Accidentally put some of the food in her mouth instead of your own.

1/3 softmeats 2018/05/13(Sun)00:52 No. 884087 ID: 1b31f3
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>You make it sound like she knows but has chosen not to address it.
No, you don't think she does. You've always been awkward and dumb and weird, so really not that much you could do would be that fuckin' unusual to her. You think if she knew she'd be creeped out and ditch you forever at least be nice enough to turn you down to your face.

>Surely this isn't the first time you've touched each other.
Well, not the first time, obviously. But Rule One for having a stupid crush you have to keep secret is to not be touching someone all the damn time on account of it makes you blush and stutter and shit and then at best you're even more useless and bizarre than usual and at worst you give it away and end up completely alone in the world again humiliate yourself.

>Maybe she's interested but hasn't really done anything becuase you refuse to do the most basic of intimate gestures, leading to the belief that friendship is as far as you wanted to go with this.
She's not. At all. Emiko isn't like you. She's weird in her own way, but she's not shy about anything, even if she's a little bit quiet. When she wants something she takes it. When she wants something to happen, it happens. Emiko is the kind of person who the world loves unconditionally can just reach out and get shit done. If she... if she liked you, you'd damn well know by now.

>((An old suggestion, revisited!)) In a mighty showing of courtship drag one of the mutilated corpses of your classmates to Emiko's feet before howling at the nearest celestial body.
God, you're still so far out in space. You have to like, come down from this high already, force the world back into focus before she notices anything's up. Maybe if you just - do something with your hands? Shit, that's it, you'll draw something while you talk. Then you can get to the endless reliving of your ridiculous hand-holding experience later, at home, probably with your face buried in a pillow making dumb squeaky noises.

2/3 softmeats 2018/05/13(Sun)00:52 No. 884088 ID: 1b31f3
File 152619794699.png - (189.93KB , 360x360 , 042.png )

You're still thinking about wolves for some reason, so you already know what to draw.

3/3 softmeats 2018/05/13(Sun)00:53 No. 884089 ID: 1b31f3
File 152619799792.png - (151.81KB , 360x360 , 043.png )

>You wanted to find the thing that got stolen and/or lost. When did she last have it? What's it look like? Did she have it with her?
>Ask her what did the wallet look like and where she had last seen it.
"Uh - um - so!" You clear your throat and instantly regret how awkward that is. "You're missing a... wallet, I think? Where did you have it last?" Problem solving mode. That's doable. You're actually pretty decent at solving other people's problems. And only other people's.

Emiko immediately deflates a little bit, which is almost physically painful to see, but... it's necessary.

"... I always keep it in my desk. It's very rare for me to actually take it anywhere. That way I - that way I can look at it if I want to, but... I don't have to see it all the time." She looks... weirdly ashamed as she says that last part. Which is dumb. That's literally exactly what you did with the stupid rabbit Saeko made for you way back when. But... what would Emiko have that she hates seeing most of the time but would completely crush her to lose doesn't want to lose?

"Fuck. Okay, well, I guess I see why you think it might be stolen... shit. So, what does this thing look like, anyway?"

"It's very pink and girly, maybe a little bit childish, somewhat worn out, with a... a keychain charm on it. It's difficult to overlook." Huh. You've definitely never seen this thing before. Well, she did say it was old. It must be from before the two of you met.

"Alright. At least there's that. If it is lying around somewhere random, it'll be easy enough to spot it."

>You also wanted to ask Emiko what she wanted to tell you.
"Oh hey," you say. "I just remembered. Wasn't there something you wanted to talk to me about? Is that... related to this, or?"

Emiko blinks, and for a second she looks... really far away. Then she shakes her head, takes a breath.

"No, it's not. I..." What is her deal today? She looks almost like she's fighting herself on something, or trying to say something hard. Then again, maybe that's just you projecting how you always feel about literally everything you try to say to anyone... "I think it would be better to talk about it after school gets out. Maybe before we go home."

"Alright," you say, trying not to make it weird. Emiko actually already made it weird, which is normally your job, but you'd still rather not compound the weirdness unless you have to. "No problem! I'll try to remember to ask about it later I guess?"

"Don't worry," she says quietly. "I won't forget."

