Persona: The Side Reflected (IC)

[Infin1teZer0]

Persona: The Side Reflected
A re-boot hosted by your humble yet devilishly charming GMs: Infin1teZer0, Renose, and Zombehs (Not really charming.)

On the night of April 14th, 2013, a collection of seemingly ordinary people experienced the same phenominom.

Just a little something to set the mood...
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."
-Oscar Wilde

"Ah, it seems you are finally awaking."
The voice of what seems to be a man rings through your ears for a few moments as you slowly stir into consciousness. The more you survey your surroundings, the more you realize that you're not where you last slept. You find yourself buckled into a blue velvet seat. It is extremely comfortable, yet the seat-belt restricts your movement almost entirely. Despite your lack of freedom, you still feel strangely relaxed. You should be panicking; you woke up in a strange place and have no idea where you are or where you're going. However, you still remain in an at-ease, almost dream-like state. Glancing to your side, you gaze out the small window. It is hard to see, due to the lack of light, but you manage to make out the outline of a steel wing, and thick clouds surrounding it. Using your observations, you infer that you are on a plane of some sorts soaring aimlessly through the cloudy midnight sky. When you focus, you can even hear the faint, high-pitched wail of the jet engines. Why are you here? Who brought you here? Did you remember to lock the doors before you went to bed? Questions like these occasionally pop into your head as you fly in silence for what seems like an eternity.

"You seem to be handling the change in scenery quite well. You're faring better than my previous guest when he first stumbled in here."
Where did that come from? Your head quickly pivots to the seat next to you, and find that it is now occupied. Sitting comfortably in the chair next to you is a rather strange looking old man. He was clad in an expensive-looking tuxedo and had balding white hair. That wasn't really special. His most striking features by far were his huge, beady eyes and a gargantuan nose long enough to poke your eye out if he moved too quick. Expecting your reaction of surprise, he speaks, "Do not be alarmed; you are fast asleep in your world. Ah, where are my manners? My name is Igor, and welcome... to the Velvet Room."

Igor explained that the Velvet Room was its own independent dimension, hanging between the realms of dream and reality, mind and matter. He also stated that only those chosen as "guests" are allowed entry, or even know of its existence. You continued to talk to the strange man on these matters, until Igor changed the subject. "Tell me," he instructed with a conniving grin plastered onto his face, "do you believe in fortune-telling?" Despite your answer, Igor pulls a deck of 22 cards out of his breast-pocket. "Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the result is always different. I find this fascinating." The strange little man fans the cards out to you face-down. "Close your eyes and reach for a card. Let nothing but your heart and fate guide your hand." You feel complied to obey, closing your eyes and blindly extending your hand to the cards. With caution, you pull the card you feel resonates with your soul the most. After Igor's approval, you open your eyes and look at the card your heart has apparently chosen for you. You show your card to Igor, whom is smiling and nodding in affirmation. "Hmm... This is interesting, most interesting..." He seems lost in thought as he analyzed the results of the reading. You wonder why he's thinking so hard; it's just a card after all. Suddenly, Igor begins speaking again. He talked about the card you chose and its meaning, and you give him your undivided attention. Igor promised that you'd know what to do with this when the time came.

"Lastly, I must give you one warning: in the near future, you shall be issued a challenge. Rejecting it is impossible, for your fate is unchangeable at the moment. This challenge will test every quality of your soul, and I recommend you prepare yourself. It's perfectly alright if you don't understand at the moment. Give it some thought. As of now, I'm afraid your time here is almost over. You can keep your card; consider it a parting gift. Until we meet again, farewell." Without warning, the emergency door to the jet violently swung open, letting a gust of air fill the cabin. Igor seemed to have unbuckled your seat-belt when you were busy staring out into the sky, and you were flung out of the jet with great force. As you fall through the thick clouds, you can feel yourself losing consciousness and black out. The next time you opened your eyes, you were back in your bed. Was it all a dream? It seemed that way, until you notice a strange card resting beside you.

Kouta snapped from half-asleep to fully awake in the span of a few seconds after he realized that there was a card on his pillow beside him. Not any card, but the very same he'd seen in his dreams prior to this morning. The revelation caused him to roll out of his bed and crash into the hard-wood floor. Groaning to himself in annoyance, Kouta groped around in the dark in search of his bedside lamp. He eventually found it and pulled the small bead chain, causing the room to be illuminated by a warm glow. Kouta still had to shield his still sensitive eyes from the light though. After a few seconds' adjusting, he couldn't help but stare at the Tarot card that lay in his bed. Cautiously, he reached out and grabbed the card. As his hand made contact with the smooth, yet strong paper, his alarm-clock sounded the 6-o'clock bell, causing Kouta to jump in astonishment. He settled down soon after, and turned it off. The senior threw a lewd gesture the clock's way, and proceeded with his morning routine: Shower, uniform, teeth, downstairs. He'd hoped that the events of the first day of school would make him forget the odd events of the morning so far.

Ota was not by any means an early riser. Yet in the kitchen he stood, just past 6am in the morning. The previous night had been interesting to say the least, though to the young male, his memories of the events were a bit fuzzy. Probably had something to do with the fact that he'd fallen out of bed several times through the night, only to return to the same dream when reclaimed by sleep. In his pocket held undeniable truth of the visions he had seen while he slept last night though, a strange card with arcane-like art. He turned away from the rising smoke and sighed. It'd be a few minutes before he'd have to check back on his meal, but as a safety precaution he lowered the stove till it was barely on. With that done, he briskly left the comforts of his own room and stepped into the dormitory's halls.

