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[Ozarck]

Oh. Okay.

Makiko will follow the skulking girl out of the rain.

[Sir Elventide]

"Good, now let's make sure that no one is watching us."

Scans the surroundings for any unwanted guests

[WunderKatze]

Japan is practically a American colony. And those bombs, nuclear bombs-

I wonder what I could do with one of those.

Mitsuru grabs a number of books on contemporary events and nuclear physics and precedes to the librarian: the one going on about artificial cognition, which she found interesting but honestly everyone expects robots of the future.

"There sure are a lot of televisions in this library."

[HighEndNoob]

"I will, soon." Uh, wherever 'home' is. Talking through a tablet to some odd person is still unnerving. I wonder what else this device does.

Wait for the conversation to end, then fiddle around with the 'table.'

[Neoexdeath]

Gunnulf simply stays there for a moment, completely awestruck by the discovery. Why? When? How?! This time his brain was running amok with thoughts, pieces of information and beliefs clicking together like a puzzle, forming only a single theory. A pang of guilt struck like a hammer on his conscience, knocking him back to reality.

The man drags his legs towards the bed, slowly laying facedown on it. Did he... did he take this body from someone else? Yes, obviously. But then, what happened to that person, now that their body is his? Did this mean that he stole someone else's life, along with literally everything they had on this world, just so he could live once again?!

He stayed like that for a few minutes, his mind completely empty now, until finally getting up in a sitting position on the mattress. He doesn't remember doing such a thing, and yet, here he was, alive once again, although in completely different circumstances that his other life. A hand ran through his hair involuntarily, a simple reflex to help calm him down. Learning about this place should be a prime priority.

With that, Gunnulf gets up and rummages through his pockets, after which he inspects whatever he finds there before finally searching the entire room for any mementos the one who first had this body may have left.

[_DivideByZero_]

(Hurrah! Neo is back!)

HighEndNoob (Gaius/Gai) (IVDf VIPw IIIPc IIIWt)

"Alright," she sighs through the tablet. The sound is amplified to extreme levels. Something about the sound is distorted.
"Don't get yourself in trouble."

You end the call and then check out the other things you can do with this tele-speaker. Your fingers navigate toward an icon of a multicolored ball, and your screen is overtaken by a white webpage. A colorful 'Boogle' logo invites you to write something in the text field below.


Ozarck (Di/Hamada) (4Df 3Pw 7Pc 2Wt)

The two of you head back into the building. Water drips across the bamboo floor. Your feet carry you to a room lit by a bright white lamp, and inside it you find a towel to dry yourself off with, and some cabinets full of robes.

Nagisa stayed back to look around a little, but now she seems fixated on something.

Spoiler: Items (click to show/hide)

Bloody Knife
-Sharp. Reroll up to two failed dice on your first throw.

Sir Elventide (Giovanna/Nagisa) (3Df 3Pw 4Pc 6Wt)

There's a fast-moving cart with two-bright lanterns at the base of the shrine's hill. It gives off the rumbling roar of a furious beast, but there is no animal attached to the cart. It's moving by itself.

The lanterns shine through the rain, illuminating a cone of fog. The intensity is almost blinding.

The cart is about a hundred meters down the road. It's coming up the hill. Judging by the blistering speed it's going to be here in less than a minute

Spoiler: Items (click to show/hide)

Wooden Rod
-Quick Weapon. Always strikes first.

Neoexdeath (Gunnulf/Shin) (3Df 3Pw 4Pc 6Wt)

You have a card. It's made of a stiff, but weak material, and it lists a bunch of personally identifiable information, coupled with a face and a name.
The face is exactly what you saw in the mirror.

Along with some foreign money and a strange glass tablet which lights up when you press a button, depicting a picture of a leafless tree, you don't find anything in your pockets which directly sheds light.

But on your bed, you find a suicide note. That's telling.

