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Kana Nishino

"Mind your own business."

0 · 542 views · located in Alice Academy

a character in “Alice Academy!”, as played by Felicity

Description

Kana Nishino
Aitakute Aitakute


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Height: 5"5
Appearance: Kana usually let's down her long pink hair, streaming down to about her waist. Her bangs are usually pinned up because they tend to annoy her - she's in the process of growing them out. You'll usually catch her listening to music on her retro headphones. Kana has an intense gaze and her dark blue eyes certainly tribute. She weighs about 110 lbs and has a wiry, slim figure, wide model-liked shoulders.
Sexuality: Sapiosexual - she likes who she likes.
Age: 17
Joined: 2 years ago. (so when she was 15)

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Role: Student
Alice: Innate Persuasion
~Kana can compel people by speaking, persuading them to act on their anger, happiness, fear etc. At high levels, an Alice who has mastered innate persuasion can persuade people into hurting/killing themselves (if they've had suicidal thoughts), but can never cause victims to achieve what they are not capable of - for example, flight - and or have not thought of doing before. The persuasion is usually limited; it can only fully work if the person has had that thought themselves. Kana is only able to amplify their emotions (and vice versa: repress) and influence their decisions/actions.
Type: TBA
Alice form: Unknown
Star ranking: Three Stars
Abilities: Kana is known for her angelic voice and has been recruited by many local agencies in Japan, which she naturally was forced to turn down by the Academy. Kana also has excellent memorization skills and is able to memorize and recite large texts at a time. She usually recalls things others forget.
Preferred Weapons: Kana is really handy with lock picking. She has a small pouch of tools she uses to unlock doors, safes, and other locked objects.

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Personality: Kana usually comes off as a bit intimidating, not that she means to. She doesn't take shit from anyone, and can be a bit blunt sometimes but her intentions are always good. Despite her friendly appearance, she barely ever smiles and tries to keep to herself. Kana is a quick learner, witty, and likes to be intellectually challenged. She is always hungry for knowledge, wanting to develop a right sense about the world around her, as a result she has excellent marks in school. Kana fails to be impressed by people who flaunt wealth, status, clothes and other material labels – but those who show humanity, wit, compassion and curiosity about life intrigue and fascinate her. She devours books, and has a passion for music. Her dream is to become a famous songwriter/singer.
Quirks:
-It is hard to make Kana laugh, but when she starts she can't stop.
-She doesn't like the colour yellow.
-She's lactose intolerant.
-Although she loves to sing, she doesn't really like the sound of her own voice. Therefore she tries to speak as little as possible.
-She's fears her own voice at times. (See Bio)
Likes:
-Music
-Books
-Singing
-Quiet places like the beach
-Long walks
-Cloud gazing
-Black coffee
Dislikes:
-Heavy metal
-Milk
-Smartasses
Biography: It would be an understatement to say that Kana was a very spoiled child. Her parents provided her with everything she ever wanted. Only a few years later would she come to know her Alice and the power it held over every single person exposed to her voice.

Once when Kana was 14, she and her mother got into a very big fight about her future, in which she spat the words "go kill yourself". A few hours, Kana got a call from the Police. They explained that her mother had passed away by driving straight off a cliff. Kana was never the same after that.

She ran away and made a living by persuading strangers for large sums of money on the street. For a while, she could get by but was quickly picked up by some sketchy strangers that told her about her powers and the potential she held. They pointed her towards the Alice Academy and told her that they would keep an eye on her until she was 18. And that they would come back to collect her once she was able to control her powers by learning through the school. Kana agreed halfheartedly, curious about her own powers and her innate desire to meet students just like her.
Kana hasn't seen the strangers since.

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So begins...

Kana Nishino's Story

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Mitsuki Hisakawa Character Portrait: Shino Terr Character Portrait: Nero Sceer Character Portrait: Naoya Watanabe Character Portrait: Midna Silvera Character Portrait: Sylvia Cauthon
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#, as written by Layla


“Welcome to Alice Academy!” a deafening voice exploded through the speakers of the crowded assembly hall. A boy with a spirit-seeing Alice chuckled as the spirits of students and staff alike leapt from their skins at the sudden shattering of their eardrums and the sight of... “I’m Mitsuki Hisakawa, Student Body President and your host for today.”

Students and staff members had been trapped in that assembly hall for the past three hours, listening to introductions of new students, briefings, announcements, rules, subjects, uniforms and speeches. Most notable of the speeches included the junior school principle’s, which droned on for 56 minutes and 22 seconds regarding his pet serpent’s favourite times of the day. Most of the audience had fallen into a deep sleep only to be jarred into wakefulness by bag pipes announcing the arrival of the President of the Student Council.

