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What: Ami and Asami sneak into the old school building! Others can join too!
When: 8:30PM, some night in June?
Where: Old School Building
Who: Ami, Asami, others!

People in school knew Ami as one person. Asami as Ami's only friend had begun to see a different side to her. And tonight it was almost as if a whole other side of Ami was coming out. A girl who had grown up playing fantasy games and wishing every single day that magic was real so that she could change her body and become who she wanted to be, she had grown up to be a little excited by adventure and the lure of possible mystery. Because if if something beyond explanation could exist at all, that meant there was a chance, no matter how small, that her dream could actually come true.

So when Asami found Ami crouched down by the fence outside the old school building, she'd see the young idol in all black, with plenty of adventuring supplies. She wore a pair of tight black jeans, sneakers, a black turtleneck, and her hair was put up in two buns on the side of her head out of the way. She had a smalls length of rope coiled and hanging from her shoulder, as well as a stack of ofuda she had made from designs online.

"Asami-chan, over here!" she whispered from her hidden spot, waving a short hand to her friend.

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Akito winced as something smacked him in the face. He looked at the offending object maturely enough, as though internally he wouldn't will it to burst into flames if he could. He scanned it out of habit, quirking an eye. Someone forgetting to trash a meeting note?

The note didn't specify the 'school' but like everything else recently, it wouldn't surprise if it referred to the old school.

He stared at the note, then up at old school building this time.

Up there, balancing verrrry carefully on a second-story windowsill, and waving cheerfully at him as though nothing were at all amiss about her presence, was Mitsuya. She'd traded in her usual long skirts for a pair of black tights, and her distinctive hair was tied into a (still very long) braid, but it was unmistakably her.

She beckoned for him to come over, then started fiddling around with the bag she'd brought with her.

Akito just stared, mouth falling open for a moment, surprise not entirely feigned. The Araragi eccentricity indeed - though the word he was probably looking for right now was 'stupidity' than anything else. Still, as usual, he shoved that particular line of thought down and bolted towards the building until he was under her window, 'worry' and 'panic' on his face.

"A-Araragi-san!? I-what-why are you up there!?"

Now that Akito was closer, he could see the length of nylon rope that Mitsuya had apparently used to climb up to the windowsill. She pressed a finger to her lips and jerked her head towards the window--she didn't particularly feel like drawing the attention of the security guard just yet.

One more quick shuffle through the bag, and she was done with that. At that point, she spared a glance outward, hoping to find one other person. If he had decided to show up, she'd be disappointed but not surprised--and she was ready to move on either way.

Now, a responsible, sensible student would've given up there and either left Araragi to her own devices or call the security guard. After all, it was dangerous and the way she was balanced on the windowsill of a dangerous, restricted building in the first place would've been grounds for something.

But then Akito wouldn't get what he wanted. Even if late night rope climbing wasn't what he has in mind.

He looked up at Araragi and the rope a bit 'helplessly' before nodding, though a bit shakily. He reached for the rope and took a deep breath before taking hold of the rope and bracing his feet against the wall. ((-1 from str stat, roll=2)

However, he only managed to get partway up before his grip on the rope slipped. He let out an uncharacteristic yelp as he tried to catch his weight with his other hand but it wasn't enough. Though he managed to get his feet under him - saving him from an ass or back fall - he still dropped the ground hard, biting down on his lip to keep from crying out louder.

He even landed on his feet! Just what I'd expect from Terumi-kun~

The darkness hid Mitsuya's momentary smile. It wasn't that she wasn't sympathetic--after all, it had taken her a few tries to make the climb herself, and she hadn't managed nearly so graceful a fall. She just couldn't help but appreciate his ability to look good even while failing.

Speaking of failing, though, she still hadn't confirmed that her own venture up here was a success. If she'd recalled correctly, this would be the window she had slipped out of just earlier this week--and, if nothing had changed, it would lead straight to the little trove she'd found.

The tip of her tongue peeked from the corner of her mouth as carefully, carefully, she started to pull at the window...

Even if he got his feet under him, the sharp pains searing up from his ankles would've had him hopping if he'd been alone. If he were a cat his tail would be violently swishing back and forth. Instead, still biting down, several expletives he wouldn't dare voice running through his mind, his stinging hand clutched the rope for support while the darkness fortunately hid his glare.

