a simple question; (cw: death/dying discussion)

[icanhearscreams]

[An unsigned note appears on the bulletin board, written in extremely neat handwriting. There's a few smudges on it from erased lines, as if the author wrote it over and over again.]

Is anyone else here dead?

[Just five words. No signature. He'll see how this turns out.]

Comments

[icanhearscreams]

Mind explaining how that's possible?

[telecosmetic]

It's kind of a long story, can we meet up somewhere I can explain personally?

[icanhearscreams]

I don't mind. Where should we meet up?

[telecosmetic]

The Help Desk? It seems like one of the more stable locations.

text -> action

[icanhearscreams]

Sounds good. I'll be there soon.

[... Hopefully. As long as he doesn't get lost again.]

[Which he does. A little. But not for too long.]

[telecosmetic]

[That's fine. Eliza also gets a bit turned around, mostly because she tried to use a shortcut she remembered that was no longer a shortcut. She does make it eventually, though, only to realize she forgot to mention any physical traits for recognizing her. It takes a moment before she remembers her book, and she quickly scribbles in it.]

I'm here! I'm the girl with long black hair waving.

[She waves after writing this, to make it clear who she is.]

[icanhearscreams]

[He looks at his journal and then looks up, walking towards her. He's not short for his age, but he's still visibly barely a teenager.]

... Uh. Hey.

[telecosmetic]

Hi! [She smiles back at him, although the smile falters when she realizes they're going to discuss a less-than-cheerful topic.]

So, I guess you want to hear the story of how I died?

[icanhearscreams]

[He stares at her for a moment, then nods.]

Though I'm more curious about how you escaped the whole 'being dead' thing, yeah.

[telecosmetic]

Well, those are kind of connected, you know? It all started when I received a mysterious invitation to become a magical girl...

[She waves a hand, and a small illusion appears of herself, the same age as Jun is now, sitting on a bed in a hotel room, several creatures in various shapes scattered around said room as well. In a sparkle of light, an egg-shaped phone appears in her hands, and she gasps in delight when she reads the message on the screen, immediately pushing the button.]

...maybe not the best decision. But at first everything seemed fine. I met this cute little mascot and everyone else who got summoned, some much less voluntarily than me.

[She summons up another image, of a floating blob talking to a ragtag group.]

At first it seemed fine, just running around town doing missions like finding lost pets or showing off for fans, even if it was a little weird how we seemed to be the only real people there and the whole town was the only place we could actually go.

[icanhearscreams]

Uh huh...

[The illusion ability is weird, as are the creatures - but he's not going to interrupt, not at the moment. The 'cute little mascot' gets an eyebrow raise - but it's not Koyemshi, even if it looks kind of like it...]

So what was the issue, then?

[telecosmetic]

Well, after the first week... [She waves her hand, and another image of the mascot and the group appears.] ...Fav had a little announcement.

Apparently the town couldn't hold all of us, so someone would have to get murdered. [The image changes to be tinted red, Fav's cheerful smile somehow seeming more sinister.] And of course, there were a few little bonus motives, ways to make people really want to kill. The only thing in between people and their rewards were the trials.

[She waves her hand again, and the town scenery is replaced with a courtyard with a fountain in it. Five generic portraits float in the sky.] Once we found someone's body, we'd have some time to investigate, and then get brought to this place to discuss and figure out who did it. Then we'd vote-[She points at the portraits]-and whoever got the most votes was executed.

[icanhearscreams]

[He listens quietly. He doesn't want to interrupt. His own 'game' was murderous as well, on a larger scale.]

And I assume it repeats. Until how many are left?

[telecosmetic]

[Her expression gets solemn.]

Four, at the end. Some of those were because of this serial killer magical girl who sneaked into the town, though. [The individuals fade one by one, turning into more ghostly apparitions, until only Miach, Nagi, Recette, and Seraphina are left.] Although those of us who died were still able to see the living, and interact with the world if we tried hard enough.

[A brief intermission, to show a ghostly Eliza throwing marshmallows at Szayel.]

And...there was one last trial. To solve the mysteries, and reveal the person truly behind it all. [The living move to the center, and a spotlight shines down on Nagi.] And decide what to do with her.

[icanhearscreams]

Wait, so you were like a ghost or something? ... Weird.

[He nods, continuing to listen. None of this makes sense, but neither does his own tale.]

So what'd you do?

[telecosmetic]

Yeah, that's a pretty good description of it. And, well...everyone was pretty mad at Zange, and she phrased it like they had a choice to kill or spare her. But she was really also trapped there, for even longer than all us others. Plus...us ghosts knew that if they killed her, the whole thing would just repeat again. There were already a bunch of ghosts from the last round stuck with us. [A few more indistinct ghostly figures fade into view.]

It...it was very tense, since us ghosts couldn't communicate with the living during that trial. But in the end, they voted to spare her, and that meant all the ghosts got to come back. [Slowly, the ghostly figures fade back into full visibility. (Technically not how it went in reality, but she prefers that visual.] It also meant that the whole town was now crumbling since Zange was also free from having to run those death games now. But we had enough time to say goodbye before each heading home. Or, well, to someplace else better in a few cases. [One by one, each of the figures opens a door, stepping through as it disappears behind them.]

[icanhearscreams]

Okay... but what exactly brought you back? You just showed up alive again?

[That makes no sense.]