“Mommy!!!” wailed a small child from the elementary school. He received a glance from the self-proclaimed host on the stage and he very literally seemed to turn grey. His jaw touched the top of his chest and he swayed like a paper bag in a rainstorm as he sat rooted to his seat.

“Listen up, kid,” Mitsuki said slowly, clutching the stage podium. “Your mama’s swimming in a sea of gold right now and you’re probably never going to see her again. Suck it up or I’ll suck you up into a big, black whole of oblivion. Unless you’d rather be my roommate, of course,” she added with a baring of teeth that might’ve been a feral snarl or a grin.

The stage podium turned to ashes.

Mitsuki laughed.

“Haha, these stage props sure are fragile, huh? Wood these days!” The audience laughed nervously.

“Moving on. Welcome back, oldies, and newbies, welcome to the next decade of your life stuck with me if you don’t follow the rules,” she chirped, her wavy snow blue hair bouncing merrily on her shoulders. “Seeing as I’d rather be contemplating the meaning of life under running water, we’ll skip the formalities, alright?” she declared.

“First up’s the annual Search and Conquer tournament!” Dramatic bagpipes drum rolled. There was a mass intake of breath from the older students. “That’s right, kids! It’s the annual 71st Hunger Games!” Mitsuki clapped loudly before returning to standing on her toes to reach the microphone. “No, seriously. Stop acting like I’m sacrificing you to the Fertility God. Woooo, excitement!”

She grunted and snatched the microphone from the stand. They needed shorter microphone stands. “I said excitement.”

A roaring cheer followed the initial splatter of applause.

“For those of you who’ve yet to experience the joy of Search and Conquer, let me explain to you what it is.” She beamed supportively, rolling her weight onto the heels of her booted feet and then to her toes, and back, and forth, and back. Her eyes darted left and right. Man, she needed a sugar hit.

“14 students will be randomly chosen and given individual flags they must keep on their persons. They will be sent to the Northern Woods.” Suddenly, the interior of the assembly hall transformed into that of the menacing outdoors. The crooked fingers of the trees loomed over the audience, threatening to engulf them. Students from the technical abilities class panted as they spun and tapped at the mechanisms maintaining the illusion.

“The” – she grinned – “’volunteers,’ will be scattered throughout the woods during noon and in the woods they will remain until sunrise. The game involves stealing an individual’s flag. Those whose flags you steal will join your empire and you will be their Queen or King.” But who was she kidding, a woman would win this. “Anyone under their command, will also become your slaves. For example, Billy steals Dicky’s flag, Billy becomes Dicky’s king. Lily steals Billy’s flag, and becomes Billy and Dicky’s queen. If Dicky steals Momo’s flag, Lily also becomes Momo’s Queen.

“The person who manages to survive unclaimed until sunrise wins a prize, as does the person with the largest empire. The prize?” Mitsuki’s pale aquamarine eyes darkened with glee. “The former, 1000 rabbits” – there was a collective gasp, that was even more than Special Stars received – “and the latter, a one day ticket outside.”

Silence drenched the student body just as the illusions made by the technical abilities class evaporated, the assembly hall shimmering into focus.

“Now for the rules of the game!” she announced, her aura leaping into a fluff of pink cotton.

“One: once a person has claimed another’s flag, you cannot claim their flag unless you’ve claimed the flags of the people they are ruling. Two: you cannot steal the flag of your own monarch. Three: killing or permanent injury of students – or teachers – is not allowed.” She tossed a glare at Midna Silvera, emphasising each word with venom.

“Fourth: you may not bring items – dangerous or otherwise – outside of what is given to you. Fifth: your flag must be tied around your wrist at all times. Losing your flag will result in removal from the game. Sixth: no communication is allowed with those beyond the Nothern Woods. Seventh: no teleportation or human locating Alices or any other similar Alice may be used.” Mitsuki’s gaze flicked over to the wings of the stage for a brief moment before returning to the student body. “This year, Nero Sceer, the Head of the Dangerous Abilities class will be overseeing the tournament. He may use lethal force and interfere with the events. He may aid the participants or act as an obstacle,” her voice dripped with disdain. “He will reinforce the rules to ensure the game is fair.”

Mitsuki beamed and clapped her hands together, bouncing just as a lanky man – or gigantic rabbit shaped like a man – appeared beside her. He bowed and lifted the tall hat from his head, holding it out before her.