Spoiler: Preface (click to show/hide)

To all those who loved me, and to whom I could not return the favor,

A confluence of world events have transpired to dash the hopes of anyone wishing for a prosperous future. First, in 2023, President Fisk of the U.S.A led a trade deal outlawing the physical transport of any computer that surpasses the processing power of the human brain. The European Union halting all AI research last year, with the U.S. planning to do the same this month.
Japan remains the last hope for a future where robots can solve the myriad issues of human society. But Richard Fisk announced that he will impose sanctions on Japanese trade until we crack down on the AI sector. We've come so far, we even have a few walking in the streets! I refuse to accept throwing all that away.

The note then details the writer's life goals, all he's pursued up until now, and how he doesn't want to live in a world where humans have to slog through daily tasks that 'robots' can accomplish in seconds.

At the end, it's signed by 'Managi Shin.'

Wunderkatze (Ryzard/Mitsuru) (0Df 7Pw 4Pc 5Wt)

"Those screens are there to help citizens search for and locate books.
This library is funded by the Artificial Future Foundation, which aims to fully mechanize the building by the end of the year. That means cleaning, book stocking, and even security will all be done by robots."

The odd creature eyes the books in your hands for a short while.

"If you wish to check out a book, please bring it to the front desk over there," she extends a hand, perfectly level, toward a big teardrop-shaped desk planted in the middle of the lobby. The desk is empty, but there are television screens and rubber mats with pictures of books on them underneath the screen. Each has a sign pasted on the wooden desk that reads: CHECK OUT HERE.

You brought five books: One on the dawn of the information era, one about computers, one about nuclear power, one about quantum physics, and one about nuclear disarmament in the late 2010's.

Spoiler: Notes (click to show/hide)

Pawn shop on Tachibana Ave.

killerhellhound (Lanfrank/Ryo) (5Df 4Pw 3Pc 4Wt)

(Skipped. Sorry.)

Spoiler: Items (click to show/hide)

Metal with grip
-Weighty. Roll another die forthwith if you score any number of successes.

[WunderKatze]

"Thank you. Um. I'm doing a report about commandos in WW2, can you search up the name Ryzard Czajka?"

Head over to the Pawn shop after my last inquiry and book checkout.

[Ozarck]

Makiko looks toward where the other girl is looking. Upon seeing the horseless carriage, she shrinks back, making warding signs against evil

Oni! Demons!

Makiko tries to ward herself against the demons of the horseless carriage, and makes herself as small as possible, curling up in the corner by the cabinet, clutching her knife to her chest.

Spoiler: Hamada Makiko (click to show/hide)

Real Name: Di Wu. it's not a name, as much as a number: fifth.
Origin: The fifth daughter of a peasant family in Rural China in the Three kingdoms era.
Description: Illiterate, uneducated. She worked the rice fields and died young.

Your Phantasm: rice paddies surrounded by bamboo forest, filled with kitsune and Oni. a small, rustic, two room house with a dirt floor. she never ventures into the back room of the house, as that was forbidden in life, and remains a dark, mysterious place, which Di Wu never properly knew in order to visualize it in the afterlife. She sleeps by the heart in the dust, if sleep comes in the Phantasm at all.

Primary Stats: Distribute 16 points related to the aspects of your soul. Minimum 3.
4 Defense -- Used for blocking attacks
3 Power -- Used for spirit actions and attacking in combat.
7 Presence -- Used for movement and evasion
2 Wit -- Used for predicting NPC's and for perception

Spoiler: items (click to show/hide)

Bloody Knife
-Sharp. Reroll up to two failed dice on your first throw.
Bloody Clothes

[Sir Elventide]

As the girls went into the house in a panic, Nagisa looked through the window as she continued to focus on the incoming object, narrowing her eyes to see through the bright light of the twin lanterns. When her eyes adjusted to the light, she could see a strange carriage approaching the house. However. there were no horses pulling the thing and it gave off a roar not unlike a ferocious animal. The lights from the towers reflected off what she could deduct to be a metallic surface. If this was a machine, it was unlike anything she had ever seen. Not even the great Leonardo da Vinci could've envisioned such a mechanism!