When he was sure he had himself under control, he looked back up at Araragi with a look of clear 'embarrassment' before quickly looking back down and readjusting his glasses. He would get past this, no matter how long it took. If Araragi could then he could too.

((-1 from str stat, roll=5))

Akito used his feet to tightly grip the rope this time, once he was off the ground. It took the strain off his arms, slightly, but it made his still sore ankles ache so he alternated between grips as he made himself further up. He nearly slipped again, a bit further from where he'd first fallen, his grip nearly giving out again, but his feet saved him from another fall. He held onto the thought 'Up' and focused on that with each increasingly strained move up the rope.

By the time he was up near the top, he was sweating profusely and filing away every pain and filing it away to be repaid somewhere, somehow, especially if this proved to be a worthless outing. The windowsill was narrow enough with Araragi on it so Akito remained on the rope, only enough energy and breath to manage, "Ara...Araragi-san..." He coughed around a deep breath, acutely aware of how he must look, and hating it.

As the pair pondered their situation, another rope descended from the roof of the school, anchored to...heaven only knew what. Whatever it was certainly seemed sturdy enough, as footsteps began to sound down the surface of the outer wall.

Though the young man's arms were somewhat stringy and thin looking from a distance, the slight, thin figure actually seemed to have a decent amount of strength as he descended the wall towards the second floor window that the young man and young woman were alighting on.

"Sorry I'm late," Ito Keiichi said, grimacing a bit, "but could you two go inside more? I can only hold myself up like this so long..."

Well. That was a shock, to say the least. The sudden appearance of her other invitee from not below, but above, earned a startled blink from Mitsuya, then a broad smile. Apparently she hadn't been mistaken in calling him here.

"Ito-kun!" she chirped cheerfully, sounding for all the world as though he hadn't just descended from the roof, of all places. "I'm so glad you could make it. If you'll wait there just a moment, I'll get us in--"

On the last word, the window she'd been wrenching at finally gave way, opening enough for them to wriggle inside... but something was definitely off. As the other two made their respective entrances, Mitsuya was able to survey a room that was suddenly and rather distressingly empty. Granted, there was magic involved, so for all she knew, it could've grown legs and wandered off, but... hmm, there were an awful lot of disturbances in the dust...

(Mod check~)

Surely, all three of them would make their way into what appeared to be a boringly empty room, with dust on the floor that showed tracks of recent footsteps and dragged crates but, most importantly, no sign of whatever Mitsuya would have advertised to her classmates as interesting.

In fact, there was that one thing in the air, a lingering feeling that told them all they had much better things to do. So many more interesting things to pay heed to, like the weather, or the waning cicada population in the city! So many things that, surely, the empowered illusion spell should have done its trick and gotten them out, whatever Mitsuya had to say...

Then (and after the kids would have just enough time to squabble over the emptiness of the room) the window behind them would vanish. And not just be absent. Absence is mild. Instead, the window frame convulsed, stretching up and shrinking down as if it were rubbery, alive, and suffering indigestion. Then it shrunk down, to a flat line, and vanished, leaving behind a plain solid wall.

Too bad for that illusion spell. Suddenly, the kids would have a very strong focus on why stay inside, in that the way in just decided to ollie-out, cartoon style. This meant the removal of a source of light - the outside, and made the room pitch black save for what flashlights the kids brought.

MOD INFO
Akito, Mitsuya, and Keiichi are in an empty room now. The only way out is through the door.

For someone who was still a bit short on breath and had just seen ninja worthy antics, Akito was doing relatively okay. An empty room for his effort was a great irritation but Akito had practice compartmentalizing and burying those feelings. And disappointment was a possible expected risk - you could prepare for that. Likewise, unconventional entrances, though not quite expected, was still something in the rational world - it did happen, though rarely, and you could adapt.

The window suddenly pulling a page from cartoon logic was not something you could prepare for so Akito could forgive himself for the way his pulse quickened, how his mind went blank for once, and how his body - despite how if he was thinking right now, his mind would point out seeing was enough to know the window was no longer there - moved ahead of his mind.

He touched the wall where the window once was - solid.