“Now for the volunteers!” She dipped her hand into the hat and pulled out a bundle of lollies. She unwrapped them and stared, reading out the names before popping the candies in her mouth with fervour. “Sylvia Cauthon, Hiroki Seijun, Maya Shinozaki, Midna Silvera, Jules Carter, Kana Nishino, Lorelai Bay, Michel De Angelo Robutton, Feris Lilliand, Alexander Rammis, Azeal Rowens, Shino Terr, Naoya Watanabe and…” She narrowed her eyes at the sweet.

Mitsuki flipped the candy around, rubbing at it as if to ensure it was real.

She tasted the candy.

No, it couldn’t be.

“This is wrong,” she told the towering rabbit man. Her only reply was a disappearing bunny act as her useless assistant vanished in a puff of smoke. She opened her mouth, closed it, turned to the audience, and glared. “And Mitsuki Hisakawa.”

She turned away from the stage for a moment, her softly flowing pigtails twitching as she faced the back of the stage. The Alice limiting rings on her fingers flared, the gems flickering like embers in wood that was about to ignite. She exhaled and spun around, her usual smile already in place.

“Now for your gifts! For Sylvia Cauthon, a bottle of water.” The items would appear midair and fall into their laps. “For Hiroki Seijun, all seven books of the Harry Potter series. Alexander Rammis, a pineapple. Naoya Watanabe, a jelly fish lamp. Maya Shinozaki, inflatable earplugs. Midna Silvera, a detached showerhead. Jules Carter, chicken bones. Lorelai Bay, chinese tea leaves. Kana Nishino, a piece of nylon string. Michel Robutton, tarot cards. Feris Lilliand, a king sized mattress. Azeal Rowens, a bottle of salt and pepper. Shino Terr, a cup shaped like Pokemon. Mitsuki Hisakawa… Men’s underwear... 100% cotton."

“All Search and Conquer participants and Nero Sceer must report to the edge of the Northern Woods at 1147 hours to commence the tournament. Other students and staff may view live footage of the tournament in the dining hall or common room. Students may return to their respective rooms if they so desire,” she mumbled absentmindedly, her gaze drifting already to a realm no one else could see.

“By the way, I was serious about my request of cookie dough pop tarts in your welcoming letters. New students who fail to provide me with sugary goodness…” She paused, tilting her head in thought. “Will die.”

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Mitsuki Hisakawa Character Portrait: Kana Nishino
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Kana Nishino
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To be painfully honest, Kana hadn't been paying attention to Misuki's little spiel. She had been, instead, (fractionally might I add), nodding her head to an imaginary beat. Well, to others it would have looked imaginary, but the tune was very much real to Kana—she never went anywhere without her custom-made headphones. Her headphones were custom made by an invention Alice. In exchange, all Kana had to do was persuade the homeroom teacher to let said invention Alice extend a mid-term paper. It was all very sketchily done but none-the-less Kana had gotten the perfect headphones.

A couple minutes into Misuki’s speech, however, she was nudged by a student to her left.

“Uhm,” said the student nervously. She was much younger than Kana.

Kana reluctantly slide her headphones off her ears.

“Kana Nishino…right? Uhm, I think they…she—Misuki—the games…candy…nylon string…” the student trailed off, clearly uncomfortable with having to explain whatever she was trying to explain. How she knew Kana’s name, Kana was at a loss.

Kana’s eyes shifted to the front where the Student Body President, Misuki, stood, her faced twisted in her usually, menacing “smile”. She was clearly unhappy about something, but Kana was more focused on the few last words of her sentence.

“…of cookie dough pop tarts in your welcoming letters. New students who fail to provide me with sugary goodness…will die.”

Huh?

Kana turned to the girl and put on a smile, “tell me what I missed, no need to be shy.”

The student’s pupils grew and her tense demeanour slacked as she began to summarize the events of the game eagerly.



Kana thoughtfully fingered the nylon string in her hand. She had made an effort to avoid anyone she knew, grab the gift assigned to her, and get out of there. She noticed, briefly, how charged the atmosphere was with excitement, anxiety, and fear. She was back in her (not so tidy) room, splayed across her bed. She scrutinized the string. It looked like it could have been apart of a guitar once. Kana smiled wistfully remembering how much she used to enjoy playing for her family and friends…but that was a long time ago now. No use thinking about it now.

"...go kill yourself..."

Kana startled suddenly, abruptly sitting up. She was breathing harder than she would have liked.

