's too hot to be standing outside. What's the bet that the principal will bring up the bathroom incidents. Oh there is meant to be an exchange student moving into Class 2B....

Misaki's thought was taken away by the collapse of a new student, "Aw man, I'm such a cluts.... First I'm late and then I fall over in front of everyone... How embarrassing" It was rather quiet because she was so far away

Oh god.... Please don't be the exchange student.... Misaki thought to herself, annoyance flooding over her face but relaxing into a soft smile as she fiddled with the hem of her skirt.

The body still on the ground as she rubbed her head, clearly not the part she landed on everyone looking at her in awe of her face and body and how 'cute' she was.

 

[Giant Rubber Ducky]

School Grounds
学校場所

Without flinching, Dr Kagakui reached into the inner pocket of his jacket, as two teachers rushed to pick up the fallen student and drag her out of the crowd. Pulling out a paper, the 64-year-old Principal tapped the microphone to test it, before reading out his pre-prepared speech.

"Welcome back to a new school year, and to our new Year 1s, welcome to Narukami High School. I trust that this year will be a fruitful and enjoyable for us all; we have a whole set of exciting events, programmes, and activities planned out for 2017, and I'm sure each and every one of you will have the potential to continue growing here, under our guidance."

With that, Dr Kagakui got off the podium. He was well known for his brief and succinct speeches, almost all of which were one minute or less. The only time he had ever given a really long speech was six years ago, when a student had been caught with marijuana joints in his bag. Back then was one of the few times that the famously cool and calm Principal had actually lost it.

What surprised many about the Principal's first speech of the year was his not mentioning the toilet situation. That the toilets were not to be used was, presumably, very much clear from the police tape closing the doors off.

The empty spot on the podium was promptly filled by Student Councillor Yoshiko Yoshida of Class 2-B, carrying a large folder filled with assorted Student Council papers. She'd come to deliver the morning announcements.

"Announcement from school admin: All students are to check the name lists to ensure that there are no printing errors in their names."

A few assorted sniggers rose from the student body.

"Announcement from school admin: We will be hosting a Q&A session this Friday afternoon from 2:00PM to 5:00PM, on the subject of a career as diplomatic staff. Our guest speakers will be Assoc. Prof. Daisuke Nagakawa from Kyoto University's Political Science faculty, and Mr Kao Tse-chuan, a former translator at the Taiwanese Embassy to Japan. Attendance is not compulsory, but students who wish to attend will be excused from afternoon lessons and extracurricular activities for the day. The venue will be the school hall."

Interesting, thought Satoru. Especially since this year is Narukami's mayoral election year.

"Announcement from school admin: All students are reminded not to enter the toilets. Students who need to use the toilet are to use the portable toilets beside the school field."

Silence.

"End of announcements."

And the students dispersed in orderly rows arranged by class, heading off to their home room.

 

[That_Irish_Person]

Calm down Misaki, it's just a girl. You're fine, just put on a happy face and push through this year, you will be off to college soon enough. Misaki made her way to the new student still carrying her books in hand finding the new student surround by other girls giggling and gossiping. She took this as a sign that she was busy and started to walk off before the new student runs past her pushing her shoulder making her books drop again.

She ran towards Satoru running into his chest, "I'm so sorry.... I didn't mean to run into you I swear, I'm sorry." Bowing multiple times, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm such a klutz." She was slightly blushing a little at the charms of Satoru.

Misaki picked up her books again and looked at her phone, she texts her brother, 'It's fine, I will walk.' She seemed a little deflated and let out a sigh walking towards the new girl and Satoru.

 

[Giant Rubber Ducky]

2年B組

Unfazed by Misaki's collision into him, Satoru smiled and chuckled, picking up a single paper that had fallen out of one of her books, before cooly turning back and heading to 2-B's homeroom for the year.

The class was very lucky; they, along with 2-A, had been allocated to ground-floor classrooms that directly faced the courtyard in which morning assembly was held, but also not too far away from the school hall. That meant that, regardless of the weather, getting to class didn't involve climbing up flights of stairs or navigating snake-like corridors.

Ryūji had had a full year of that back in Year 1. It was alright at first, but eventually became quite annoying.

Inside the classroom, even before the first student had set foot inside, stood the homeroom teacher of Class 2-B, leaning against the teacher's desk and gazing at the back of the class blankly. Upon noticing his students for the year entering, he stood up straight to his full 180cm (5ft 9), buttoning the top button of his black jacket, before lifting a stubby piece of chalk off the blackboard tray and scratching his name onto it.

武田　弦次

"Ladies and Gentlemen", he greeted the class, once the last person had taken his seat (aside from the one who had fainted during assembly), "I am Genji Takeda. I teach history, and I will be your homeroom teacher for the year."

As the 30 students stood awkwardly, Mr Takeda, his expression stern and military-like, looked down at the class list on the desk, before raising his head again.

