During the scene new characters showed up, and time moved along, so it was time to move to bring the scene to an end. Once one scene has ended, you can use Dreams to strengthen your connections, and you can change the contents of those connections.
Suzune: Alright. I got a total of 3 Dreams from the two of you. What about you?
Riko: Umm… I have 7 points, you know?
Kuromu: I have 4 points.
Suzune: Well then, that means Riko is the only one who can strengthen a connection.
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Riko: Eheheh. Then I’ll use 5 points to raise the strength of my Affection for Naoto to 2.
Suzune: Alright. So you’re keeping the contents as “Affection” then?
Riko: I sure am. Naoto is really cute. Suzune: Well, well. I’d best try harder.
It’ll be a problem if I have too few Dreams.
Kuromu: I don’t know if I can be that… flirty.
Suzune: You don’t have to flirt. And Riko, if you have the Wonder to spare you should use your Carelessness power. It’ll give Kuromu and me more Dreams, which will help us get you more Feelings.
Riko: Okay!
During this break between scenes, Su- zune tells them about powers they should try using, and to try to get more Dreams. Naturally, she isn’t required to tell them these things. However, it’s important for the narrator to tell the participants about his or her intentions. Suzune: Now, total up the strengths
of the connections from yourselves to see how many points of Wonder you get, and total up your connections from others to see how many points of Feelings you get.
Riko: Let’s see… Since I have a con- nection with Naoto, I get 6 points of Wonder, and 5 points of Feelings. Kuromu: And I get 5 points of each. Suzune: I’m pretty sure you have some
left over from the last scene, so add those too.
Riko: I had 4 points of Wonder left, you know? So I have… 10 points of Won- der, and 5 points of Feelings.
Kuromu: I only used 1 point of Feel- ings, so I have 9 points of Wonder and 8 points of Feelings.
Suzune: Okay then. Your weaknesses aren’t causing any problems here ei- ther. Let’s move on to the next scene.
Scene wo
Suzune: Alright. You are in the same place, but it’s now quite dark outside. It’s now nighttime.
Riko: I sure spent a long time talking with Naoto, you know? Ahaha.
Kuromu: Should a little kid really be out this late?
Suzune: Anyhow, since the scene has changed and it’s now night, Riko will have to spend more Feelings or Won- der to stay changed.
Riko: Hmmm… At night, leaving my ears and tail showing costs 2 points, right? I’ll spend 2 points of Wonder to transform.
Kuromu: I’ll stay as a cat.
Suzune: Very well. Just then, a tall girl comes walking along the darkened path. She looks older than Naoto. She looks to be in middle school.
Riko: I say, “Huh? Is it Naoto’s big sis- ter?” as I steadily walk closer.
Kuromu: I’ll keep an eye on Riko from the shadows.
Suzune: Naoto is holding his breath. The girl is moving confidently through the dark, but she has not noticed Riko as of yet.
Riko: Okay. I’ll call out to her, “It’s dangerous to be out walking this late, you know? What’s wrong?” Eheheh. I
could really be in trouble here. It’s like someone could carry me away, you know? (laughs)
Kuromu: Yeah. Great.
Suzune: Suddenly hearing a voice out of nowhere on a darkened path, the girl lets out a short shriek.
Riko: “Umm…” Oh, man. I didn’t mean to scare her, but I keep Surpris- ing people, you know?
Kuromu: Hmm… I think I’ll take this op- portunity to take human form and step out. That’s 2 points of Wonder, right? Suzune: Hmph. Well, since he’s hiding
with you, Naoto will be Surprised too. The girl is Surprised too, but she’ll calm down when she figures out that she’s dealing with two girls.
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Kuromu: I calmly ask her, “What’re you doing? It’s pretty late.”
Riko: “Oh! Hey, Kuromu!”
Suzune: “Well, I’m looking for a boy. He’s about this tall.” She’s eyeing the two of you suspiciously.
Riko: I stand in front of Naoto. “Well, I don’t know anything about Naoto.” Kuromu: “H-Hey!” I do like a spit-take
without thinking about it. (bursts out laughing)
Suzune: (once she’s done laugh- ing) She looks very serious and asks Riko, “Wh-What? Have you seen Naoto?”
Riko: “Nope, Kuromu hasn’t seen Nao- to either, right?” I try to act casual and cheerful. (grins)
Kuromu: “Stupid…” I rub my head. (still laughing)
Suzune: She looks offended. She prob- ably thinks you’re both making fun of her.
Riko: Heeheehee. Well, since I’ve got- ten Dreams from everyone, I’m going to use my Carelessness power, you know? So I spend 6 Wonder and ev- eryone gets 2 Dreams.
