Tomoko liked roaming the school while it was semi-empty. There was something very atmospheric about it and she was taking that in. There were a few people littered about to be seen, but overall it seemed like it was mostly just herself. Her and her ball of stars. A nice walk, even if the school was dark.

Down the dark ominous hallway.

Her footsteps echoed as she walked.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Miss?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tomoko nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder, whirling around and giving the ‘offender’ a terrified look, hyperventilating. Breathe. Breathe. Scared face. The woman who had touched her shoulder to get her attention almost seemed to look guilty at that pathetic look. Such a darling little ghoul.

Still…

“I’m sorry, sweetheart! I’m just trying to get some feelings on the trial from the students here and was hoping I could ask you to answer a few questions?” she inquired. Tomoko seemed to relax with the explanation.

“Oh! Of course! Ask away!” she smiled brightly, nearly glowing, radiating. The woman smiled, pulling out her notepad, ready to take notes. “Okay, dear. My first question is actually about the Headmistress, Hellma Shox – Is it true she’s retired?” she asked. Tomoko’s ears drooped at the question, looking slightly concerned. Certainly she hadn’t seen Hellma in a while, but nothing about retirement had been mentioned. The kitsune shook her head quickly, running her fingers over her ball of stars.

“I don’t think so! I mean, that’s the kind of thing they would have told us, and I haven’t heard anything on that front. As far as I know, Hellma Shox is still the Headmistress here at Amityville.” She confirmed her thoughts on it, smiling brightly.

The woman seemed pleased enough with that answer, smiling as she wrote it down and then moved onto her next question. “Do you like Amityville? If you could go to a different school, would you?” Again, Tomoko frowned. What did these questions have to do with the trial?

“Certainly not. I am happy here at Amityville Academy. I mean, it’s been a good school to me. I’ve learned a lot here and I find the atmosphere and the people here are really nice. It wasn’t my first school choice, but I have found that the fact I ended up here has made me meet a lot of nice people! The teachers are good too.” Tomoko again nodded at the end of her answer, puffing up proudly.

She liked her school and she was gonna show it.

“Why didn't you participate in the Trials? Was it because you know something the other students don't know?”

“Ouuuu, I’m not good at competitive stuff. Especially against my classmates. I’d rather just support everybody else and hope they do really well. I’m not really athletic either. I’d just do really bad, so I’ll let those who shine, shine, and hope the Four Clans think they did really well.” There was absolutely 100% school pride in Tomoko as she answered. She liked Amityville. She liked it a lot and it was clearly expressed, the woman interviewing her writing down her answers quickly.


“What do you think of Amityville as a student?”

For a moment, she looked puzzled, brows furrowing together. “I don’t understand what you’re asking. Do you mean do I like the classes? Yes. I don’t like going to all of them, but they are not bad ones…” she answered, but the woman butted in to correct her.

“No no no, I mean if you were to rate the overall quality of your experience here at the school, what would you rate it?”

Tomoko puzzled again. “On a scale to what?” she inquired.

The woman laughed.

“One to ten.”

“Which is the good end?”

“The 10.”

“Then I’d rank it an 8.” Tomoko answered, nodding firmly. “I’ve never been to any other school, so I can’t speak for a comparison, but I like it here, like I mentioned earlier. I’ve met lots of nice people and gotten stronger and had some unique experiences. The staff if professional, if not quirky in their own ways, and I’d probably send my kids here in the future if I had any.” Though the idea of Tomoko having children was…. Somewhere, Junko made a face thinking about her little Tomo-chan as a mother.

A universe somewhere had just imploded upon itself.

Several people had just rolled over in their graves.

Pumpkin patches everywhere stopped functioning.

The Horsemen packed up and went to go wreck the world 9 months early.

It just was a hard mental image for many to picture. But the woman took it in stride, writing that down and smiling.

“Thank you for the answers, dear. You’ve been very helpful!” she praised. Tomoko beamed. “No problem!” she chimed, and with that, the pair went their separate ways.