thestudyof | [Journal and Event]

[Journal and Event]

[Journal]

This week, I'll be having the testing room open for any volunteers who may wish to participate in the AI registration program. I know some of you had been interested in participating, and I've been able to put aside the time to do the scanning, currently. Please make sure your deck is up to date, as it will be fully registered, and until the AI is solidified, I'd appreciate no last-minute changes after the initial registration.

Thank you.

[Event]

*So, this is kinda a three-fold event.

A) You're at Mamoru's testing room at LDS, either to take part in the AI registration program to have your likeness and deck recreated, or you're here to talk to him for some reason or another.

B)

Right outside of LDS's main building however, there's a red-haired woman standing there, arms crossed. Labrys seems to be keeping a steady eye on Mamoru for whatever reason, and she isn't going to budge anytime soon.

C)

... And that's because Tarou's been slinking around. Sure, he's trying to make himself look like he should be there, be it going around the other facilities that're open to the public and whatnot, but he is kinda loitering.*

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'll admit, I haven't tested it with dueling myself, but...

It's at least stopped my abilities from affecting these tests, so far. Which was what I wanted in the first place.

*he clears his throat slightly*

What can I do for you?

*As soon as he asks, a more serious, concerned expression seems to appear on Juudai's face.*

There's something I need to speak to you privately about, if you don't mind.

... Privately?

*well, this seems like a surprise to him, but he nods, pointing to another room on the side and leading to it.*

My office is over here, if you want to talk about this.

*Juudai nods and heads towards the office. Once they're both in there and the door is shut, he begins to explain.*

Basically myself and a colleague of mine at SAI are investigating a potential issue at the moment and, well, it's lead us to believe that you might be in some danger.

Danger?

*he pauses to think, sitting down in his chair. his office is... kinda a mess, admittedly. A lot of papers pulled out and things like that.*

... That one Barian-- Labrys, I think her name is-- she seems to think I'm in danger, too.

But why do you think I am?

Firstly. I'd like to ask.

Are you familiar with the name 'Satou, Tarou', at all?

*he shakes his head*

The name's gotten mentioned to me in passing-- by Kaz. Back when I was feeling a bad omen about things. But I've never met him personally.

Alright.

Basically, we've been investigating him. There is a very dangerous Duel Monster currently attached to him, but, the thing that makes this incredibly tricky is that we believe he's trying to basically exorcize it from himself, without the monster knowing and ultimately use a scapegoat in the process of it.

We believe you are that scapegoat.

And like I said, the monster is incredibly dangerous and this will put both Tarou and yourself in serious danger.

Scapegoat? Exorcising? What exactly would he be trying to use as an excuse... Ngmh, it's that, isn't it?

*He mutters to himself, rubbing his temple*

I've got a small inkling of why he thinks he can use me as a lead-on, if you're correct-- but just how dangerous are we exactly speaking of, here?

Basically the incredibly large, powerful, soul absorbing, evil god kind of dangerous.

So regardless of how this turns out, it's likely that even if I'm not his true goal, I'll probably be caught in the crossfire anyway.

If this is what he plans on doing.

*he pauses to think, his long fingers messing with one of the papers on the desk*

Why do you believe he's going after me? I have a thought, but that's due to my own perspective on this... and to be honest, I'm not sure how he could've come to the conclusion that I'd be a viable scapegoat, otherwise.

What's led you to believe that he's going to attempt this, by involving me?

My colleague did some digging around some school records at the city Tarou said he was from and found him in a yearbook.
Only, it wasn't actually him. The name in the yearbook was yours. He looks exactly like you did, at that time, in that yearbook. This is what initially lead us to you.

So there seems to be some kind of connection here, somehow. We don't know why he looks like you did back then, nor why you look entirely different now... but I feel like this is why he knows of you somehow?

Also, I believe you were involved in some kind of possession-related incident some time ago?

*whatever he expected to hear... it really wasn't that, and it's definitely piqued up his anxiety. That this "Tarou" guy apparently, actually has his name? And...*

I... Yes. I was in a related incident a few years back-- I handled an artifact that shouldn't have been handled directly, and I ended up possessed. Went on a rampage, if you take the word of the reports right. But...

*he shakes his head*

The artifact had been destroyed, by the time I woke up from it.

But... he's looks like how I used to look?

Yes. According to my colleague, it definitely seems to be you in that yearbook and it matches up to when you graduated and all that, but the picture of you in it matches what Tarou looks like today.

Lovely. Not only does he look like me, but he apparently looks like me from when I was a teenager?

*he rubs his temple again with one hand, though you notice for a moment that another hand went to his chest, like it was aching a bit, before he puts both hands onto the desk. Okay. Focus...*

I hate it say it, but this definitely sounds like why I thought the picture I was shown seemed a bit familiar. But...

I assure you, I have no idea why I apparently have a duplicate running around, or why he's decided to focus on me as his scapegoat.

*Juudai looks at Mamoru curiously.*

You were shown a picture of him? By who?

Oh, ah... Kaz had shown me an image of him, but at the time, I didn't catch onto anything.

*he types into his computer on the desk, bringing up the image of Tarou to show to Juudai on the monitor. there's that messy mop.*

It was only after looking at it again, that I'd noticed any sense of familiarity. But I wouldn't have expected that it's because he looks like me from... *he does the mental math, trying to judge it*

... Over a decade ago?

Okay.

For now we're still monitoring Tarou. We're hoping to stop what he's planning to do and find a way to separate the Earthbound God from him in a way that doesn't endanger him, you or anyone else.
As you can imagine, we're having to really having to be careful so that the Earthbound God doesn't realize what Tarou is doing, but also what we want to do.

All we can do is find ways to keep you safe until then.

*"Earthbound God"? Must be whatever the dangerous thing is called...*

... Do you think there's any chance he might attempt to go after my nephew, to try to get to me for this? Just how dangerous is he, himself?

I don't think Tarou himself is really dangerous, per say. He doesn't come off as a dangerous person anyway. He seems friendly, although not a huge people person and he's a lot more concerned with his research than anything else.

He's also having to probably act in secret so he doesn't give what he's trying to do away to the Earthbound. So I doubt he can make any big, noticeable moves.
For now, I feel your nephew shouldn't be in any direct danger.

... Alright. As long as you feel like he'll be fine...

But what can be done to keep me safe, at all?

As mentioned, we're monitoring Tarou closely, so we'll know if he makes any moves to be concerned about. Other than that, it's possible we could work with LDS about keeping security up around here and maybe having someone secretly keep an eye on things around you specifically.

The key is to monitor things, but in a way that doesn't clue Tarou or that Earthbound onto anything.

... Much as I'm not keen on it, maybe you should talk to that Labrys person, since she keeps staying outside of the building while I'm here.

She probably knows something about security.

Alright. I'll see if I'm able to talk to her after this.

Thanks. Just... Sorry. I'm sure this is a bother. I don't know anything about why I have a clone, apparently, or about these "Earthbound" types, or even really how I'd end up approaching this myself.

Far as I know, I'd have probably not noticed anything wrong until it was too late, anyway.

[Journal and Event]

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A

Re: A