It’s up to the participant playing a given henge to decide when exactly to use his or her henge’s powers.
Also, neither the narrator nor the other participants need to refuse a partici- pant’s timing decision. You don’t nec- essarily need any powers to complete a story, but you’ll likely want to try to use at least one power to participate to the fullest. If you really can’t figure out a good time to use a power, ask the narrator and the other participants for suggestions.
Kuromu: Heehee. I could use those ex- tra Dreams. Anyway, with the girl act- ing like that, Kuromu’s stubbornness comes out, and now she doesn’t want to tell her. (laughs)
Suzune: Well, well. “Look, if you know where Naoto is, please just tell me!
Don’t hide things from me!” she de- mands of Kuromu.
Kuromu: “Well, I’m not sure we can really help you.” I roll my eyes, and sound a little mean.
Suzune: All right then. I think it’s time for an Impression Check.
Kuromu: Woah. I think I’ve made a pretty bad impression though.
Riko: I’m not doing that great either. Since the two of them have appeared in
a rather mysterious manner, they’ll use their Henge attributes for the check. They have a lot of unused points of Feel-
ings, which they use to make connec- tions with strengths of 2 to start with. Since the two seem to be getting along well with Naoto, the connection con-
tents on her side are Admiration. Kuromu is still being stubborn, so her
connection to the girl is a Rivalry, while Riko sees her as very responsible, and goes for Admiration.
Riko: Okay, then. I say, “B-But… I mean… We don’t know anything about Naoto, and he wants to hide right now…” I’m still flailing around. Too bad I don’t have enough Wonder left to use Carelessness.
Kuromu: Oh, jeez. “Stop it!” I say. I’m trying to give a retort, but I’m at a loss here. (laughs)
Suzune: The girl is dumbfounded for a moment, but then she regains her composure and shouts into the bushes, “I know you’re hiding, Naoto! Come out right now!”
Riko: Oh, man. What’s Naoto doing? Kuromu: Well, I have cat eyes. Can she
actually see?
Suzune: Hm. The girl is human, so she hasn’t noticed yet, but you two can see Naoto. He’s ducking down and trying to keep out of sight.
Kuromu: “What do we do?” I whisper to Riko.
Riko: I’m flustered and I say, “H-How did she find out?”
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Kuromu: “How do you think?!”
Suzune: “Naoto! Come out right now!” She seems to be getting even angrier. Riko: “Um… Um um… Naoto is scared right now. Maybe you could tell us what’s going on?” I still have no idea why she figured things out, and I plead with her, looking like I’m going to start crying, you know?
Kuromu: “Who are you anyway?” I can’t really see where this is going, so I coldly ask the girl on account of her shouting.
Suzune: “I’m just looking for him be- cause he ran away! I’ve had enough of that moron!” she says, pouting.
Kuromu: “Hmm. So did you do some- thing he’d run away from?” I ask, try- ing to sound mature.
Suzune: “Who knows? Maybe he was too embarrassed from being made fun of? Hmph.” She turns her face away from you.
Kuromu: Now I’m getting worried about what’s going on with Naoto. Riko: Um… Uh… What should we do
then?
Suzune: Well, in any case…
Here the two of them talk for a bit, but no good ideas are forthcoming.
As the narrator, Suzune was hoping they’d bring Naoto to the girl, or try to talk to the girl and get her to open her heart, but… instead they start going back and forth trying to come up with a plan, and wind up talking amongst themselves.
Suzune waits for a while, but they’re not doing anything. At that point, the girl pushes the story forward. The story doesn’t always have to go the way the participants want, after all. Sometimes the narrator moves the story ahead, as naturally as possible.
Suzune: “Fine. If you know where Naoto is hiding, then you can tell him he should come home. And also… he might be able to hear this right now,
but… tell him Yuka isn’t really mad at him.” Looking at the two of you, she sounds kind of disappointed. Ah, also, you now know that the girl’s name is Yuka.
Kuromu: “Hmm…” Oh man. Now what?
Suzune: Yuka slumps her shoulders and starts plodding back the way she came.
Riko: I’m worried about the girl, so I start after her, saying, “Please, wait.” Kuromu: I’m dashing off to where
Naoto is.
Suzune: Very well. With each of you heading off to do different things, we’ll end the scene here.
Suzune brings this scene to an end for the moment.
The three of them use their Dreams to strengthen connections, and they check if anyone wants to change the contents of any connections. Riko raises her con- nection to Kuromu from 2 to 3, and
changes the contents from Like to Trust. (“Like” is only for connections of strength 2 or less.)
Incidentally, since Naoto didn’t really do anything in this scene, they can only strengthen connections to each other
and Yuka.
In the next scene, Riko and Kuromu each act separately.