Post
by PharaohSauron » Sat Jun 05, 2010 3:27 am
And now the moment you've been waiting for! But first, be honored that the Katawa Shoujo universe is the first that my character sets foot in!
And concerning the character choices, I have my reasons; they will become apparent as we move on. Or if you think about them deeply enough.
Also, Fate/Stay Night SPOILERS. Probably should have put that in the first chapter.
Chapter Two: Introductions
I stand frozen in front of the door, unsure of what to do, and very unsure of how this guy knew we were here when this place is about twenty stories deep and he seems to be the only one here.
“I’ll be out in just a moment; would you kindly wait in the adjacent room while I get cleaned up.”
At that moment, a door slid open, and appeared to be a type of break room/lounge area. Huh. We headed inside and waited a few minutes. While we sat there, we heard a loud noise from the lab, like a gate opening up, followed by the screech of metal-on-metal.
“Sorry for the wait; I forgot there were seven of you here, so I just installed another console,” said the man as he came into the room. There was an audible sound from all of us turning our heads to look at this guy, even from Lily.
Ms. Yamaku was right in saying he has an odd way about him. He was obviously not Japanese, both in dress and looks. He was clad in a white, sleeveless tunic, which ended in (let’s say) creased-kilt form just above his knees. He had a simple leather belt on, although it seemed to match the age of his clothes. On his feet were leather sandals that had braces crisscrossing halfway up his shins. Those were fine, but the oddest thing was that he was wearing a dark red/burgundy cape, with a golden design along the trim and edges, which draped over his shoulders, down his back, and hung just above his ankles.
Compared to us, he was a giant, about six feet tall, but he barely looked any older than us; maybe five years, tops. He also had a light muscular build, which some of the girls hadn’t failed to notice. His features were a bit hard to read, but from what I could tell, he was a Caucasian American with semi-short, slightly messy brown hair, brown eyes, and straight teeth. I assumed that both of his eyes were brown, because the right side of his head was covered in gauze, diagonally around the top of his head, mussing up his hair and covering his right eye. There were some red splotches under some of the gauze.
“Oh, in case you’re wondering, no, this is from an injury I got some time ago; it tends to act up from time to time, usually when I go somewhere new. Odd, isn’t it?” He ended with a warm smile. “Anyone care for a drink while I explain why you’re here?”
Hanako and Lily asked for some tea, Emi and Rin just had water, and Misha, Shizune, and I had some coffee. In keeping with the air of premonition this guy had, he had a pot of coffee and tea already heated; he did leave the accoutrements on the counter for us to use, however.
“First of all, I believe some introductions are in order. You may call me Seraph, and no need to add any honorifics, unless you really want to. If you don’t mind, I would like to call you by your first names, because they are much easier for me to remember than last names, especially here in Japan. I also wouldn’t want to offend any of you on accident,” he explained with sincere inflection in his voice.
“I don’t see anything wrong with that,” said Lily. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Seraph’s mouth glide into a slight smirk; very sharp, I see. Well, of course he’s got a sharp mind; he’s done all of this in a month, hasn’t he? As we each introduced ourselves, Seraph’s visible eye tracked each of us. When I introduced myself, his eye met mine, and for that split second I felt that eye was looking right into my soul. Creepy.
“Hey, Sera-chan, how old are you, exactly? You barely look older than us, but you’ve got all this stuff.” My open palm meets my face as Misha tactlessly asks an inappropriate, but not entirely unwelcome, question.
“Believe it or not, I’m there or about twenty-six years old. My youthful looks give me an ‘in’ with you young people,” he answered dryly. “Now that that’s out of the way, let me explain to you why I am here…” Seraph gave a natural pause before being interrupted.
“Because your parents decided to…” I spaced out as Rin gave her usual “Rin” view on things.
“Not exactly what I meant, but points for partial credit.” Seraph gave another smile, but not as warm as before; perhaps he was preoccupied with a thought?
“Now, I have donated to your school because whether you know it or not, Yamaku Academy was the first school in the entire world designed entirely for disabled students, and to such a degree. I am, among other things, a philanthropist, and I don’t shy away from dropping money like it is going out of style.” I sneak a glance at Shizune, who appears completely enamored by what Seraph is saying, because I remember her blowing money to get me to join the council. A philanthropist, she aien’t.
“One of side projects I have done, in my spare time,” almost spoken sarcastically, “was mostly created to push technology forward, and give me something to do, but I realized its potential when I was reminded of the then-upcoming budget meeting here.”
“What I am working on is basically a videogame emersion system, something that puts you, the player, into the character. You can also change the look and personalities of NPCs to people you know. It can be anything, from going on a quest to take down a corrupt government in an RPG, to wiping out under-developed nations with your much-more advanced nation from the perspective of ‘God’ in a strategy game, blowing off some steam in a shooter, even inserting yourself into visual novels.” Seraph’s eye sort of drifted off toward the left and mouth formed a smirk as he gave that last example. Maybe he was thinking about the sex. “Ah, in case you were wondering about the junk upstairs, the above-ground floors are set to be a type of museum to videogame and computer history, from the world’s first computer up to now.”
