tengaku squared

i am of the opinion that murderous intent and other disorders aren't caused by watching bloody and scary stuff. all it will do is cause them to have nightmares but not much else. conan is pretty mild if you compare it to a lot of other series; considering the underlying message that "murder is bad", it may actually scare them and dissuade them. i think it's fine.

-13

-12

"Ah, t-that policeman...umm, never mind," Mai finally said. She still looked like she had something else to say, but once again, she was too nervous to speak. She kept looking at the card Misaki had in her hands, then hiding her glance away. (Oh, change of music, guys. Song of choice: Re_Beautiful Morning I like this track, do you?)

< restaurant group > : < police station group> : (Please move all perspectives to this point. Thanks, guys!)

Not only has this topic been posted twice, someone else already made this topic.

ok, the fact that the series is going to end anyway is not a justification to let it go on for years. i don't even see how in the world that makes any sense at all. if i have to make a comparison here – bear in mind i suck at these – it's like not closing a hole in the dam justifying that all the water's going to come out anyway. let me tell you what i think of this. if an author keeps dragging out a story, i am eventually going to think that the guy can't write an ending. and that's a horrible shame, because endings are probably the single most important aspect of any story. gosho can do cliffhangers, but i'm beginning to think he can't write an ending. and if that idea starts spreading, what ends up happening is that the series starts being called a cash-cow franchise, with all the negative implications that brings. even if gosho wants to end the series at that point – it's too profitable, no one's cutting the cord on that. ok, this applies strictly to television and stuff, but by dragging out a series needlessly, you can poison it. let's be frank, dc has been repeating the same patterns over and over again, with the occasional dash of plot. even exceptionally written filler gets boring. it's just how it works. and when stuff gets repetitive and boring, people stop liking it. you're not just poisoning the series, you're killing your own fan base by dragging out series needlessly. i don't know if this is how this actually works – maybe i'm actually completely wrong – but regardless i don't see any good in dragging out any series any further than it should. now, here's the thing. i don't think dc had a bad premise. i think the writing was good. i think the mystery aspect of the show was one of its key drawing points. but nothing stays fresh forever. if gosho capitalized on what he created sooner and closed the series earlier, i think it would have been much better for everybody. and perhaps, because how the story itself is shaped (3-file cases), the story is prone to getting staler sooner. so, yes, it must end.

(I'll update her bio as well. Maybe everyone's bio with basic appearance information.)

(I don't think it really matters, but Mai isn't silver haired. She has black hair. Just a little note. EDIT: It isn't Building 109 either, it's the 109 Building. Again, little detail.)

^ I'll be honest, I was more interested in the trailer for Gun Gale Online, and I don't like Sword Art. This is bad.

(Status report. I'd like to get the less serious stuff out of the way first, so... You are all such lolicons, srsly what is wrong with you people. :< Now onto the more serious stuff, activity and what not. The following people are currently on hiatus: Ren-kun Rukia Kurosaki I would like to see more activity from the following people: Henry Gordan Bain Tsukiko I haven't noticed any people that haven't shown enough activity. Please keep a fast pace, guys! Alice, huh? That name sounds nostalgic. Btw, leave the interactions with Lilliam, Kyoko, and the Aeigo siblings for me. This may get interesting; I want to play a more active role.)

(Oh, there isn't much of an objective yet. If you want one, it would probably be: Find out about the next KID attack. Good people to talk to: Shell (if you can find him/her/it/them), Kyoko Sasaki (will likely be cryptic), Lilliam Nevermore (will demand something in exchange, watch out). Other people that could help: Aeigo siblings (At the police station. they know about the KID cards. While Mai will likely be happy to help, Chris will be distrusting of you guys). I thought up of a few questions you guys may have, and here are some answers. - When is C.M. Robert going to show up? The answer is once you get closer to the end of the first chapter. - Who is Shell? The answer is...well, Shell is kind of an odd case. There's a reason I don't have a character profile for Shell – would it make sense if I said it was redundant? - Who is Kyoko Sasaki? The answer is: actually, why don't you find out yourself? - Who is Lilliam Nevermore? The answer is: a return visitor. Mind you, there hasn't been any advance notice with these KID attacks, so the police won't be able to help you~ Good luck, guys, on your investigation!)

Meanwhile: The 109 Building was no more. All that was left was a heap of ashes and the occasional pillar sticking out, a sad reminder of what used to be there. The entire scene was taped off with police tape, but there was no authority figure nearby. Perhaps the police already searched the area and gave up. Or they were taking a break. Whatever the reason, the Aeigo siblings walked along the scene at that moment. The younger one, Mai, pointed at the scene and shouted: "Big bro*, there's a card over here!" She walked over to the scene, under the tape, and picked up the card. She looked at one side, frowned, then flipped it over and looked at the other side. While she was examining the card, Chris walked up and put a hand on her shoulder, and began pulling her over to the other side of the tape. "Hey, don't you see the tape? You can't come over here right now." "I know. S-sorry." She continued looking at the card. The other side, which she looked at before, had the KID insignia. The side Mai was looking at had some text on it, and it read: "This city is no longer safe. Run away, far away." Chris gestured for Mai to hand over the card, who complied. Chris took his own look at the card, and frowned, then put it in his pocket. "We're going to hand this over to the police." He walked off, leaving Mai alone for a moment. Once she realized he was leaving, she took off after him. "W-wait, big bro!" She caught up to him and slowed down to a walking pace. "Hey, big bro, aren't these KID messages odd?" "How should I know?" "Well, the one before said something like 'I hope you are safe. Do not worry, everything will work out.' And the one before that said 'The crimes must continue, but so will the messages.' And didn't the first one say something like..." "Quiet!" Chris's sudden exclamation caused Mai to clam up with a "s-s-sorry". He put his arm around Mai in a protective gesture and looked around. "Someone's watching us. Let's get out of here." With that, the two ran off to the police station, which was where they were going anyway, but the humor was that the police station was an even better place to go. Once they left, some figure, their pursuer, who was on a building, also disappeared. ("This city is no longer safe. Run away, far away", "I hope you are safe. Do not worry, everything will work out", and " The crimes must continue, but so will the messages". Hmm, not typical KID messages. Perhaps he/she/it's trying to contact someone? Oops, *spoilers*. * onii (without the -chan honorific) )