Normally one would first report the theft to a teacher so.. ask her if she'd be ok with you asking one of the teachers for assistance on the matter. Well, the teacher would then most likely tell all the students in the class about it so this is basically you asking her if she wants this to be made public or not.

Oh, look at the time. Better get back to the class~

>that way I can look at it if I want to, but... I don't have to see it all the time.
Yup definitely important.

>what do
Okay time to lie to your bff-slash-crush. "Don't worry, it'll all be okay."

Then try to cheer her up by talking about something dumb.

Oh hey, you ARE getting better at drawing with practice! And quickly, too! Emiko was right!

...Though, given that there's someone trying to blackmail, and possibly also someone stealing things from people's desks, as nice as that drawing is, you should probably destroy it before it falls into the wrong hands. Maybe eat it! This artistic triumph can become a part of you!

Give Emiko a hug! She needs it!

Ok, so things to ask. Did she keep it in her school desk? Is that why she seemed really freaked out at the end of class, but not the start? If so, it would be important to know who got to class before her. If she kept it at home, it would be more important to know where the heck she lives in relation to people that know her.

passe with all this other nonsense, go for the real meat, talk about phantasmal sector online. then combine pictures of her and you that you both drew to use as incentive to make her feel like gaming, final straw use the Mysterious Grit to... i dont know, but it aut to do something magic right? actually if its magic you should probably use it on yourself, at worst you'll visibly be crying over your friendship collage. at best? Magic.

1/4 softmeats 2018/05/24(Thu)20:21 No. 885956 ID: 7dcdc0
File 152721847740.png - (175.78KB , 360x360 , 044.png )

>ask her if she'd be ok with you asking one of the teachers for assistance on the matter. Well, the teacher would most likely tell all the students in the class about it so this is basically you asking her if she wants this to be made public or not.
You really doubt she'd want to go public with this shit, but... hmm. If that's what it takes and she does agree to it, you'll go that far. Nowhere is too far if it's for her. For now though... you're gonna exhaust some other options before you bring up anything that potentially stressful.

>Yup definitely important.
It sure is. You feel sort of weird that you don't know what it could be. Like a little itch in your brain, a tiny voice asking why wouldn't you know? She knows about the stupid rabbit. Why doesn't she want you to know everything about her?

>"Don't worry, it'll all be okay."
You'll include something like that in your next little round of conversation. That's all you've got, isn't it? Empty reassurances. You hope those are better than nothing.

>Oh hey, you ARE getting better at drawing with practice! And quickly, too!
Haha, wow, you are, aren't you? That's weird. The sketches at home are old, but the doodle in your desk is from like, last week. You... guess she IS right, isn't she? It's probably normal to sometimes have weirdly sudden jumps like this, right? You can't draw Emiko right, but you can draw other things, is that how it is? Probably they're just flukes, anyway. Tomorrow you'll be... right back to sucking! Where does your effort come from? Why are you better at drawing things that aren't her?

Well, anyway, it doesn't matter. You have waaaay more important stuff to think about right now. it doesn't matter.

it really doesn't matter at all.

>As nice as that drawing is, you should probably destroy it before it falls into the wrong hands. Maybe eat it! This artistic triumph can become a part of you!
You don't wanna... eat it. That's a little bit much. Also, eating paper is gross. You were a little kid once, you've made bad choices, you know. Bleh.

>Did she keep it in her school desk? Is that why she seemed really freaked out at the end of class, but not the start? If so, it would be important to know who got to class before her.
She said she did, yeah. That's probably why... she didn't notice until partway through class, and then, boom, the thing was gone and she was all shaken up.

>Then try to cheer her up by talking about something dumb.
Oh, you've got the perfect dumb thing: the drawing you literally just did! That might actually make her feel a little bit better. Shit, for once you actually did something useful.

"Check this out," you say, trying to look cheerful. Maybe if you seem happy it'll be contagious. You hold up the drawing for her to see.

She smiles, bites her lip like she's trying not to laugh, and for a second you feel like you're God.

2/4 softmeats 2018/05/24(Thu)20:22 No. 885957 ID: 7dcdc0
File 152721852218.png - (151.38KB , 360x360 , 045.png )

Then something changes, and... suddenly she looks upset. What just happened? What the fuck, what went wrong? It was - you were helping.

... Wait, why do you feel like you're being watched?

