The Reqroom: Short Stories

[Req]

Since unlike the Akira/Miki story, there's a couple stories that are both short and stories I don't feel need to continue, I thought I'd reserve this place to put them all. Starting with the first, 'seven days'.

November 19th
11:04 am – Woke up. Checked the door, nobody managed to break in.
Considered taking a shower, but there were people in the hallway. I suspect they were trying to find a way into this last bastion of freedom. Decided to wait for them to leave.

Note: Supplies running low.

1:18 pm – Woke up. The hallway was quiet. I took the opportunity to take that shower. It isn't about hygiene, it's about sending a message!
Subjected my room to another inspection for listening devices when I returned. Just because I haven't found any, doesn't mean they aren't there.

Note: Out of supplies.

4:40 pm – There was a knock on the door. The class president and her shadowy servant. They claimed to be delivering homework assignments. Fools! Who do they take me for? I instructed them to leave the assignments by the door. My voice must have terrified them, because they couldn't help but drop those insults to my intelligence and run away.

Note: Gained fifteen sheets of scrap paper.

7:34 pm – Returned from the convenience store. The earlier inspection caused me to misplace my shopping bag. I was forced to use the store's own plastic bags. I cannot guarantee some of my habits haven't been compromised. A pity, I liked the garlic flavored ramen.

Note: Supplies have been restocked.

November 20th
2:57 am – I have been compromised! Just as I had retired for the night, waiting to fall asleep, I heard a rustling. Though I searched the room extensively, I was unable to find its source. Eventually someone down the hall came over. Though I appreciated the gesture of solidarity, I told him I did not need his help. He was adamant about coming in, however. For a moment I believed he was convinced a spy had managed to infiltrate my room, but when I opened the door I was proven wrong. We agreed that a spy would not have managed to stay hidden so well and that going back to sleep would be the healthiest thing to do.

Note: Male dormitories may already have been infiltrated.

11:47 am – To my horror I have discovered my supplies have been ransacked. The culprit must have suspected I would not notice the small samples taken from the loaf of bread. Even with my eyes I could see the evidence of their crime! I dread to think what horrific toxin they attempted to poison me with. The compromised loaf has since been disposed of. I must inspect the rest of my supplies. The bread could very well have been a decoy.

Note: Require more bread.

12:12 pm – I should never have ventured out without my shopping bag. Fortunately the rest of my supplies don't seem to have been tampered with. Take heed men, stick to eating only foods that come wrapped in plastic.
Still, I'm ashamed to admit my bastion isn't as safe as I had thought it to be. I have decided to keep watch. A criminal can't resist returning to the scene of the crime, after all.

Note: Recovering the shopping bag is essential.

4:02 pm – No activity. I have decided to continue writing my manifesto instead.

4:03 pm – No! Mysterious black pellets have found their way into my desk drawer. Those clever bitches! Of course a human spy would never make it through my security measures, so they've acquired animals to do their bidding! This is disturbing news. Have they no ethics? At the very least I have managed to uncover the identity of the intruder.

Note: Discover the secret to mouse mind control for counterespionage purposes.

10:28 pm – I have researched the nature of my foe extensively. The next step will be to devise a plan to dispose of this nuisance. Still, I cannot be certain of what I am dealing with. For the moment, I shall feign that all is well and lull the creature into a false sense of security.

[Req]

November 21st
8:23 am – I have not slept. It seems I underestimated my adversary after all. The mouse refused to grant me any rest and seems intent on dragging me into a battle of attrition. This will not do, I will not be made a mockery!
Under the guise of attending class I will venture outside.

4:16 pm – My deception has managed to get me through the day relatively unmolested. I had considered going to the library instead, to gather more intel on the spy, but for confidential reasons this was not an option.

9:44 pm – I have maintained the illusion that I am unaware of the mouse's presence. Though I cannot see the tiny thing, I can hear it stirring. I will learn of the creature's habits. Know your enemy!

Fortunately I was able to draft more of the manifesto. Once it is finished not even rodents will be able to keep the lid on their conspiracy. Take heart, brothers, I will not let them succeed!

Note: Find a shoebox.

November 22nd
9:17 am – Yet another night in which I was barely able to sleep. Must not let the mouse know this has effected me. I will deny it the opportunity to spy on me and make for the town.

2:37 pm – I managed to find an appropriate box to serve my needs. With some minor modifications I have devised a cunning trap. Soon the mouse will be faced with my undeniable superiority! All that is left is to wait.

1:54 am - Impossible! I hid on my bed to keep watch over the trap, but the mouse managed to make me lose consciousness! When I came to, the trap had remained untouched. It's mocking me. They're all mocking me!

Note: Still haven't retrieved the shopping bag.

November 23rd
4:15 am – The sounds! I can't stand the sounds it makes! I decided to meet this blatant act of torture with one of my own, but only minutes later one of the indoctrinated sheep came barreling down the hallway, very nearly breaking my door down with his infernal knocking. I have told him to leave me alone, instead the pounding persists. For me to retain my sanity and wisdom, both indispensable in the struggle against the feminist conspiracy, I have no choice but to face this shell of a man.