“Now, the reason I have chosen you people in particular here is because, when I sped through the list of enrolled students, you seven were the only ones that seemed to have any sort of depth and character to. You also seem to run the gambit of more common disabilities; people with more specific needs would have the program edited as such, but this will be the first real test of any sort on this machine.”
“How did you even make all of this? We don’t even have hologram technology yet,” chirped Emi. “Sorry; that’s classified,” Seraph answered. “Well, not really; I just can’t explain it in a way that would make you believe me. Not yet, anyway.”
“How do you power a place like this?” I asked, mostly expecting the same answer. “Now that I can answer; it is primarily powered by natural means: solar, wind, and water. That is one of the reasons why I had this place built near the river. I tried thermal, but with the delicate nature of the Earth’s plates here in Japan, I wouldn’t want to replace the machines whenever an earthquake breaks them. Far too annoying.”
Shizune asked, “What about when nature isn’t cooperative?”
“I use a type of reactor that I designed myself, and that hasn’t been made public yet.” Seraph answered in a straight face; I don’t know if he was pulling our leg or not. He pushed a button, and a panel flipped, revealing a large monitor.
“Now, the game I have decided to have us play today is one called Fate/Unlimited Codes. It is a fighting game based on the popular visual novel Fate/Stay Night.” I saw Hanako sit up more as he explained. The monitor displayed the roster of characters, rules, and objectives.
“For this test, I have determined which character would be best for each of you, based on various factors. When you are sent into the gaming world, you shall gain the knowledge of that character’s attacks and powers. As for the rules, they are relatively simple: win the match to move on. I have modified the game slightly from the original so that you won’t be facing each other; we don’t want to cause any ‘complications,’ emotional or otherwise, at this stage. Now, if you’d just follow me…”
We followed Seraph back to the main lab room where there were now seven beds surrounding the hub. A large desk with a computer system and several monitors now sat in the corner of the room; I assume that is what will control the system for now. For some reason, I smelt pizza…
“I actually think I don’t need to keep this bandage on now, so if you would wait a moment…” Seraph faced the desk as he began removing the gauze. Depending on what that injury really looks like, I’d have preferred he remove it elsewhere, but I guess he knows best. After removing the gauze and somewhat straightening his hair, he asked someone behind the row of monitors how it looked.
“Looks much better now,” said the feminine voice behind the screens, whose hand grabbed a slice of pizza out of the box next to the mouse. I guess she was having her lunch. As Seraph turned around, Hanako let out an audible gasp. We were surprised by the fact that his right eye was completely different from the left, in that the pupil was a type of dark, almost fire-red, while the sclera, or white part of the eye, was pitch black. “Like I said, this happened a long time ago, and be thankful the rest of the injury cleared up as fast as it did; it is… unsettling to look at.” Seraph grew silent as he appeared to be lost in thought at that statement. However, within an instant, he faced us with a smile on his face.
“Now, if you would kindly hop onto the beds,” he said as he helped guide Lily to hers. “In a moment, we shall begin the game, but first to address some concerns I’ve felt from you regarding your conditions.” He paused, apparently trying to think of the right way to phrase this without offending us. “I’ve modified the codes to adjust for some of your disabilities. Lily, you will be able to ‘sense’ your surroundings much like you do now, but it will be through the power of mana in the air in the game; if you know of American comics, think Daredevil.”
“That sound intriguing,” said Lily, in slight wonder. Turning to Shizune, Seraph managed to surprise us yet again when he began signing to her, as the machines blocked Misha’s view of Shizune, and vice-versa.
“Shizune, Misha may not be able to translate for you while you’re in the middle of a fight, and these character’s special attacks need to be spoken. As such, there will be a type of link between Misha and yourself during your fight; you just have to think the attack name, and Misha will speak it.
“You can count on me, Sera-chan!” Misha, forgetting her inside voice, belted that out toward Seraph, whose’ right eye twitched upon hearing it.
“Emi, the character I have in mind for you doesn’t exactly walk, so that won’t be a problem, although I would ask that you remove your prosthetics; these machines can’t scan inorganic materials yet.” Emi didn’t seem to mind as she happily popped her legs off.
“Rin, the same goes for you…”
“I already took my arms off,” Rin said, as she waved a stump for emphasis.
“I mean that the person I have in mind for you doesn’t exactly use her arms to fight. I’d still ask for you to take them off, anyway,” he slyly remarked. Ooh, someone on par with Rin’s comments; very intriguing.
“Hisao, Hanako, and Misha didn’t need any adjustments at all, although I would suggest that you take it easy for a few moments, Hisao; I’m not sure how stressful it may be for you once inside the game.” He didn’t come out and say it was because of my heart, probably trying to be polite, but it wouldn’t matter; by the start of July, the girls knew about my heart.
“Now, I will be joining you in a moment, but first I need to check the initial results. In the meantime, while we are in the game, my friend hiding behind the monitors over there will be watching your progress through the game, and dealing with all the data that comes through.” A small, feminine, yet slightly pizza-greased hand gave a quick wave above the monitors before vanishing again.