Bad memory...why am I thinking of that now?

Feeling uneasy, Kana stretched and stood up and made her way towards her beloved Gibson currently leaning against the wall. She strummed it once, and let the string vibrate throughout her room. She took a deep breathe and close her eyes.

What was the point of the games anyway? She wanted to ask. They were for show. Purely entertainment purposes.

And we're their showdogs. She thought bitterly.

She nodded to herself, her hand clamping the nylon string. If a show was what the higher ups wanted...

Kana strummed her guitar again, louder.

...Well, she'd definitely give them a show.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Mitsuki Hisakawa Character Portrait: Naoya Watanabe Character Portrait: Azeal Ji Rowens Character Portrait: Alexander Rammis Character Portrait: Kana Nishino Character Portrait: Lorelai Bay
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#, as written by Layla
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"Um.... Y-You look beautiful." Mitsuki smiled, turning around to thank Azeal for his compliment but before she could, he'd retreated back into himself. "I-I'm sorry," he said hastily, flinching away from her. "I didn't mean to offend you."

Her gaze softened and she reached out to touch him but remembered not to before her skin met his. You'd think after a lifetime of no human contact she'd remember to stop trying but she supposed she'd always been a bit of a dreamer, thinking some day her Alice might disappear, that this entire time her Alice had been intermittent rather than limited. She studied his face, his gaze so intent on the ground. His body was bent as if he were trying to make himself smaller and less of a target.

"Azeal," she said softly. "I would never hurt you." She tugged the sleeve of her uniform down over her hand and touched his right cheek softly, the thin material between their skins. She caught his dark gaze with her own pale orbs. "Do you honestly think people would get angry at you for complimenting them? You didn't do anything wrong.

"Anyway, the Howalons!" she said, cheerfully changing the subject. She stepped away, her hands swinging as she hopped over to a cupboard resting beside her closet. She swung the door open and shelves of food were revealed. One of the shelves held only one large white box which she pulled out and placed in Azeal's hands. "It's only half a dozen Howalons. I need to stock up. We can go to Central Town together after Search and Conquer!"

A jolt of power gushed from her body only to be sucked away and followed by another flood of her power. So this is what my Alice feels like, she thought grimly before hearing the familiar whisper of Alex's voice, "Mitsuki, crap, don…"

"Alex!" she yelled, throwing her window open and without sparing a thought to the stupidity and dangers, jumped on the ledge and threw herself out. She gasped as her finger brushed his. His Alice flooded her bones like magma and she'd never known burning to death could feel this good. The waves of power threw her against the window of someone's room just as the circular rose quartz on her left index finger shattered. The particles of the glass she was thrown against unravelled as they leapt towards her body, engulfing her in a myriad of shards. Her body skidded along the ground and slammed into a wall.

Mitsuki slowly lifted the lids of her eyes which had been squeezed shut and found herself staring at Sushi Ingredient. The sight of Lorelai soon overpowered the cuts along her body and she scowled, hopping to her feet. She glanced at the familiar vertical stretch of ass beside Salmon Sashimi and scowled harder. What was he doing clad so scantily in Bay's room?

Right, "Alex!"

She quickly rushed towards the window and stupidly, impulsively, threw herself out once again. Her fingers grasped the ledge of another window before she fell the rest of the way down. She'd caught the echoes of a Cmaj7 chord strummed on a guitar. Mitsuki landed with a thud beside his unconscious body, cracks in the Earth rippling beneath her feet. Air whizzed in and out of her lungs as her vision spun, the usual greys of the world she saw warred with the flashes of colour. The earth felt like quick sand beneath her feet as she stood. What was happening?

The gold band clutching her right wrist dimmed, turning into copper, and then to dust.

Mitsuki spun around, disorientated, her eyes flinching at the onslaught of details. She saw the individual threads of energy that wove the objects around her, each shimmering fragment promising power. She grunted, pressing the heels of her palms against her tightly closed eyes.

"Make it stop!" a voice screeched in the distance and she realised it was her own voice and her own nails embedded in her flesh. She whirled around, her eyes burning an incandescent sapphire, her blue hair paling with each breath. She found the unconscious body and saw her power, an ocean at a time, flooding into the vessel by her feet.

The rubies in her ears flickered and darkened.

"Hungry," she gasped, dropping onto her knees beside Alex's unconscious body, staining his long hair with her fingerprints. She reached into the air past his lips and urged the strands of his breath between her fingers, rolling it into a soft cloud in her palms. She pressed the trembling energy into her mouth, devouring a piece of him as the cotton candy dissolved on her tongue. A moan eased through her lips and she grinned, the buzz of life filling her ears, their lips caressing her skin. She wanted it all.