He pulled out his phone and turned on the light, illuminating the spot - still solid.

Well. There were several ways the mind could react at that point. The safest one was apparently being captain obvious, since he said, voice detached and a little smaller than usual, as though to confirm it to himself.

"The window's gone."

"So it is. Oh dear. That's certainly new."

Mitsuya delicately pressed her fingers to her lips, pondering the meaning of this sudden change of circumstances. She wasn't surprised that whoever was the keeper of this little trove would have moved it and improved the defenses, since someone had managed to get past what was there. But removing their escape route? The person behind it probably wanted to catch them in the act.

"I suppose we'll have to move on, then," she said lightly, heading for the hallway and keeping an eye out for the telltale rune patterns she'd seen before. "Do be careful."

ATTENTION DUELISTS (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NYd1Y2v7OA)
You will be Exploring the old school building.
You can either proceed in prose (no dice rolls, and leave your discoveries to the mod's decisions) or determine the fortune of your movements by, rolling a single dice, 10-sided. At the current state, your dice rolls go:

1-2 Critical failure / Very unfortunate results (Enemy encounter. No advance.)
3-5 Failure / Inconvenient results (Enemy encounter. You advance.)
6-8 Success / Advantageous results (You advance. Small chance of loot or discoveries.)
9-10 Critical success / Very lucky results (You get faster where you're meant to go. Big loot.)

Keiichi was, shall we say, considerably less pleased with this particular development. He looked back over his shoulder, at the disappeared entrance route, and frowned.

"Well, then, only one way to go, I guess," he offered, laughing nervously, and paying attention to Araragi-san's careful movements in an effort to mimic them.

He shot a glance to the other boy, as if to ask "what in the name of professional wrestling have we gotten ourselves into?"

What they "got into" was an abandoned school corridor. The hallway has a bit of a hostile air to it, and everyone entering it would get a sense of being unwanted at the spot.

Now, some things (say, clowns) it is very different seeing it in broad daylight than running into it in the dead of night. There was a sting of the night chill to it. There were no lights on, although some light from the outside still managed to slip inside to make the walls and floors differentiable, even if vaguely.

This building was like Ryuseki's new building. It stretched about three classrooms ahead until the staircase would come. Not that the kids could see that far ahead without the flashlight. All they could see was as far as the door right ahead of them...

Then, a metal bucket, such as the ones used for cleaning, rolled out into what limited sight they had, its source still thickly veiled by shadow.

Glasses fiddle. Well. Aren't we a collected group.

An observation from that distant part of him that rarely stopped thinking, even despite the nervous tension he didn't have to fake.

"Based on the window trick, I'd swear we were in an gag anime of some sort," Akito said, voice 'teasing'. However, he wasn't smiling. "But seriously...hopefully, somewhere we can get ourselves out of."

It was hard to miss that feeling as they stepped out into the hallway, whether it was nerves, some repressed fear of the darkness, or the reminder they shouldn't have been there. Akito adjusted the back-light on his phone, turning it into a makeshift flashlight.

It wasn't much light but he shone it around, starting with staring ahead and then when the bucket rolled out - a draft? Uneven floors? - where the source had been...

The light would travel up from the bucket, which... apparently, was full of dust. And up to a pair of boots, and higher, higher...

There it was.

A rat. A very large rat, though it was still half as big as a human. In fact, this big, black-furred rat had eyes that nicely reflected the light in the worst red-eye effect manner. It was also dressed like a security guard, with a badge that shined as much as its big teeth.

"Hiss"

Oh. This looked... a little less friendly than the previous guard. In fact, it looked decidedly less friendly than any of the youkai she'd encountered thus far. This was probably not saying much just yet, but the fact remained.

One hand hovered near her bag, while the other came up in a reasonable facsimile of a cheerful wave. "Ah, hello there..." She peered down at the cell-phone light flashing off the shiny, shiny badge (and also the white, white teeth). "Tarou-san! Do pardon us, we're just passing through." Hopefully it was capable of speech. Judging from that awful noise that had come from it, she wasn't entirely sure it was.