"Yūya Sasaki-kun, you're on class monitor duty for the month of April."

The small, bespectacled boy nearly collapsed from fright upon hearing his name, but soon got his wits together.

"R...Rei!" (TN: rei = bow)

"Good morning, Takeda-sensei."

The class bowed.

"Good morning. Please take your seats."

As the class sat down, still too early in the year for much chattering to go on, Mr Takeda began shuffling through the papers. He was, it seemed, vastly different from many of the other homeroom teachers the class was familiar with. A good number of them, at least.

For example, Ryūji's homeroom teacher in Year 1, a rather rotund lady in her early forties named Mei Nezu, could hardly stop talking on the first day she met her class, discussing a wide variety of things despite the awkwardness the class had felt on their very first day in the new school. That she was a good person wasn't something most people disputed. It was just that she happened to be, perhaps, far too loud and a little bit overexcited about anything under the sun.

Perhaps it was the sudden darkening of the atmosphere following the two toilet deaths, which was undoubtedly a real downer for the school's population in general, but from what little they'd heard about Mr Genji Takeda, both Ryūji and Satoru understood that he was, toilet monsters or no toilet monsters, a man of few but efficient words.

"Your assistant homeroom teacher is Mrs Minori Ishizuki", Mr Takeda continued, still sorting out the papers on the desk into the drawers, "but she's down with a flu, so you'll only see her next week."

The class remained silent.

"In the meantime, the only thing you'll need to remember is the thing about the toilets. I'm sure all of you know what I'm talking about."

...

 

[PanOtterPus]

Kazumi, as usual had shown up late enough to miss morning announcements, but he was just in time to catch up with the students filing into class 2-B. He took his seat, panting slightly after his jog to school.

Everyone was unusually quiet for the start of the year, probably a product of the gossip about the toilet murder/accidents. Kazumi found the whole thing fascinating. Fuyuko, on the other hand, didn't. She couldn't stand the thought of these things happening at her school, and she dreaded the moment the toilets opened again. She'd hear the rumours. How could they find a potential culprit that no one could see?

Hiroki took no notice of the matter - sure it was interesting, but he just wanted to get his work done and go home. He liked their new teacher. He was a well put together kind of man, and Hiroki respected that kind of thing. Sure, Hiroki was no angel child, but he respected adults with authority.

 

[Giant Rubber Ducky]

2年B組

"Takeda-sensei..."

"Hm?"

For some reason, Yūya "Americano" Sasaki had raised his hand to ask a question. The clock hanging above the blackboard read 8:26, just four minutes before the beginning of the day's first lesson.

"I was just wondering..."

For a moment, Yūya stammered, fidgeting in his seat nervously as Mr Takeda patiently watched him with his poker face. Eventually mustering the confidence to finish his sentence, he continued.

"I was just wondering, isn't there something we can do about the toilets?"

Mr Takeda checked his watch.

"The police are handling the case", he explained, not just to Yūya, but to the rest of the class too, "so you can't really do much about it."

He went back to sorting out the admin documents, but something about the way he had stressed the "can't" seemed to hint that Mr Genji Takeda was implying something he most likely shouldn't have been implying.

 

[That_Irish_Person]

Misaki was one of the last to walk into homeroom, awkwardly shuffling in making her way to the middle seat a row behind the first in front of the board. She looked at the teacher seeing his face before but not making such a big deal out of it. She placed her books on the table and looked around the class seeing the obvious parings. Everyone's attention was drawn to the new student walking through the door.

Yukie was rather taken aback by all of the eyes but loved the attention, "I'm sorry I'm late...." She bowed at the teacher her hair falling in her face.

Misaki sat at the table slightly annoyed at her late arrival, it's understandable that she is new but being 10 minutes late is asking too much. She couldn't help but see Ryūji not looking at the new student and she couldn't help but to feel happy at that. Blushing a little.

"I am Yukie Asano.... I'm the exchange student."

 

[PanOtterPus]

Fuyuko thought their teacher's response to be rather odd, but her thoughts were cut off at the arrival of a new student. The class had fallen silent and stared at the girl as she entered. Exchange student? They hadn't had one of those in some time.

Hiroki, on the other hand, didn't appreciate the interruption. He may not have been too interested in the toilet deaths, but they way Takeda-sensei had answered caught his attention. The adults were definitely hiding something and this was beginning to catch Hiroki's attention.

Kazumi simply admired the fact that someone was finally later than he was. That was his job, and he appreciated it not being him for a change. He watched as the girl entered the room and bowed to their teacher, introducing herself. He then began to ponder more about the toilets, and dreaded having to use the temporary ones. He didn't like public bathrooms at the best of times and now they had one that seemed to be killing students and another of the portable variety. Welcome to a new school year!