Her nose burned with ice and fire; she pressed her fingertips to it and pulled back to find her skin stained with her own blood. She gagged and crawled away from the unconscious body beside her. Had she done this? She glanced about frantically and cowered at the bombardment of energies. Before her were colours she hadn't even known existed, having only seen shades of one.

She saw clusters of trembling students hiding, watching, their running feet frozen to a single spot as they struggled with their conscience and fear. A hand made of razors clutched her throat as she stood, stumbling backwards for a few steps before steading herself against a wall. She opened her mouth to urge them not to be afraid but was rewarded with a steady trickle of metallic red instead.

"Get away from me," she said, her voice muffled by the palm she pressed over her mouth and nose to stop the stream of blood. Her hands were shaking as she ran towards nowhere and anywhere. She nearly tripped over Alexander's body as the world tipped forward, the lights melding into a symphony of tone deaf football players discovering string instruments for the first time. She held her breath, hoping that might give her Alice a hint to go into a long, long coma or take a break in an extinct volcano in Hawaii. She realised then that rather than her leaching the world, she was somehow, by some strange science, was being leached of her Alice, her life.

She sighed with relief and, carefully, brushed the knuckles over the nearest tree, wincing as she waited for it to disintegrate.

It didn't.

Mitsuki beamed.

"It's safe, everyone! Woah, look at that!" she laughed, slapping the bark of the tree lightly. Nothing. That's it, she was going to touch everything and give everyone a hug, all 1005 students of Alice Academy. Her throat itched as the first fits of coughs ravaged her throat, her crimson blood staining her hands and the grass beneath her like ink on a canvas. So this is what blood looks like, she mused. It wasn't as hideous as she'd expected. Her breathing came in a horrible, tortured wheeze like that of a dying cat. She pulled the air hungrily into her lungs but received only a speck of oxygen despite her efforts. Her vision blurred as her feet crumbled and Mitsuki fell.

"Come on, Tsuki. Stay awake. You still need to get those cookie dough pop tarts," she attempted to whisper but it came out instead as gurgle followed by coughing as she choked on her own blood. Wow, real elegant, Tsuki. She looked around but found only the iron blanket of darkness. She hand to find whatever was forcing her power from her body before it forced her soul from it too. But she couldn't do that if she couldn't see shit.

Her hair and eyes paled, the former almost bone white and the latter a colourless translucence. She wasn't even supporting herself with her own legs and spine anymore, if those even existed. She decided it might be easier to allow her eyelids to flutter closed, to let go, and give up trying to breathe.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Mitsuki Hisakawa Character Portrait: Shino Terr Character Portrait: Nero Sceer Character Portrait: Naoya Watanabe Character Portrait: Midna Silvera Character Portrait: Sylvia Cauthon
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#, as written by Layla


"Welcome to the annual Search and Conquer!" a voice chirped from nowhere and everywhere simultaneously, echoing through the minds of the contestants in the menacing woods. Well, in sunlight, it was actually quite pretty, ignoring the poisonous snakes and mud swamps that probably plagued it. Mitsuki felt her jaw fall a little at the familiar cheer. Coffee boy? she thought incredulously. "I'm James Franklin, our student body president's personal assistant." She snorted at his self-proclaimed title. Please, he was her foot rest and slave and had been since they were six. "My lady, my nights have been dark with worry for you," he moaned and Mitsuki grunted in response. The feeling was not mutual; and weren't nights meant to be dark?

"Seeing as both prez and vice-president Rammis were chosen for this expedition, I'll be your guide for this tournament." Mitsuki shielded her eyes with a hand to look at the afternoon Sun, memorising the shadows the trees around her cast and the position of the star so she would roughly gauge the time. She wished she'd worn a watch but each of the participants had been magically teleported to random parts of the Northern Woods at 12:00pm sharp and seeing as she'd been too busy with almost dying in the school hospital, she hadn't had much of a chance to even get dressed. She shivered in her thin hospital gown and thanked her luck that it at least wasn't one of those that left her entire backside bare. She'd prefer to have a pair of pants on but an ugly off white dress with pale blue polka dots was close enough. Her vacuum packed bag of men's underwear was tucked under her arm, despite her having no recollection of having it. She supposed their 'gifts' simply appeared with them even if it wasn't on their person at the time of the transfer. Luck was working in her favour today. You never knew when you could use a pair of 100% cotton underwear, even if she honestly couldn't fathom a situation that would call for that, and she was pretty damned creative.