3/4 softmeats 2018/05/24(Thu)20:22 No. 885958 ID: 7dcdc0
File 152721855020.png - (397.36KB , 360x1080 , 046.png )

Oh fuck, it's Takahashi. What does that bitch want? She - oh FUCK, it's TAKAHASHI and you're holding a picture you drew of you and Emiko as wolves devouring her guts, that's not gonna look great -

There's only one thing to do, against your previous judgment: eat the drawing as fast as you can.

You shove it in your mouth, trying to crumple all the paper in as fast as you can in a drawn-out moment of slapstick idiot panic...

... And Takahashi, possibly sensing its importance, fucking snatches it out of your jaws. Part of the drawing rips off in your mouth and you swallow it instinctively, but she has the bulk of it.

4/4 softmeats 2018/05/24(Thu)20:22 No. 885959 ID: 7dcdc0
File 152721856089.png - (182.79KB , 360x360 , 047.png )

"... What the fuck is this?" She looks from the picture to you, and she looks - angry, yeah, which you expected, but more than that she actually looks sort of freaked out. As if she saw something scary instead of some dumbass vent-doodle.

She takes a little step back, staring at you warily, still clutching the slightly-slobbery artistic rendition of her gory death in her hand.

"Is that me?"

>((The writer and artist would like to apologize for the delay in updates; life happened.))

I'm torn between "Apologise" and "pretend to be choking to death as a distraction"

>>885959
>"Is that me?"
Gurrr, gmumble glu?

Attempt to answer, come out with exactly zero words because your mouth is full or soggy half-chewed paper.

>>885959
"Oh, get over it, drama queen. You act like such a bitch; I have to vent somehow."

Don't panic, you have a bunch of other weird gore drawings. Just say it's part of your attempts to get better at drawing, blood is just conveniently complicated, and you don't know that many people. In other related stuff, you probably can't draw Emiko because you aren't confident enough in your drawing, and panic drawing her. There's absolutely nothing weird going on, no mam.

Well, it does make sense that she's genuinely freaked out! Most people probably don't draw vent art with such lovingly rendered intestines, because most people are boring.

Two directions you could go here: either try to reassure her that you aren't dangerous so you'll only get in normal levels of trouble and not extra special trouble for potentially violently crazy kids, OR double down and hope she's TOO scared to do anything about it.

Emiko doesn't know everything about you, does she? What about your crush? Maybe it was icky. like fungus growing on her feet. Or boring, like financial records.

Thinking about how you would have shown it and grabbed it, you would have bit off the top right, so she can't cite you for language. But how she is holding it, it would be the bottom left, so Emiko wouldn't be depicted.

It's yours, she has no right, grab it right back.
Maybe she recently watched a yandere marathon. Chitose, don't be a yandere. Even if they win, they never get a happy ending.

softmeats 2018/05/25(Fri)02:28 No. 885986 ID: 7dcdc0
File 152724048324.png - (155.63KB , 360x360 , 48.png )

>It's yours, she has no right, grab it right back. 
God, it's really tempting, but you're gonna avoid escalating THAT far. For now.

>I'm torn between "Apologise" and ((...))
>There's absolutely nothing weird going on, man.
>try to reassure her you aren't dangerous so you'll only get in normal levels of trouble.
>"Get over yourself, drama queen. ((...)) I have to vent somehow."
"Uh - kind of? Maybe? I mean, I don't - it's not serious, I just... draw stuff to vent sometimes?" Oh god. This isn't coming out right at all. She doesn't respond well, either, crushing the drawing a little in her fist.

"To VENT? You drew me getting my arm ripped off by a wolf! What kind of lunatic vents that way?!" Ugh, come on, why is she like this?!

"It's a fucking drawing! Can you chill out and not be a bitch for like, one second?"

Weirdly enough, just as it looks like she's going to explode... she actually does. You're ready to yell at her some more, and then she takes a deep, shaky breath, and... turns to Emiko, who looks surprisingly frozen. Oh god, this can't go anywhere good, can it?

"I... overheard this goblin talking to you about... you losing a wallet, or something?" Takahashi sounds anxious, almost stumbling over her words. What the fuck is even going on? What is she planning here? "And I thought... I don't know... maybe I could help you look for it?"