 

[Giant Rubber Ducky]

Class 2-B
2年B組

12:30PM (Lunch)

The first couple of periods passed rather quickly. Immediately after homeroom happened to be history, so Mr Takeda remained in class and introduced himself, before laying out lesson expectations and other such formalities. Class 2-B heard nothing more about the toilets, and the most they learned about Mr Takeda was that he was 41 years old, was born in Hiroshima, and attended Kyoto University. He was also, judging by the simple platinum ring clasped round his ring finger, a married man, but he said nothing of that.

Then there was Chemistry, taught by a bespectacled, shaven-head man of 29 years by the name of Mr Tsutomu Mori. He was a loud and excitable individual who taught like a machine gun. Afterwards was Mathematics with a similarly young looking man named Mr Jirō Tokuda, who was the complete opposite of Mr Mori in that his voice had as much variation in tone as a vacuum cleaner, and sounded just about as interesting. And last of all was Mrs Natsu Kōzuki, a hawkish woman in her early fifties who taught Japanese literature like a dictator. The older students all praised her as one of the best literature teachers around, but she was still a terror to behold nonetheless.

Lunchtime eventually came, faster than on ordinary school days because there weren't any official lessons yet, seeing as it was the first day of the new school year. Once the bell went off, Mrs Kōzuki picked up her stack of papers and files and left the room promptly, leaving the students of Class 2-B to their own devices.

A good number of them left for the cafeteria, while others simply stayed around and slept with their heads on the table or ate their homemade lunches.

Ryūji, Satoru, and Nagako all brought food; Ryūji had a homemade yakisoba, Satoru had a bento bought from the Family Mart just outside Sakō Station (where he lived), and Nagako had a sandwich.

"I swear, they're hiding something from us", said Satoru, picking up a piece of chicken kara-age and bringing it to his mouth with his wooden chopsticks.

"Of course they're hiding something from us", Ryūji replied. "It's a police case; there's bound to be some things the public don't get to see."

Satoru shrugged, pinching a prawn from Ryūji's yakisoba.

"Don't you find it all rather... frustrating?"

 

[That_Irish_Person]

Yukie made her way to the boys that were talking to each other intrigued when they mentioned a police case, she slammed her hands on the table everyone's eyes on her before she cleared her throat everyone going back to their own conversations. "What's frustrating?" Her face a little confused, she could only assume that they were talking about the toilet situation that she head from a few of her friends. "If you haven't heard already I am Yukie Asano, I'm the exchange student. Are you guys talking about the toilets?" She sat down next to them and took out her lunch and picked up a piece of tofu and ate it. She immediately made herself at home, she was one of the popular ones, the kind that flirts with all of the boys in school and had all the friends and acted sweet but really she was a b****.

Misaki wasn't seen by anyone since homeroom, she wasn't the most social with the people in her class, she was with her friends from the art club most lunches or from the debate club. A huff came from her as she walked past Yukie and the others bumping into Ryūji making him drop some of his food from the chopsticks. Misaki didn't apologise, she walked away her books gripped tightly bumping into everyone. First day of school and drama already.

"What's up with her?" Yukie was a noisy person and wanted to know all that she could.

 

[PanOtterPus]

Fuyuko, Hiroki and Kazumi had all brought their own lunches and so they sat in the room with the others. Fuyuko jumped a little and gave small, annoyed grunt when Yukie slapped the table - she wasn't one for dramatic folk, so she continued to eat as the others discussed the toilets.

Kazumi nodded. "Of course it's frustrating. Adults are always hiding stuff from us. I mean, I get that it's a dreadful case but we're not stupid, its obvious something is going o that they're not telling us about." The hole thing irked him. He wanted to know what was going on, and the adults just wouldn't be straight with them. They probably thought that they were just naïve kids.

Hiroki listened in silence as he ate his sandwich. He still didn't care much for the topic, however even he could see there was more to it than they knew. He'd be lying if he said his curiosity wasn't at least a little tingly.

 

[Giant Rubber Ducky]

Class 2-B
2年B組

Casting a slightly, barely noticeably annoyed glance at Yukie, Satoru lifted up his salmon bento and slurped up a chunk of teriyaki sauce-moistened rice into his mouth, followed by some flakes of salmon.

"We're high school students, damn it", he said, in a lackadaisical manner that hardly matched his words. "I think we're old enough to know what's good for..."

As he ate another chunk of rice, Satoru's voice trailed off, as he descended into deep thought, his eyes drifting about the room, first to Ryūji, and then to Nagako. The sound of the air conditioning unit's whirring penetrated the room which, aside from the group crowded round the table and a quiet boy reading a book at the back, was empty.

"I wonder..."

Ryūji perked up. Satoru thought for a moment, finished the rest of his bento, and then placed the box back on the table.

"Hmm, I've forgotten what I wanted to say..."

For a moment, they sat there, watching Satoru as he sifted through his mind, trying to reconnect his train of thought.

"What if we went in to find out just what's going on?"

...