::Open RP - Welcome to the Confusion!::

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

So, the talking hat (which was somehow more intimidating than a talking fridge) had placed Satou in Ravenclaw. The trouble was,he had no idea what that meant, and the bizarre little bug-eyed big-eared creatures he'd seen scuttling around unnerved him too much to try and ask.

He had, however, taken Kurama's promise of free room and board to heart, and a bit of wandering had lead him to the Great Hall, which happened to have a modest buffet laid out. Jackpot! Before anyone could tell him he couldn't, he took a plate and began piling on fish and chips (mostly fish).

That was the board part seen to. Now he needed to sort out the room.

Comments

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"Does that, ha ha, does that mean we're going to live in the same place?"

He wondered how large these 'houses' were.

[oneof-me.livejournal.com]

"There are individual bedrooms, but we will share the common room and bar, and the laboratory."

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"A bar? A laboratory? That must be some house!" Something made him pause. "This isn't a reality show, is it?"

[oneof-me.livejournal.com]

"It's not a house in the sense of a separate building, but rather a residential area within the castle." She frowned slightly. "And I don't know what a reality show is." She knew the words, but they didn't seem to explain each other.

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"You're better off not knowing," he said with a weak laugh. "They're embarrassing just to watch."

[oneof-me.livejournal.com]

"Some kind of performance, then?"

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. People pretending that what you're seeing is their normal life."

[oneof-me.livejournal.com]

Unity wasn't sure what distinguished that from any other kind of show. She supposed it might be the 'normal' part. She'd been to the theatre and the opera, and as far as she knew a normal human life didn't involve that many stabbings or unconvincing disguises.

"What about this causes embarrassment?"

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"They make such a spectacle of themselves! Doing stupid things, getting into all sorts of humiliating drama."

[oneof-me.livejournal.com]

"That seems to be the case in most forms of entertainment."

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"I don't trust entertainment," he told her. "It's all a mind control conspiracy."

[oneof-me.livejournal.com]

She leaned forward a little, intrigued. "Really?"

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"It'ss the NHK," he began. "They air anime that capture the people's imagination. This turns them into obsessed otaku who withdraw from social contact and become hikikomori."

[oneof-me.livejournal.com]

"What are otaku?" This wasn't the only word she didn't know in all that, but it was hardest to work out from context.

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"Fans," he said. "People who are obsessed with the shows the NHK airs, and the characters in them."

[oneof-me.livejournal.com]

"I see. And why does the NHK want to create them?"

She hoped it wasn't something the Auditors had come up with. They would have been trying to discourage any interest in fiction, though, surely...

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"So there will be someone for people to look down on," Satou whispered. "A hikikomori is the lowest of tthe low. A failure, garbage."

[oneof-me.livejournal.com]

...of course, isolating enough humans would gradually diminish their population, but the way Satou was describing it, it didn't seem a very effective strategy. Unless this was one part of a larger plan -

- damn. She didn't want to deal with the rest of them again.

"That sounds terrible. How did you find out about this?"

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"I figured it out on my own," he said proudly. "Late one night, I put all the pieces together."

He didn't mention the drugs he was on at the time.

[oneof-me.livejournal.com]

It was also possible that Satou was insane, of course. (Or exceptionally sane, although he wasn't as precise as Jeremy had been.) Either way, Unity liked him.

"Have you told anyone else?" she asked, not quite genre-savvy enough to know how much that question made her sound like a conspirator herself.

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"No one else understands," he said with an affronted sniff.

[oneof-me.livejournal.com]

She lowered her eyes, solemn. "That must be dreadful. Is there any way I can help?"

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

She was still talking to him, listening to him, looking at him. Satou tried to suppress a shiver. "Watch for them," he said in a hoarse tone. "Don't let them trick you."

[oneof-me.livejournal.com]

"How will I recognise them?" She hesitated slightly. "Do they - dress in grey and name themselves after colours?"

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

Mustering up his nerve, he leaned closer, lowering his voice. "They look just like everybody else. Anyone could be one of them."