Reverse Tarot - jun-kurosu

"KASHIHARA - XX/XX/2020 - PROTOTYPE 2 TEST 6 UNSUCCESSFUL, NO LONGER WORKS, REVERT TO PREVIOUS STATE PLEASE" Slender fingers glided across the keyboard as Jun tapped a quick note into the project documentation for his peers to find. While he was never hugely impolite, the request to undo the recent changes to the project signalled his irritation that his work had been messed with. Ugh. It was working just fine before those idiots tried to "improve" it. He sighed as he closed the document and shoved the mess of electrical components back into its box. Being a researcher at a university had its ups and downs, and this project was turning out to be one of the less positive ones. Suddenly, Jun's attention was grabbed by something else. A small tug from the corner of his mind. A feeling that something's missing. But what? Jun rubbed his temples as a small frown appeared on his face. He was getting this feeling more and more often lately - what on earth was it? It felt almost as though he'd forgotten something important, but raking through his memory, he was never able to find any gaps. Along with an excellent mind, he possessed an excellent memory, something which had often been commended by professors, employers and family throughout his life; Jun was not the type to forget things, no matter how fine the details may be. He sighed again and frustratedly got up from his workstation. Perhaps it was time to take a break.

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4:39 PM

Tatsuya Suou. Why did that name seem so familiar? If Jun had come across the name before, even just in passing while reading a paper, he should remember it. The explanation “Tats” gave should have sufficed, and Jun was sure that to anyone else it would have made perfect sense to have seen the name somewhere and promptly forgotten, but even while he typed out the message agreeing with the suggestion, he did not believe it. Why did Jun feel like he had forgotten something? Or someone?

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4:40 PM

“Fight a god” Of all the strange things Jun was reading as he skimmed through the previous night’s messages on the chat room, the notion of fighting a god really stuck out to him for some reason. The phrase wasn’t even used to describe such an action, merely somebody’s attitude or enthusiasm: “he may be ready to fight a god”. Why would such a phrase bother him so? “Is there another god causing trouble again?” Jun had just dismissed the thought when the reply caught his eye. The uncomfortable feeling that he was forgetting something swept through him once again. It had been happening more and more frequently in recent days and was growing quite frustrating. Another god causing trouble again. The suggestion from Naoya’s question was that not only had a god “caused trouble” in the past, but perhaps that someone (maybe even someone in that chat room) had fought that god. What on earth was this chat room? And why did such an impossible thing seem to stir up memories that weren’t present? The messages that followed confused Jun further, with Naoya both claiming to have meant corrupt people rather than literal gods and claiming to have known actual gods. Perhaps he was just spiritual? No, Yosuke’s (or, “Hana’s”) reply made it look like they were covering something up, something that Naoya claimed “people wont believe.”

4:40 PM

. No. No. No. No. Jun was a rational person. Not spiritual, and certainly not prone to such ridiculous flights of fantasy. They did not know gods. They did not fight gods. That was impossible. This chat room must be some kind of role-play. Jun had somehow, and for some unknown reason, been added to a role-play chat room. It was obviously the case, what with talk of gods, tracking down another user, and all the other ridiculous things he was reading. Yes, a role-play. He strongly affirmed this in his head, pushing away the details that did not support this conclusion. The inability to install the app, the name it should have no way of knowing, the people who were turning up just as confused as Jun, all ignored. Perhaps this explanation would prevent that feeling from bothering him.

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Jun was not fond of change. Not in the slightest. As a result, his life had always been quite stable, progressing in a straightforward manner with no unnecessary variation. Now, suddenly, things appeared to be changing, and not in a positive manner. It had started with the feelings he’d been having. Like something was missing in his memory. Then that app had appeared on his phone, and the feelings had progressively become stronger and more frequent. Next, it felt like someone was watching him; a prickling sensation that had the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. Now Jun knew he was being followed. Why? Why him? All he had done was question the origin of the app. Could he have been right in thinking it was something sinister? Had he been poking around too much? Were they coming after him to stop him? Was Jun going to be killed? No, surely not. Logically, if they were going to kill him, they’d have already done it, right? They would’ve had plenty of opportunities considering Jun was so often alone, late at night. Although, it was always still a possibility, he supposed. What should one do in this situation? Admittedly, he still hadn’t actually seen the person (or people?) following him, but what else could have caused the rapidly disappearing shadows, extra footsteps and muttering he’d been experiencing? Jun had been considering paranoia as an explanation, but today he some of the other researchers had been talking about a stranger they’d seen around the university’s labs; someone even the senior staff didn’t seem to know. That must be him, and judging by the uncomfortable feeling of eyes on Jun’s back, he must be here now. .

