BEGINNING; SUNDAY

[justonezero]

[In the early afternoon, Makoto may just run into an unusual looking boy. Black and pink... are those supposed to be rabbit ears? Seem to extend from the back of his head, like some sort of headset, matching with the rest of the white and pink theme he's got going with not only his hair and eyes, but his clothes as well.

At the moment, he seems to be staring up at the ceiling of the resort, lost in thought... Or more accurately, lost in the numbers, not that she could see them.]

Comments

[justfists]

[Makoto is still trying to understand what situation she's managed to get herself into, while also learning about the people that are trapped with her. So, when she sees Yoshi, she stops for a moment. It's hard not to notice the ears, but eventually her eyes go up to the ceiling.

There's nothing there.

Hmm... She looks back at him.]

Hello.

[justonezero]

[He blinks a couple of times before turning her way. Oh, hey!]

Hello!

[More of those headphone bits over where the human ears should go, but hey, that just means he probably actually has them.]

Are you exploring too?

[justfists]

Yes! As much as I can, at any rate.

[in case there are any hidden rooms? this seems like the type of place that might have some.]

What were you looking at?

[justonezero]

[He seems about to say something, but then he reconsiders and rewords it to:]

I can see the world as numbers, so I've been looking at the numbers around here. I noticed they were kind of weird in that snowy area where we started out, so I wanted to check here, too.

[Does that make sense, maybe?]

[justfists]

[she doesn't look like she gets it at first, though she doesn't say anything right away. But her interest is piqued. She raises a hand to her chin, studying]

What is that like, exactly?

[justonezero]

It's like... status windows from a video game? If I look at things, I can see the numbers that make up everything. Those numbers don't really make sense on their own though, so I have to convert them into something I can understand. Sometime's the conversion's easy, but other ones are more complicated.

[justfists]

I see.. and how do you convert them?

[don't mind her, she wants to know more? maybe he can see things that they can't perceive. Especially given how, frankly, weird this place is.]

[justonezero]

If the numbers are simple, I can do it in my head! But if it's complicated, I use a calculator app.

[...That might be more appropriately called a virus, but.]

[justfists]

I see...

[she thinks that, now, maybe. he's a computer. or has computer vision.]

That seems like it might be very useful, indeed. You said the numbers outside were weird? Howso?

[justonezero]

The ones where we started kept repeating! I'd never seen it before then. Still not sure what it means...

[justfists]

What do they typically do? How long are they? And has anything here looked strange as well?

[justonezero]

Whoa, rapid-fire questions! I feel like I'm being shot with a machine gun of words!

[Cheerfully enough.]

The numbers just describe things. I guess it's like... if all of the world was converted to just numbers, that's what it'd be. Physical aspects and ratios, or even peoples' thoughts and feelings... all of it's data I can look at.

It's not really understandable by itself though, so that's why I have to convert it. For normal places, it can tell me things like what its dimensions are, or what it's made of. Stuff like that!

...But inside here, all I can tell is that the space inside the resort is, umm... infinite?

[Which is hella weird.]

[justfists]

[she's a very, very curious girl. please understand, Yoshi.]

That's... really cool.

Though it doesn't really help with our predicament... [she has to try and be sensible about this, okay]

[justonezero]

Well, no, but...

I'm a little bit concerned about being in what looks like a resort in the middle of infinite space? [Like. That straight up shouldn't be possible???]

Just what kind of place is this?

[justfists]

[honestly it... reminds her of the metaverse? that is another place that shouldn't be possible, but is.

So it might be a little surprising to see that Makoto doesn't look as worried about that as she could be.]

Well... I know there are places that don't seem possible but just are. In fact, this place has made me feel like that for awhile.

[justonezero]

You know of other places floating in infinite space?

[He's perpetually cheerful but even he's!! A little!! Unsettled by this!!!]

[justfists]

I don't know it in... quite those terms, but I do know the metaverse, and how it responds to the hearts of humanity.

[she pauses]

And that things that shouldn't be possible, are when you're there.

[justonezero]

...What's the metaverse?

[justfists]

Well... Imagine you could see into someone's heart. Or that someone's heart was a place.

The metaverse is like that.

[justonezero]

Someone's heart... as a place?

[Hmmmm...]

Mine's probably really gross.

[justfists]

Why would you say that?

[it's an interesting thought, and she's a little surprised to hear it from someone who seems so cheerful?]

[justonezero]

Well, because I'm garbage.

[Said with exactly the same level of cheer as the rest.]

[justfists]

[?????????????????? yoshi what the fuck

but also when he puts it that way, she has flashbacks to futaba]

I don't think you're garbage.

[justonezero]

Moooost people seem to change their minds on that after about a week.

[It's kind of. A recurring pattern.]

[justfists]

I wouldn't change my mind.

[justonezero]

You don't think so?

[justfists]

No, I don't. I've got... something of an intuition.

[justonezero]

...? An intuition?

[But not anything like his own reading ability, right...?]

[justfists]

A feeling.

[nothing like that-- she just likes to think she's a good judge of character. and he hasn't made her skin crawl like a certain medic]

[justonezero]

[He kind of wonders about that, but guess we'll see!]

I wonder if I could see what kind of feeling that is... [It would really help to know if there is such a thing! But wait-]

Oh, I forgot! We haven't done introductions yet, have we?

[justfists]

Oh yes.

[she offers a polite bow at that!]

I'm Makoto Niijima, 18, Shujin Academy student council president.

[justonezero]

[Polite! He bows back.]

Umm... Yoshi Nanase, 14! And... former shut-in?

[Can't really call himself one now that he's been kidnapped away.]

[justfists]

[it's ok, they can work with that! a former shut-in and a girl who isn't good with people. it's fine.]

It's nice to meet you Yoshi-kun.

[justonezero]

[Totally fine!!]

Is Makoto or Niijima better?