"Well...hello. Good afternoon." There was a pause. "Oh, the sun has set. Good evening, then." While the style of speech was familiar – it sounded a lot like the skeleton-looking man, the voice itself was not. Instead of a man's voice, it was a girl's voice. In fact, as you turned towards the source of the voice, it was a girl. While she would have appeared rather cute otherwise, her appearance suffered from the same problems as the skeleton man – dead black eyes, unbelievably pale skin, oil-slick black hair, and poor posture. "I see you have...failed in your objective." The skeleton girl appeared disappointed, though again, with that dead expression it was hard to tell. "Ah...to think we placed so much trust in you. It's time to eliminate you all, isn't...it?" She looked around the room, then her eyes fell on Alice, and a rare flash of some expression went across the girl's face. "Oh, I see...how this is. Actually...it will be too troublesome to take you on by myself..." and her voice trailed off and she paused. "Please don't...misunderstand my motivations. I'm* not...letting you go. I'll still be watching you from...the shadows, I suppose you can call them." She paused again. "I will meet you again...under less hostile circumstances." She appeared to leave and turned around, then stopped and looked back at the group. "Now, I hear you've been calling me things like Mr. Skel, or the skeleton man. That...is rather charming. However...I have a name...we all have a name." "I am Shell. We...are all Shell. Now then, good evening." With that, the girl disappeared. * atashi (I decided to give him/her/it/them a name.)

Isshuukan Friends, Durarara.

I would look at DB cases to start.

Lolololol. Unfortunately, please remove this particular statement because it just might create issues down the road. Thanks!

(For the sake of speed, any role-player that continues should basically skip their perspective to this part. Thanks, guys!)

I know I should have made this explicit a while ago, but I'm going to make this official policy: any character speaking English should have their text bolded. To summarize: English in bold, Japanese in regular text. The only difference is in formatting. Since if we tried to romanize Japanese, our Japanese dialogue is going to be cramped, I'd rather we all use English. This is for the sake of immersion. Also, I'm prohibiting the use of any other languages besides English, regardless if translation is provided or not. I'm sorry, but I don't understand Filipino or Swedish or whatever, and I'm sure not everyone does. Please adhere to this policy, and tell me if you have any suggestions or questions. Now with that out of the way, a little side note and a potential spoiler. The side note first: I read the poll results again.

(I'm not going to directly interfere, but I'm going to have to ask you to gather up first.)

(Yes, it would be.) The building grew quiet. No one dared say a word, either you guys or the remaining people in the building. It appeared that the threat was stopped and the bombs were dead. It did appear that way, didn't it? While it's certainly a bit of a coincidence, it did seem like the remaining bombs went off as soon as the people decided the threat had passed. The building began to lurch, and move dangerously. Clearly, it's about to collapse. You should probably get out of the building before you get crushed. And for those outside the building: move a bit farther away, the building may collapse on you. (Well, the building is collapsing. You guys know what to do. :V New objective: Meet up in a safe location. Once you complete the objective, you'll meet a familiar yet distinct face. Also, extra conversation between the same two people, observing the events:)

(It's not like I really had a plot in mind to begin with. :V The show must go on, you know?)

A hand grabbed Amber's shoulder and held her back. Turning around, she saw a girl in a long brown hood covering her entire body except for her face, which happened to have a wide smirk on it. "Wait a sec, underlings." Her smirk disappeared but she still appeared condescending. "What the hell are you thinking? If you go after the bomber like that, he's just going to set off the bombs. That would be such a shame." Her last statement was clearly a lie. Whoever this girl was, you felt a bit unnerved. "Take this." She threw a mysterious black rectangular object at your feet. When one of you went to pick it up, she began to explain what it was. "It's one of the actual bombs the guy planted in this building. If you bring this to the roof, he can't set off the bombs without blowing himself up in the process." She turned her attention to the stairs, then back at you. "Well, then, get going, underlings! Good luck to ya!" She walked off, mumbling to herself a bit too loud, so you could hear what she said: "Now why would Sasaki pick them?" (Hey, Lilliam's here, just because I want to disprove her being the KID impersonator...or is she actually the impersonator, about to leave the building? Who knows for sure. Anyways, get up on the roof! The poll results entertain me since they are so far off the mark. :V Maybe it'll help if I give these hints: - Kyoko's name is written so it means "child of the city". - Lilliam and Kyoko are supposed to be enemies, but their respective circumstances have them on more cooperative terms. - Lilliam and the KID impersonator are working towards the same goals. Anyways, status report. The following person is still on hiatus: Rukia Kurosaki I haven't got any recent notice from her, so until further notice I'll hold onto her character. I'm not seeing much contribution from the following people: Misaki-chan Ren-kun Further lack of contribution will result in removal from the round. I would like to see more contribution from the following people: Rye Bain Henry Gordan (and less attitude, please) I see contribution, but I would like more. This is more a suggestion than a warning, cause you guys are doing fine. Contribution does not just mean posting a single line or paragraph every 3 days, folks. It also does not necessarily mean walls of text. Participation in the story is contribution, and it's what I'm looking at most. I'm liking what I'm seeing, guys! Keep up the work!)