Emiko just stares at her, totally paralyzed. The look in her eyes is... fucking complicated. You can't even begin to guess what she's feeling.

And where does Takahashi get off just suddenly talking to Emiko like it's - like it's not even unusual? Like she's somehow expecting a response other than 'fuck off?'

A few whole seconds go by, Takahashi staring awkwardly while Emiko opens her mouth, shuts it again. Stares, like she's totally torn about... something.

You have no idea what's going on, but you're not about to sit here and do nothing.

First things first look at Emiko and try and see how okay she is. Maybe go for a totally platonic hand squeeze in the process, you know, as a friend.

Secondly ask if Takahashi knows anything, and when she started to care??? Try to lean towards the passive part of passive aggressiveness.

>You have no idea what's going on, but you're not about to sit here and do nothing.
Let's ignore all the stuff that doesn't make sense and focus on what's important: Emiko, and helping her.

If Takahashi wants to actually help find Emiko's missing wallet, that helps Emiko. That's your priority here, full stop. It doesn't matter that the bitch isn't worth spending time with, or if she has some ulterior motive, or if there's something complicated in the background.

>I thought... I don't know... maybe I could help you look for it
So step into the awkward not talking they're doing right now and accept Takahashi's help on Emiko's behalf. Yes, thank you, we could use help looking.

>goblin
"Okay, that's it. Takahashi, I want you to tell me, to my face, why you [i]need[/b] to put me down. My life has been horrible for the past @#$%ing decade. I suck at everything. My family hates me. All I want is to be left with what little I have. WHY do you risk your reputation and future just to destroy what little I have left?! Seriously, I don't understand at all."

>Can I help you find Emiko's wallet?
"Well, if you find it, let us know."

If you help Emiko you can maybe get the drawing back without further incident and also have the leeway to tell takashi to go pack sand.

>Where does your effort come from? Why are you better at drawing things that aren't her?
You care more about Emiko, so you pay too much attention to what you're doing, and stress about the result not being as good as what's in your head.

When you draw something you care about less, you just do it with lower expectations and not overthinking or getting in your own way.

>As if she saw something scary instead of some dumbass vent-doodle.
She probably hasn't seen a vent-doodle of her own death before. And you trying to destroy the evidence probably added weight. Like they were plans to hide rather than idle fantasy.

>>885989
Why get worked up over the insult? It's not like goblin is worse than what Chitose has called Takahashi or called herself.

So... Takahashi has the wallet, and is letting Emiko know she has it while trying not to let YOU know, because she has seen what's inside of it and figured out that it is something that Emiko doesn't want YOU to see. That's what's going on here, right? It's about the only thing that makes sense. So... reassure Emiko that YOU will help her get her wallet back, and also there is literally no way you could ever be seriously mad at her no matter what it is that's inside of it, and you won't be nosy about it anyway.

Takahashi sits right next to Emiko, and she arrived early, didn't she? How do we know she didn't take it. This could all be another one of her lies. How can we trust her with anything after she lied about us just this morning! But... if this is al a setup... she will probably "find" Emiko's wallet quite quickly... Maybe we should just let her, for Emiko's sake.

>>885993
It is not about what words are used, it is about what they mean. Chitose has called Takahashi a horrible person who she wants nothing to do with and wishes misfortune upon. Takahashi called Chitose a non-person who should be controlled and contained. "Goblin" is much worse.

Ok, you don't really understand what's happening right now. This is probably a dream/hallucination. Maybe you died and the universe figured you were used to everything getting worse, so your personal hell is just everything being confusing? Screw it, roll with the hallucination. At least hallucination Takahashi wants to help hallucination Emiko. This is your life now, I guess.

you love Emiko more than you hate your enemy, tend to your friend.

softmeats 2018/06/02(Sat)03:12 No. 887266 ID: e493b1
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>First things first look at Emiko and try to see how okay she is. Maybe go for a totally platonic hand squeeze, you know, as a friend.
Oh, she's super not okay, like, sometimes Emiko isn't the easiest to read, but on the Emiko Apparent Okayness Scale this is pretty fuckin' low. How often have you even seen her look this upset? A handful?

... How many of those times had something to do with Takahashi?