Oh, how brightly its lanterns shine! It is as if these people managed to somehow captured two suns and place them into glass containers. And the strange forces propelling the metallic beast? Surely, there are indeed a plethora of wooden gears, springs, and shifting weights inside that are providing the automating forces! Of course, Nagisa was at a loss as to determining what was causing all the growling. Perhaps the operators are using a captured lion to provide the noise? She must find out more!

A mixture of curiosity and a little bit of fear welled up in Nagisa as she watched the strange machine, attempting to find out who was piloting it as well as their intention.

[HighEndNoob]

...you know, I'm even going to bother being surprised at this strange world.

Try writing 'Where am i' on the tablet.

[killerhellhound]

What are the chances they are looking for me? With my luck nearly certain.

Head down the stairs and try to get out of the building without drawing attention

[_DivideByZero_]

HighEndNoob (Gaius/Gai) (IVDf VIPw IIIPc IIIWt)

The response: "Tokyo, Japan," with a map on it. You can zoom out on this map, which zooms out to a large island... and then an even larger continent.

Looking closer, you locate the Roman Empire on the opposite end of the large continent. Your soul seems to have traveled... far.

There's another field, this one overlaid on the map. It's marked: "Enter Address"


Ozarck (Di/Hamada) (4Df 3Pw 7Pc 2Wt)

As you curl up defensively, you hear the roar soften, and eventually halt. Whether it's gone, or skulking after spotting the other girl, you have no way of knowing without risking your life.

Spoiler: Items (click to show/hide)

Bloody Knife
-Sharp. Reroll up to two failed dice on your first throw.

Sir Elventide (Giovanna/Nagisa) (3Df 3Pw 4Pc 6Wt)

You stare dumbfounded at the machine as it lurches ever closer. The bright lights make it impossible to make out the driver in the front seat.

The cart pulls up. Perhaps you misjudged its speed, because you find yourself staring it practically in the face, meters away, as it stops and then runs silent. The lanterns are still on.

Spoiler: Items (click to show/hide)

Wooden Rod
-Quick Weapon. Always strikes first.

Neoexdeath (Gunnulf/Shin) (3Df 3Pw 4Pc 6Wt)

(Skipped )

Wunderkatze (Ryzard/Mitsuru) (0Df 7Pw 4Pc 5Wt)

"Thank you. Um. I'm doing a report about commandos in WW2, can you search up the name Ryzard Czajka?"

Head over to the Pawn shop after my last inquiry and book checkout.

The woman responds immediately.
"Ryzard Czajka was a Polish refugee who escaped the Great Terror of the interwar period, who later trained as a British Commando and participated in partisan operations on the Eastern Front in 1942. He was last reported as missing in action in 1943.

He is mentioned in a chapter of the book Trojan Horse: Partisans of World War II."

...

You grab an umbrella from the umbrella rack. You're pretty sure it was the one that dude was holding. That dude. You don't remember his name. Did he ever even say his name?

Passing along the streets, you navigate a crowded sidewalk. The streets are remarkably clean, and silent automobiles slink past so quickly you hardly see anyone's face through the tinted windows. Electric lamps cast glowing beams of illuminated rain onto the paths below, while neon-colored lights of all varieties dot the storefronts. Giant televisions mounted on buildings display stylized cartoons intermixed with advertisements, each in vivid color.

You finally arrive at the pawn shop, with a big signed marked with the number seven hanging above with its neon brightness. Expecting guns and knives, you find yourself thoroughly disappointed by the racks of jewelry, watches, coins, and stuffed figurines.
They do sell a good variety of pocketknives. They have short blades, but a variety of forms, including a locking knife with multiple handles (3000), a pearl-handled slipjoint knife (4000), and a friction-folder with a rosewood handle and a curved blade (3500).

There is a rifle (12000) on the rack, built from metal, but under closer inspection it appears to fire 6mm plastic balls.

You appear to have 3,850 yen on hand, if that's the currency they use.

Spoiler: Notes/Status (click to show/hide)

Notes:
Pawn shop on Tachibana Ave.

Inventory:
Backpack with a bunch of books
Umbrella

killerhellhound (Lanfrank/Ryo) (5Df 4Pw 3Pc 4Wt)

What are the chances they are looking for me? With my luck nearly certain.