“And now, if you would lie down and close your eyes, we shall fire this bad boy up. Once the process is complete, you should be dressed as your characters in the ‘lobby’ I set up in game.” Damn him and his suspenseful ways.
As I lie down, the glass dome slides over me, sealing me in this rather comfy bed. Since, my console is near the computer system, I hear the clatter of some buttons being pushed, and then the hub activating. As I begin to feel drowsy, I hear an unknown female voice.
“Calling yourself ‘Seraph’ here, huh? Cute.”
“Well, you know what they say about real names. You should know that best, Cecilia…”
----------
A whirl of colors goes by my eyes, and a rush of wind blows through me, followed by a piercing bright white light. After my eyes adjust, I find that I am standing in the middle of a temple courtyard with deep purple-tinted night sky. I notice that the others are there as well, but also appear a bit disoriented. I check my clothing, because it feels like I’m not wearing anything special; not that I was expecting superhero tights, or anything. I appear to be dressed in a simple pair of jeans, sneakers, and a white shirt with blue sleeves. Rather ordinary. When I look at the others, it seems apparent who the artists preferred designing.
Lily was decked out in a long, flowing blue dress, but was wearing medieval-type gauntlets, greaves, skirt, and breastplate over/under the dress. Her hair was tied into a tight bun, except for two sections hanging naturally over her temples.
Shizune’s outfit was a bit unexpected; it was a tight, form-fitting, seamless blue jumpsuit with some odd white lines forming a design on it. It didn’t help me that the outlines were basically tracing the curves of her very ample figure. Oh, and she was wearing metal shoulder pads. Crap, I hope she didn’t catch me staring.
Misha’s outfit certainly didn’t match her personality. She was wearing a long, frilly blue and white dress, with white going up the middle to the collar, white wrist-length gloves, and, I assume, thigh-high white boots. She also had two floppy ribbons in her hair, right where her drills would be attached to her head. The whole ensemble gave her a very ‘un-Misha-like’ air of sophistication. Good thing I’m only thinking this, and not saying it.
“Wahaha! I feel like a princess!” There, that’s my Misha.
Emi’s outfit was, uh… very ‘purple’ heavy. She was wearing a semi-form fitting, long-sleeved outfit, but there was enough fabric to form wrinkles; okay, form fitting around hips and bust. She was wearing gloves, and the hooded cloak she had on managed to hover just above the ground. Uh, does that mean she’s floating? Oh, and she also had some pointed elf ears; I really hope she doesn’t give me the ‘puppy-face,’ or else I’m going to keel over.
Rin’s outfit was somewhat alluring, although not entirely. Her costume was a long-sleeved dress, except pitch black with vertical blood red stripes starting at the collar and continuing down to where the lines split the skirt, giving it a ‘shredded’ look below her hips. She was barefoot, her skin was several shades paler than normal, and it appeared that deep-purple, wisp-shaped stains tattooed her skin; some crisscrossed down her legs, and one set was traveling up the left side of her neck, over her check, and heading toward her eye. I assume that they covered the rest of her body, but were hidden by the, yet again, tight dress. Huh, I never noticed, but Rin’s stacked.
And Hanako’s choice in wardrobe was the farthest thing from my mind. Frankly, I was expecting her to be some sort of magical ‘moe, moe, Kyun’ girl, but this was much sexier. Her outfit consisted of, let’s say, a tight black with purple trim tube-top/miniskirt combo, but in one piece. She wore open-handed gloves that went from wrist to armpit, along with several purple bracers, and thigh-high boots that reached mid-thigh, thus exposing some of Hanako’s burn scars on her right leg. She also was wearing a purple blindfold, for some reason, as well as some weird writing on her forehead. It appears she’s able to see just fine with that blindfold on, because she began to twist and check out her outfit. Uh, I think I just saw some black panties. Well, when a girl is wearing an outfit THAT short, one would expect some exposure, so I’m not a pervert. Not completely.
“*sigh* Why am I the only mundane one in this bunch?” I pose the rhetorical question to no one in particular, when Hanako meekly answered.
“You h-happen to be one of the two star characters in this series, Hisao.”
“You know about this series, Hanako?” I ask, slightly stunned.
“Y-yeah; it is basically a book, just on the computer.” We continued some mild conversation, when a voice suddenly rang out.
“Testing; one-two-three. Hello, is this thing on?” Seraph’s disembodied voice spoke over the temple grounds. Shizune had a quizzical look, since Misha seemed to be signing for no one, but she figured it out as we naturally faced the sky to hear him. “Good; the initial sync results appear excellent, and it appears we have a fan in our midst. I’m sure Hanako wouldn’t mind explaining some things to you as we go along. Opponents will refer to you as your character’s name, so she’ll help you with that. I’ll just say that some of you are the spirits of legendary and mythic heroes, so some knowledge in that may help in the long run. Some things may also come to you naturally, through osmosis of the character.” Seraph’s voice became low and foreboding.
“By now your character’s attacks should be second-nature to you. That had better be the case, because the first fight is about to begin!”
Remember, folks:
I'm watching you.
"Little Hicchan..." I wonder if Misha is the one who came up with that name... 