>You care more about Emiko, so you pay too much attention to what you're doing, and stress about the result not being as good as what's in your head.
Yeah... that must be it. That's gotta be it. Haha, jeez, what a weirdo you are, getting freaked out over something that simple. Dumb as hell, that's you. You have enough stress in your life without worry about shit like this.

>How do we know she didn't take it?
Fuck - there's a paranoid thought outta nowhere. Or is it? Takahashi fucks with you pretty regularly, and she seems to have a weird, intrinsically damaging effect on Emiko, but... ugh, she's so straight-laced other than that. You can't rule it out, but it would be a big step up for her in terms of bullshit.

>This is probably a dream/hallucination.
That's a nice thought - kinda, in certain ways, and in others it isn't - but you're pretty fuckin' sure this is reality! Nothing is out of the ordinary other than people behaving weirdly, and that seems like a thing that happens in life.

Not to mention you banged your ass on the ground outside school and that really stung. You don't think you've ever felt pain in a dream before. And you've gotten weird about "what if my whole life is a dreaaaam" shit a few times, you know how to test whether you're dreaming, as stupid as that is. If this was a dream, words and numbers and stuff would be changing when you looked away - that's almost always how it works. But the writing on the whiteboard, the drawing that says "lying cunt" on it? Those never changed at all.

>You love Emiko more than you hate your enemy, tend to your friend.
It's... stupid to let Takahashi get to you so much. Or at least it's stupid to let that distract you from what's important. As much as it's frustrating... you can't make this all about you and your own crap. You're having a pretty fucking awful day, but what does that matter if Emiko is unhappy? You have to keep your priorities in mind.

>((A really genuinely surprising number of suggestions to work with Takahashi, or at least to be open to trying.))
>"WHY do you risk your reputation and future just to destroy what little I have left?! Seriously, I don't understand at all."
"Okay, hold the fuck up," you say, raising your hand because... hmm, why are you raising your hand? You guess just because it seems to fit the moment. "Look, I don't give a fuck what you do. Whatever Emiko wants is up to her. I'm gonna help her find the thing, and if you want to tag along for some reason and she okays it, I'm not gonna be a bitch about it. But... what is your problem with me? What did I ever, literally ever, do to you? Ever since you came to this school you've been picking on me. What is your deal?"

Phew, that was a hell of a speech. You think you handled that... relatively well? Maybe not perfectly but... you're being pretty goddamn magnanimous. Emiko is just shooting nervous glances between you and Takahashi. As for your nemesis...

Takahashi glares at you like you ate her parents in front of her or something. If looks could kill you'd be a smear on the far wall of the cafeteria.

"Because you're a freak," she says, "The sick, poisonous kind of freak who ought to be quarantined somehow. I don't care what you want and I don't care how you feel about what she wants. I refuse to cooperate with you. If you really wanted to help her you'd - you'd..."

Takahashi bites off the end of her sentence before finishing, grits her teeth, turns back to Emiko while you kind of stare at her in shock. Emiko, for her part, looks... not really nervous now, more tired, wounded, like she's been stabbed and is already halfway bled out.

"Well, there you have it," Takahashi says to Emiko. "It's her or me, so choose already. You've never had any trouble doing that before, have you?"

... This is some bullshit. This is all kinds of fucked up. She's an asshole and a bully and watching her look at Emiko is making you physically ill. Hearing her talk to Emiko is making you ill. Knowing she exists near Emiko is making you sick to your FUCKING stomach.

But what now? You meant what you said about letting Emiko decide, so... should you just... swallow your pride and shut up, let her handle this? Or is enough e-fucking-nough already?

Trust in the heart of the cards. The cards being Emiko.

She’s your friend, she cares about you! Regardless of what you think of yourself she thinks a whole lot of you. Let her know that you’ll stand by her decision and that whatever happens you love her. Platonically.

Should this sappy course of action backfire feel free to go on a murderous rampage with a plastic knife though.

Just don't let your imagination run away with you, this is not a case of Emiko having a crush on Takahashi the same way you have a crush on her, and her only being weird around her because she knows she hates you, her best friend, with whom she could only be friends. Also, this isn't a case where Takahashi found out and is basic giving her an ultimatum to ditch you so they can be a couple.

"Emiko, if she finds your missing wallet right away, that probably just means she's the one who stole it in the first place."

>"Because you're a freak," she says, "The sick, poisonous kind of freak who ought to be quarantined somehow.
Time to use crushing depression as a super power!