Head down the stairs and try to get out of the building without drawing attention

Your tiptoe masked by the splattering of rain outside, you push the door slightly shut and head down the stairs, placing your bag over your shoulder. It looks to have two straps to make carrying it easier, which helps since it's pretty weighty.
The stairwell is extremely long. You wonder how tall this building is. Nonetheless, the coast is clear, and you find yourself making it down the unoccupied shaft for dozens of floor. This castle is tall. But no guards? None whatsoever? If those men on the roof were guards, then you haven't seen any others.

You make it down to ground level, and pass through the metal door to a lobby room illuminated to a brilliant radiance with white lamps as bright as daylight. There is a desk marked "Shinzo Corporation" and there are two women wearing business attire receiving guests from the front doors.

No guards on this floor. None at all.

Outside, through the glass facade, you notice two huge carriages made of gleaming red metal. Red lanterns on top flicker bombastically as men and women in orange jmpsuits seem to be waiting outside, looking up toward the rainy sky, some carrying umbrellas.

There's a rack filled with umbrellas at the entrance.

Spoiler: Items (click to show/hide)

Metal with grip
-Weighty. Roll another die forthwith if you score any number of successes.

[Ozarck]

What are they doing out there?

Makiko remains crouched, watching the front door expectantly.

Spoiler: Hamada Makiko (click to show/hide)

Real Name: Di Wu. it's not a name, as much as a number: fifth.
Origin: The fifth daughter of a peasant family in Rural China in the Three kingdoms era.
Description: Illiterate, uneducated. She worked the rice fields and died young.

Your Phantasm: rice paddies surrounded by bamboo forest, filled with kitsune and Oni. a small, rustic, two room house with a dirt floor. she never ventures into the back room of the house, as that was forbidden in life, and remains a dark, mysterious place, which Di Wu never properly knew in order to visualize it in the afterlife. She sleeps by the heart in the dust, if sleep comes in the Phantasm at all.

Primary Stats: Distribute 16 points related to the aspects of your soul. Minimum 3.
4 Defense -- Used for blocking attacks
3 Power -- Used for spirit actions and attacking in combat.
7 Presence -- Used for movement and evasion
2 Wit -- Used for predicting NPC's and for perception

Spoiler: items (click to show/hide)

Bloody Knife
-Sharp. Reroll up to two failed dice on your first throw.
Bloody Clothes

[Neoexdeath]

Suicide... So, he had inherited this body because the first owner wanted to commit suicide. He exhaled deeply in relief, his troubled mind soothed somewhat by this new information, although not by much. There was still the dilemma of the suicide note, of which he could only understand that the reason for it was because some construct called "Robot" was banned in most countries.

Speaking of countries, he couldn't recognize any of them. European Union? Did all the countries and/or empires of Europe unite into a single one? Also, what did U.S. stand for? Finally, there was Japan, which, judging from the use of first person after it's mention, was most probably the country he was in right now. He made a mental note to consult a map as soon as possible.

Not to mention, what was he supposed to do now? Should he try to impersonate this Managi Shin person for the time being? Or perhaps act like himself? Would the people of this place notice the change in personality if he started doing that? Even if he went with the first option, the man didn't have the faintest idea of the boy's personality, way of speaking, clothes he wore, likes or dislikes, relationships with others and so on. Hopefully no one knew about the suicide, so he wouldn't attract unwanted attention the moment he went out through the door.

A few more minutes of contemplation later, Gunnulf decides to try and learn whatever he could about Managi, starting with the weird contraptions he used. First things first, he takes the glowing glass tablet in his hands and fiddles around with it, touching the squares on it to see what they each do.

[Sir Elventide]

Nagisa glanced at the girl for a moment before turning back to the machine. "I don't know but they seemed to be waiting... or take their time." she muttered as she shielded her eyes from the lights. Visual sparkles flooded her vision as her eyes readjusted themselves. "Though I am curious as to how that machine has been built and how are they operating it. Perhaps, they're eager to tell me more..."

Nagisa begin to reach for the doorknob.