The horrifying creature was not only visible to everyone - including Keiichi and Akito - but it really didn't look friendly. However, it did answer when spoken by name:

By reaching into the shadows, and taking from it a large broomstick, so dust-ridden than the motion made a small cloud of dirt rain down from it. "YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE. I AM BUSY GETTING THIS PLACE DUSTY, AND YOU COME AND MAKE TRACKS ON IT" it said, hoarsely. It hissed once more, drool and saliva dripping from its long teeth, and fire burning in its eyes. "YOU'RE THOSE KIDS THAT KEEP BREAKING IN AND RUINING MY DUSTWORK, AREN'T YOU? IT'S YOUR FAULT WE'RE NOW ON GUARD DUTY."

Akito just stared - body on the edge without his consent (or preference) while mind kept itself cheerfully detached.

So: windows literally pull themselves out of existence and horrifying rodents of unusual size apparently had jobs keeping a building dusty. This building was quickly becoming the place where logic comes to die.

On instinct, Akito's familiar smile came, ever-so-polite. "Our apologies, it wasn't our intent to get in your way. We really were just passing by. In fact, we were looking to leave."

Most monsters would just ignore these nice young people and their polite comebacks. The rat, still dripping a string of saliva that nearly reached the ground before he snorted it up, took a step forth - making its nasty features more visible in the light - and pointed his dusty broom at them.

"HOW DO I KNOW YOU'RE NOT LYIN' AND TRYING TO STEAL SOMETHING?" the rat asked, his confidence a bit shaken... "IF YOU TRY ANYTHING, I'LL BEAT ON YOU WITH THIS THING. KIDS NOWADAYS. YOU'RE MISSING A GOOD WHACKING, IF YOU ASK ME."

Solemnly, Keiichi snapped his fingers, and muttered a single word to himself. "Rats," he whispered, then looked at his companions. "Don't worry. I'll negotiate on our behalf."

Stepping forward (and ignoring potentially worried looks), Ito decided to engage the rat in conversation.

"This is a school," Keiichi offered, looking at the rat being with no small amount of side-eying. "We come here every day. Stealing from the school is in fact harmful to us, as it hurts the quality of the education that we can receive! Only a selfish dunderhead would dare steal anything from the protective chambers of his house of learning!"

By now, his companions were probably side-eying HIM, really, but Keiichi didn't seem to much care.

"So please, Rat-san, allow us to scurry away. You have my word as the Cooking Club President that we mean no ill."

Why exactly he thought an anthropomorphic rat would care about that was anyone's guess, really.

[PUN COUNTER 2]

The rat listened as attentively as a frothing rodent janitor-turned-guard can do, which is surprisingly a lot, given its boring job and necessity for mental stimulation. After Keiichi made his exposition, the rat began to nod slowly. "YES, YES... THAT IS ACTUALLY VERY SMART OF YOU. YOU'RE ALL VERY LEARNED, CLEVER YOUNG PEOPLE."

Then it pointed its broom at the kids again. "I HATE SMART, CLEVER KIDS. YOU THINK YOU KNOW EVERYTHING AND LOOK DOWN AT PEOPLE WHO DROPPED OUT, LIKE ME, WHICH WASN'T MY FAULT BECAUSE REALLY, I WAS UNDER A LOT OF PRESSURE! SO CLEARLY NOW I'M GOING TO TAN YOUR HIDES REAL HARD WITH THIS BROOM, HOW'S THAT? DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING HUH? RAT ATTACK."

Battle mode begins.

Battle order:
Mitsuya (speed 4)
Rat Guard (speed 4)
Keiichi (speed 3)
Akito (speed 2)

As per the rules of the universe, red letters appeared before the rat guard, announcing its name to the kids quite dramatically.

"..."

Mitsuya decided that in the future, it would be best to avoid having Keiichi do the negotiation.

"I suppose it can't be helped," Mitsuya sighed, and the hand that had been resting by the bag by her side now reached into it, coming up with a tiny brass object on a chain and--after a little more reaching around--a little matchbook. The match was lit, then lit in turn the incense already carefully placed within the thurible that was now held out before her.

A pleasant, all-too-soothing scent emerged, and before the effects could overwhelm her, she did her best to summon enough of a breeze to blow it in the right direction. It would be deeply unfortunate if this backfired on her.

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School, 2F Hallway

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