"As you can tell, you've all been scattered throughout the Northern Woods and you'll find a green and red flag with the face of Santa Claus wrapped around your wrist. You must keep this on your persons at all times. When your flag is stolen, the face of Santa will become that of your new team leader. Team leaders will have the faces of their victims printed on their flags."

Mitsuki was already moving, searching the woods for prey. Having been sent on countless missions, she moved quickly and silently, her eyes tracking every rattle of a leaf or skitter of an ant. She had no idea how she'd even ended up in the hospital but she remembered gasping as a surge of life like a shock from a defibrillator jolted her awake only for her to succumb to unconsciousness moments after. Her earliest memory besides that jolt was giving Azeal half a dozen Howalons.

She listened intently to James as he recited the rules she'd memorised before and put a halt to her prying altogether when he began reading through the names of participants. She racked her brain trying to remember every small detail about every student. She knew most in person and knew all from reading their personal folios yet perhaps it was whatever had happened before, but she couldn't seem to remember anything all that well. She thought she might've understood most of their Alices but the names were being thrown into a large, boiling pot of mud, and it didn't look as if it was going to be salvaged any time soon. She bit the inside of her cheek. She wasn't one to give up.

"Search and Conquer will end when the sun rises tomorrow and your gifts will disappear. The person who remains unclaimed through the entirety of the tournament will win a thousand rabbits, and the leader with the biggest team will win a pass to the outside. Be warned, there are Alice traps scattered throughout the Woods that will transport you to the nearest competitor should you make contact with it. These are very well hidden and unlikely to be spotted, but here's a tip: watch out for anything and anyone that's out of place."

Like that gigantic rubber duck over there?

A massive rubber duck sat a ways away. When did that get there? She gawked at it, puzzled, and then they made eye contact. Wait, what? Eye contact?!

"CHEEEEEEEPPP!!!"

"What the f-" she cursed just as the rubber contraption slash beast bounced towards her. She screamed and spun around, running as fast as she possibly could as the neon yellow creature leapt distances no bathtub deco should've been able to. Mitsuki was in no way slow, having spent most of her days every day chasing after idiots who broke rules, but the duck was one crazy piece of plastic.

"Prez! Prez, are you okay?!" James asked frantically, his voice deafening from the invisible speakers in their heads. She heard a muffled voice in the distance scolding him for using his telepathic broadcasting Alice inappropriately. She scowled. No one was allowed to yell into his ear and use him as a personal broadcasting station except for her.

I don't know, Franklin. I'm being chased by an oversized bathroom utensil. Do I look okay?

"Uh, by the way," his voice returned. "There're some obstacles to overcome in the Woods."

Mitsuki chanced a glance over her shoulder and found the glint of the rubber duck's dark eye.

No shit.

She screamed and ran harder.

"I'm so glad I'm not any of you right now," James laughed for a while before sobering up. "I love you, Tsuki. Survive and come back to me. My body is yours to use and dispose of."

Mmm, disposing of him did sound quite nice.

"CHEEEP!!!"

Maybe later.

Upon closer and slightly less brief inspection, she realised the duck wasn't a duck after all but a gigantic chic. Hope fluttered in her stomach - or maybe hunger, it was hard to tell - and she wondered if she could eat it.

Her eyes darted around, searching for an escape but finding nothing but trees the duck would only crush. Maybe she could dig a hole and bury herself, and maybe the medicine they gave her was making her stupid, crazy, or both. She glanced at the rings on her fingers as she ran and touched her ears, her Alice limiting devices had been replaced. Could she take out a duck giant made of rubber? Did her Alice even work on rubber?

You're not freaking electricity, Tsuki.

For one reason or another, she hesitated to stop and stand in front of the duck with her arms wide open for a hug. Maybe it was the highly plausible chance of death by flattening or her mistrust of self-guided, supposedly small baby chickens, but she wasn't quite ready to die.

But she stopped, spun around, and held out her arms.

"CCCHHEEEEPPP!!!"

The bundle of yellow fuzz grasped her hands and spun her around, tears glistening in the corners of its eyes. It pranced through the garden of trees, although from this vantage point, they looked more like pieces of broccoli. The humongous chic clutched Mitsuki to its neon chest and twirled, emitting sounds of joy or calling for more crack, there was little differentiation.

"CCHEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPP!!!"

Well, stranger things have happened.