4:24 am – He's gone. It's safe. Brothers, I fear the worst may have happened. While I tried to express the necessity of playing music in order to force the mouse out of hiding, my own eloquent reasoning was rudely ignored. Instead that weak-minded fool destroyed my stereo! No wonder his mind has been tainted by the feminist scum.

Note: Due to being crushed by a stereo, the trap is no longer functional.

7:04 pm – As much as it pains me admit, I had to retreat from the bastion. Knowing my enemy was lurking from the shadows was keeping me on edge. I tried to draft more of the manifesto but instead wrote an essay on famous cartoon mice. Knowing that the Shanghai would be safe today, I went there in the morning to seek refuge. Though I was nothing but pleasant and educated the people around me they rudely ejected me from the premises around 4 pm. I don't think I shall be returning there anytime soon.

11:26 pm – Eureka! I have come up with a brilliant plan to rid myself of that pesky mouse once and for all. It will never see this coming!

November 24th
8:14 am - I will need certain items for my plan to succeed. Fate must be on my side, as today I can attend the science lesson to procure these last couple of items. Surely a man of science will assist me.

Note: Shopping bag found under the bed, no doubt hidden there by my foe.

5:33 pm – How that man is allowed to teach at any level is beyond me. When I stressed the urgency of the situation, he had the nerve to tell me that it's against school policy for students to take items from the science storage closet for personal use! If we clung to policy all the time the feminists would have already won! Since this man clearly is already beyond reason, I ventured back to the convenience store and found adequate replacements there.
This battle will soon be over, I will prevail!

Note: Respect the safety procedures when using a lighter.


November 25th

8:32 am – I fear this will be the last journal entry for the time to come. The mouse has been eliminated, unfortunately not without some cost. Still, a small fire is no reason to be punished by the principal no less. The manifesto has been destroyed. When I set the mouse ablaze its first response was to make a beeline for the documents; one last suicidal attempt to sabotage my efforts. It will take me weeks to rewrite it all. At the very least this cloud has a silver lining: The drones that I am forced to share this dormitory with refuse to speak to me. Because of the extensive damage to my room, rendering it inhabitable (though one of the firemen had the poor taste to suggest the fire did nothing to lessen the habitability of my room), I have been moved to another hallway, one that is currently empty. I imagine those conspirators would never have predicted this turn of events. Their infiltrator has granted me a new room to call my own, with no weak-minded sheep to keep me from my sacred mission.

[BlackWaltzTheThird]

Hahaha, that was great. I enjoyed that immensely. Non-standard narrative can do wonders if used correctly. Top job, mate.

[Mirage_GSM]

Interesting. Two very similar Kenji stories published on the same day...
You might include your name in the thread's title to avoid confusion with other similar threads.

[Req]

I thought using my account to post this topic would make it clear enough... But if you think it should be made more clear, fair enough.

Thanks for reading, both of you.

[pip25]

Nice! I agree with BlackWaltzTheThird, this "personal log" style seems to fit Kenji's character really well.

[Oddball]

Okay, this story was just great. I loved how you managed to make Kenji's insane rantings seem almost reasonable, especially with how you followed up some of his craziness with simple notes on supplies and the like.

[Helbereth]

November 22nd
9:17 am – Yet another night in which I was barely able to sleep. Must not let the mouse know this has affected me. I will deny it the opportunity to spy on me and make for the town.

I only point this out because the context tells me you used the wrong word. If this ordeal is emotionally draining, then 'affected' is correct. However, I'm fairly sure your intent was to communicate physical distress, which would be 'effected'.

indispensible

Is spelled with an 'a', thus 'indispensable'. I'm not sure whether this may be another dialect discrepancy, though--my searches on various sites always handed back the same spelling.

rendering it inhospitable (though one of the firemen had the poor taste to suggest the fire did nothing to lessen the hospitability of my room)

I'm fairly certain you mean 'uninhabitable', rather than 'inhospitable', which also means 'hospitability' should be 'habitability'.

Those minor infractions aside, I'm going to agree with the majority of other comments by saying this was quite enjoyable. It seems depressingly short, but that opinion might be due to my wanting for it to have continued. My only argument against this is that I'm unsure whether Kenji would actually keep a personal log, but I assume it's stored electronically behind multiple layers of encryption and biometrics. As Oddball mentioned, this almost made his lunatic ravings seem sane, and, really, who hasn't overreacted to discovering a mouse has moved into one's personal space? Maybe most normal people wouldn't go so far as to think some vast feminist conspiracy placed the creature in that space, but this is Kenji we're talking about--that's par for the course.

[Req]

Oh wow, didn't expect this would still get read. Thanks for pointing out those mistakes, I'll fix them straight away.
I wrote it when I discovered a mouse had invaded my own bedroom and considering how quickly I descended into paranoia, I figured with Kenji it'd only boost his own delusions.
Thanks so much for your review.

[Oddball]

but I assume it's stored electronically behind multiple layers of encryption and biometrics.

If by that you mean, "written in a beatup old notebook and hidden in his closet under some jackets," then I agree.

[Comrade]

This was interesting.

[Sea]

Hmmm, nicely done. I may have seen this style here before, but none that I can recall. Still, a fun read, I'll look forward to more!