"Well...um...Hi everyone! My name is Summer!"
The blonde girl's enthusiastic attempt to start a conversation was met with dead silence from pretty much everyone. I pitied her a bit, so I spoke back.
"Hello, I am Yoshi Ajichi."
"Oh! You're Japanese?"
"Yes."
"....Uh...cool..."
And the pity conversation died off again, oh well, I had no interest in continuing it beyond my initial response of pity anyway.
"I'm Noah, nice to meet you both."
Oh, the fellow shortie spoke up! White hair, pale skin, purple eyes, he looked like an Albino.
"Kuku...well, now everybody else's name is known, so I will state mine as well out of courtesy, I am Edward."
For such an aristocratic guy, tall ponytail man had a name that...to be honest, I just found stupid, I don't know, Edward just seems like a stupid name, well, my random thoughts were a nice break from my in depth philosophical ramblings that went nowhere...
"Noah, Yoshi, Edward, you're Ryan, and you're Jade...I'll remember them all!" She did what might be considered a cutesy smile, combined with her stereotypically good looks, it seemed like delinquent boy was swooning.
"Whatever...I do have some questions though." Jade said this while taking out a cigarette and beginning to smoke, her poor lungs...
"Isn't it odd for you to be here? And Edward too, this is a rather shady job, so people like you, who should have no problem making money in less shady ways, are certainly unexpected as Eden Group candidates, you understand you will be likely assisting in murder and assassination, yes?"
Jade's question was similar to my internal question, it was good I didn't have to bother asking it myself.
"Quite simply...I think there are some people in this world who are good for nothings, and deserve to die, every person eliminated as a snake by the Eden Group was later found to have a criminal record, or have been hiding some dark secret, like in the case of that Bank Teller who was secretly assisting with human trafficking, right?"
Well, that was certainly a bold stance to take, this was the kind of person who believed in the death penalty, but took it to the extreme, she's the type of girl who would try to justify the actions of Dark Imagay from Life Pen I feel...
"Hoh?" Delinquent Boy seemed a bit shocked responding with what was likely a bit of personal anger, "But some of those people were just common robbers, right? Did they really deserve death? Isn't your outlook the kind of one that only some privileged white girl with pretty privilege could have?" Ironically, delinquent boy himself was white, so his more personal anger didn't come from a supposition of racism, but he added in that "white" comment anyway, I guess believing in the justice of a marginalized group, even if you're not a part of it, is certainly an admirable quality, but it won't save me from calling him delinquent boy...also, what happened to him swooning over het literal seconds ago? The heart of a man is fickle when it comes to women it seems.
Summer scoffed, and spoke with a tone like an arrogant know it all, "Oh please, Eden group is trying to create "Paradise" right? That much has been made clear by both their choice of codeword to get here and overall theming, surely a paradise is a world without any crime, no matter how petty."
I finally chimed in, vocalizing my thoughts "Isn't that all just your theory though? Your theory is that they want to create a world free of crime, but isn't it just as likely that they planted the evidence of fake crimes on these "snakes", or that they are framing them for crimes that high ranking members are actually the ones committing? This lets them lead the people to assume they're vigilantes while they are actually not, even now, that guy said he wouldn't reveal what makes somebody a snake until after we join, right? He wants us to be in too deep before we can say no...well, actually we're already in too deep."
Summer raised her eyebrow questioningly, to which I elaborated, "At this point, if we leave or fail, we will likely be targeted by Eden Group and quietly dealt with, to ensure there is no leakage of even what little info we have." Summer winced a bit, but sighed, "Well, both of our theories are equally likely, as you said, but...either way would be fine with me."
"Pukuku...I suppose you won't elaborate on that."
Summer merely nodded at Edward's sudden interjection, and then he spoke.
"Well, I was also asked before Summer here stole the show, and as for me...I personally know the leader of Eden Group."