"Well I guess we agree on something, then."

She's the one person who can actually see how fucked up you are, and is offended by it! That's... sort of a relief in a really sick way.

>"It's her or me, so choose already. You've never had any trouble doing that before, have you?"
That's really fucked, though. She shouldn't be putting Emiko in that position. Don't put that crap on her.

>so... should you just... swallow your pride and shut up, let her handle this?
Maybe? Emiko probably actually knows what's going on between her and Takahashi, unlike you, so maybe she'd be better able to say something to get the bitch to calm the heck down.

Also, you trust Emiko, and she's her own person, and you can't speak for her. The line here is... you'll let Emiko speak because you should. But you won't like, shut up and stare at Emiko and be a jerk forcing her to play the "her or me" game alone. That's just cruel, you'd rather speak up than help put her in that situation.

One possible compromise: split up to search? It's not like having 2 or 3 people in the same place is as good being in different places. That way Takahashi doesn't have to work with you, directly.

You may not know why Emiko bothers with you, but she does, and Takahashi of all people is trying to force her not to? Emiko deserves better than to be bossed around like that. [spoiler]Even if she is making a mistake.[/spoier]

You're there for Emiko whenever she needs you. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. It kinda feels like Takahashi used to be Emiko's friend, but there were a few ifs. Don't put an "if" in your friendship with Emiko, even an "if I'm not good enough." Don't leave her.

You may be poisonous but Takahashi is venomous.

>>887266
"... Fair enough. Are you going to tell the teachers about it?"

>Of course I'm going to tell-
"That's nice. You'll point fingers and scream, 'demon, demon!' and when I'm taken away to be locked up in a rubber room, you're going to pretend that I never existed. But it won't matter, the whole school will know that you pointed a finger and some powerful thing ceased to exist. You'll be ostracized by all the cowards in a five mile radius for playing witch hunt with your friends, and then the rest of the crowd will follow suit and make you the fall girl to tease or ignore, whichever suits them best. And then they'll do the same to Emily because they know you care about her, so if they hurt her it would make you squeal like a clown and that would be so funny to everyone. But hey, go ahead, order a mortar strike on this demon and blast us all to kingdom come."

>They wouldn't believe me-
"For all the things adults know, there's a lot of things adults won't believe. They won't believe that miracles can happen. They won't believe that their darling little children could grow up to become sociopathic killers and homophobic CEOs. They won't believe in a god that doesn't care about them, and they won't believe in a devil that walks these halls. They won't believe that I'm sick in the head... unless they believe that YOU'RE a rabid, spiteful yandere to rationalize why you would ever take the time to research another student to the point of stalking."

1/4 softmeats 2018/06/14(Thu)02:39 No. 888864 ID: b8d1a3
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>It kinda feels like Takahashi used to be Emiko's friend, ((...))
>Just don't let your imagination run away with you.
Oh, it's fucking running, and you have no goddamn clue what's happening here, and a thousand different stupid theories are running through your head, but... you can't actually know anything from wild guesses.

You're a little too shaken up to be thinking rationally enough to think irrationally, anyway.

>She shouldn't be putting Emiko in that position.
>Emiko deserves better than to be bossed around like that.
>She's the one person who can actually see how fucked up you are, and is offended by it! That's... sort of a relief in a really sick way.
>One possible compromise: split up to search?
>Let her know that you'll stand by her decision and that whatever happens you love her. Platonically.
>she's her own person, and you can't speak for her.
>Don't put an "if" in your friendship with Emiko, even an "if I'm not good enough."

So many thoughts are ping-ponging around the inside of your skull - things you could say, things you should say, things that would only make everything worse. All you can do for the moment, you guess, is see what Emiko does and go from there.

Emiko shuts her eyes for a second, takes a deep breath. When she opens them again, she smiles, if you can call it a smile when there's so much hurt oozing from every pore in her skin, etched into the set of every muscle.

"Maki," she says, because apparently Emiko is calling this asshole by name now, or was she always, and you just never knew? "What happened?" Takahashi blinks, completely thrown off her game.

2/4 softmeats 2018/06/14(Thu)02:39 No. 888865 ID: b8d1a3
File 152896917187.png - (87.02KB , 360x360 , 051.png )

"You - know what happened to me -" she says, her voice cracking just a little bit. Emiko cuts her off.