5:42 PM

So what should Jun do? It was late, and the lab was empty aside from himself and his stalker; everyone else had long since packed up and left. In fact, this late at night the whole campus should be empty. If anything were to happen, nobody would know until at least morning, and there was nobody to go to for help. Hiding wasn’t even an option considering they were already in a room that was locked with a code – the stalker must have access to the building’s codes, or some other method of opening locked doors. Maybe he could just leave? He had been safe so far, perhaps he really was just being followed with no murderous intent. No. He couldn’t take this anymore. It was time to confront this. Jun could only hope that doing so would not lead to his death. Silently, Jun tidied up what he was doing, hands shaking all the while and back still turned to the suspected location of the other person. If something was going to happen to him, he could at least leave everything neat and tidy for his colleagues. That thought would probably have made him laugh in different circumstances, but right now it was hard to bring any feeling forward other than the anxiety that had been building throughout the day. Once everything was in its place, Jun sat down again, turned to face where he thought his follower was, and spoke in as steady a voice as he could muster: “I am aware that you are following me. Please come out of hiding.” @Kayla, male thot enemy of state

This was turning out to be absolutely ridiculous. When he first took on the job, Yosuke's first thought was that he would be following "Iris" around from a distance. He could see how attractive he looked for his age, having gotten briefings on his target, and knowing he was around his 40s. " Jun," but he had two different last names in the file, and Yosuke wondered if it was the time split causing this. Either way, he had gotten pretty acquainted with Jun's schedule. The Kirijo group gave him all of the cards and passcodes to his job so that he could sneak inside. Yosuke wore his work outfit when he was out and about, so he didn't look too out of place-- save for his wardrobe full of bright and/or pastel colors... He didn't expect this to be so BORING though. Jun worked for HOURS, and even though Yosuke had grabbed a lab coat and snuck around, he mostly had to stay out of sight of EVERYONE. Because, clearly, he wasn't supposed to be IN here. Sure, he had a fake official name tag on his chest, but he was still not in the worker registry. He ended up wearing a "disguise" at one point-- his pair of glasses and busying himself with something else the second someone entered the same hallway as him. He hated wearing his glasses, but it was enough to make him slightly unrecognizable. He just hopes that he wouldn't have to stop dying his hair. Sure, light brown hair wasn't inconspicuous, but he looked UGLY with dark hair.

4:16 PM

Mostly, he hung around the entrance to the lab that Jun worked at, watching from outside the door and listening intently. They kept it open, so it was just him and a hall most of the time-- They didn't move between rooms often. But he KNEW people had caught him-- the conversations of "strangers around the building" was mostly him and Ken-kun, no doubt. At least the two of them interacting in the hall made them look like they belonged, then Ken would hastely leave after updating Yosuke on the day. Yosuke just hoped that Jun wouldn't start to recognize him around and ask about him... or worse, CONFRONT him. As he was doodling on a clipboard, he heard Jun speak out to the room. Yosuke's shoulders stiffened as he realized what the other had said-- SHIT. Ok, relax. He had come up with an excuse. He had the namecard and everything! Fixing his glasses, Yosuke peaked in the door shyly, offering a smile. "Um, Mr. Kashihara! Sorry to follow you so closely, I was waiting for you to be done!" He bows, nervous, and straightens awkwardly. "I, um-- I wanted to get your input on something? I'm an intern and I'm new, so I've been wondering about some of the work you do here..." @Kura [has returnethed]

Jun’s eyes quickly scanned up and down the person who entered the room. There seemed to be no immediate threat, although concealed weapons were certainly a possibility, especially considering the lab coat the “stalker” had donned. Although, the nervousness evident in his body language looked far too real to be an act. A nervous assassin? No, apparently an intern. Jun frowned. He hadn’t been told about any new interns and he was high on the priority list to know about any new additions to the department. His ID badge looked legitimate from this distance at least. Could he have been one of the old interns? It was standard procedure that any new interns would be introduced to the rest of the department, and it had been a while since any new interns had been taken on. As such, Jun knew them all at least by face and name; this was not one of them. That said, the young man did look familiar, and Jun’s paranoia eagerly prompted him as to where from. That damn app. As part of his quest to learn more about the chat room, Jun had searched for some of the names he was seeing – particularly those he found the most suspicious. A clearly outdated My Place page sprang to mind. The person in front of him looked more mature than the pictures on the webpage, of course, but this was definitely the same person. .

3:17 PM

So, the stalking was to do with the app. Shit. It still didn’t look much like he was going to be killed, though, unless the stalker was going to change his mind upon being called out. Jun’s mind briefly flashed through all possible escape routes from the room, coming up with no practical options that didn’t involve the door the young man was blocking. It would be more possible to lock himself in the supply cupboard, which was on the opposite side of the room to Jun and really too far away to be hugely practical. The only other option was fighting back, and even that would be unlikely to work, with the nearest “weapon” to Jun being a small screwdriver. He had no real options but to hope that the young man would not attack him. His mind would not allow him to remain complacent and go along with the lie, despite his instincts for self-preservation screaming at him. Jun let out a breath and stood up from his seat, making eye contact with his stalker, and spoke in a smooth voice. “I would rather you did not lie to me, Yosuke Hanamura.” @Kayla, male thot enemy of state