"No, what happened to you today?" Emiko sounds... sad, yeah, but... more than that she sounds worried. Takahashi just stares. Everything resembling an expression sloughs off her face, leaving her eerily blank. "Was it... your mom? Or your dad? Or -"

"Stop it," Takahashi says, weird and hoarse and low. "Why would... you..."

"I'm sorry," Emiko continues. "But... I can't accept your help. I don't think... that I deserve it. And I don't really think you deserve to get to give it, either. So please, just... leave us alone." Us. Not "me." Us. What does that mean? Why is she making the distinction?

3/4 softmeats 2018/06/14(Thu)02:39 No. 888866 ID: b8d1a3
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"... oh," Takahashi replies. She sounds like the emotional equivalent of a hollowed out pumpkin that just got thrown off a highway overpass and run over by a truck. "I... see how it is." Glances toward you, sort of wildly. "You realize you're only dragging her under, don't you?"

"Yeah," you say, without entirely meaning to. "Obviously. You're right, I'm poison, but it's not really my decision to make anymore."

Takahashi flinches. You don't even try to interpret that. At this point, you honestly have no idea why anyone's doing or feeling anything. And then she goes cold again, quietly furious, maybe, but... no, this is even colder than before. Emptier.

"Then someone has to make it for you," she says, and before you can say 'yeah, no shit, Emiko will,' she turns and stalks off across the room, disappearing through a swell of students in the middle distance.

4/4 softmeats 2018/06/14(Thu)02:39 No. 888867 ID: b8d1a3
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At least ten actual fucking seconds go by, both you and Emiko staring off at the empty space where Takahashi was just standing, before you break the silence.

"I'll help you find that thing you lost," you say, wondering exactly which thing it is you're referring to. "We'll do it together."

Emiko smiles, and it's still complicated and it's still a little twisted, but you think there's a trace of actual happiness in it, this time.

"Maybe we will," she says. "Even if we don't... thank you anyway."

... You think there's probably time to do one more thing or talk about one more thing before lunch is over.

>((Note from the writer and artist: sorry about the delay again. Life. You know how it is.))

Well I think we can say with confidence you have no idea what's up with Takahashi and Emiko. At the very least, it sounds as if something bad happened, or is happening to Takahashi (abuse? Emiko asked which of her parents it was) and Emiko knows about it.

...whatever it is, it's out of bounds. You can't try to use something against her if you only know it because she trusted Emiko with the information.

Part of the problem here is it's hard to make any good calls about any of this when you don't know how much your own emotions are clouding your perspective.

>... You think there's probably time to do one more thing or talk about one more thing before lunch is over.
Okay maybe now it's time to lighten the mood with dumb tales of boob sliders and glabellas.

HUG THE GIRL!

HUG HER YOU RUBE!

Aww, Emiko loves you too. Time for that manic to flip in the other direction and you to be hyper aware of how awkwardly happy you are that she chose you over Takahashi, with all the angst that comes from trying to figure out how not to act happy that she chose you in an obviously heart wrenching decision.

>>888865
Wait, what?

>>888866
I think you should talk to someone before she does something stupid. Just tell a teacher that Maki was arguing about some insignificant MMO mechanic and then suddenly went catatonic.

>>888867
Talk about the MMO. Emily could play as a lv1 socializer / secretary of loot. Maybe conversation will be easier online.

I think Maki MAYBE decided she's going to kill you or something, because that's the most ominous as hell thing I've heard a high schooler say.

This is getting way too dramatic. Suddenly everyone's crying!

Tell her that you have no clue what happened between her and Maki but, whatever it is, it shouldn't be affecting her so much - it shouldn't be a part of her problems.

Ask her if she'd like to draw something also.

Normal friend schoolgirls hug, it is totally a thing that they do, normally, all the time, probably. Just a friendly hug, it will be the friendliest hug! No- ouch- phrasing...

Emiko is Yandere catnip. We have to use our wanton murder powers to stay alive, without losing ourselves to wanton murder. We need to figure out our powers. I assume we have the basic package that allows us to drag mutilated corpses across the school without raising suspicion from authorities and also the one that allows us to accomplish literally anything provided we do it off-screen...