A cool draft hit him as he opened the door, some idiot probably left one of the windows open again, and he grumbled at the thought. Still, he could deal with that later, for the moment back to the task at hand. He gave the door opposite his own a light and soft knock, though he honestly didn't expect a reply. Reno was, what, 2 years his junior? If he was up at this time, there were some serious issues with the kid. He turned away quickly and strode up to the room left of his own. Kouta was much more likely to be up at this time, being the student council president and what not. He gave the door a harsher and louder knock and waited to see if he was awake.

"Gimme a second!" Kouta called out to the knocker, stuffing papers haphazardly into his bag. Those papers in particular was the speech he was to deliver to the school this very morning, as Student Council President. He slung his backpag over his shoulder and dragged his feet tiredly towards the door. A glance through the peephole comfirmed his suspicions. It was Ota; a friend and classmate of his. However, Kouta always remembered it being him waking Ota up, not the other way around. Besides the role reversal, Kouta opened the door and gave his friend a simple, "Yeah?"

"Morning. You eat yet?" Ota asked, a bit surprised at the fact that he already had his backpack on. "You going somewhere?" he asked curiously as he nodded towards the back pack Kouta had around his shoulder. His original plan had been to... well let's just say it wasn't exactly the best idea he'd ever had. Yet by the time such thoughts had come to mind, Ota had already knocked on Kouta's door. It'd have been rude to simply dart back into his room and pray the the pres hadn't seen him, so here he was, making small talk and probably coming across fairly strange.

"Where am I going? Uhh... school, maybe? Where else would I go, the Moon?" Kouta asked rhetorically. "You're acting rather odd today, but if you're offering breakfast, I won't turn it down," he said, walking out of his room and locking the door habitually behind him. Like a proper athlete, Kouta had a bottomless stomach, and will remain hungry no matter how many bags of Doritos you stuff it with.

"Damn... Sucks to be president I guess," Ota muttered out as he scratched the back of his head. He couldn't imagine being at school so early, nor did he wish to. At Kouta's comment though, Ota sighed and shrugged before he said, "Huh... must be more out of it than I thought, but yeah. Sure I can cook something up for you." With that he turned around to head back to his own room, with the hope that Kouta would follow. The faint smell of cooking eggs hit him as he slipped his shoes off and headed to the kitchen, his thoughts in turmoil. Sure the dream last night had been downright strange, but the fact that he let it get to him so much was strange. Grah! He wanted to tear at his hair, do something, anyting to get his mind off of it, so he turned the stove back on high and gave the omelette a fold and turn.

"Meh, it has its perks, believe me," Kouta smiled wryly at his friend, "I could make the girls' uniform skirts shorter than the belt you're wearing, and get away with it!" He chuckled to himself, slipping off his shoes and following Ota into his room. The smell of omlettes filled the room with a delectable aroma that caused Kouta's mouth to water in anticipation. "In all seriousness though, something must be bothering you. If you're that worked up about school, don't be; it's our last year, and it'll be over before you know it."

He turned from the stove for a moment to give Kouta a raised eyebrow. "Sure you could. Then you'd also get your ass kicked several times other," he siad dryly, though he smirked at the passing thought. Ota grabbed the pan and slid the finished omelette onto it and pushed it across the counter towards Kouta, but remained silent to the other boy's concern. He was right, though apparently it hadn't been all that difficult to pick out Ota was troubled. With a small sigh, he cracked a few more eggs into the pan before he turned around to look at Kouta. "You ever have a dream that didn't feel like one?" He could tell his choice of words was confusing, but Ota himself felt confused. He still wasn't sure what to think of last night's experiences. It had been too striking, too lifelike to simply be a figment of his unconscious mind. The best he could put it would have been an out of body experience, something similar to lucid dreams.

Kouta smoothly caught the plate as it slid over to him, and began to eat the omelette at a decently fast pace. "Dreams that don't feel like dreams?" he asked, a quarter of the meal already gone. "I guess so. Last night, actually, now that I think about it. It was really trippy though; a psychic dwarf with an obnoxiously long nose predicting the future. It didn't make much sense, so I didn't think much of it. Why do you ask? I never thought you'd be concerned with dreams."

Ota nearly choked as Kouta essentially described the same 'dream' he had experienced the night prior. As it was though, it simply looked like he had tasted something exceptionally sour, his expression curling into a deep frown. It vanished in an instance though and he looked thoughtful as he wondered how two people could have had the same dream. The card in his pocket almost seemed to glow hot as he thought though, and his hand darted towards it. He felt the hard paper pressed against his jeans and he drew it out before he spoke. "True... but then again most dreams don't end with something beside me when I wake." With that, he turned to give his omelette a few toppings before he folded it over to let it finish.

"That is strange indeed. Remind me after school, because I gotta run!" Kouta exclaimed, scarfing the rest of his breakfast, grabbing his bag, and bolting out the door in a brisk walk. Ota and Kouta seemed to be in identical predicamends. It's not everyday that this happens. Kouta himself stewed over it all the way to school, even with other things on his mind like his speech or his brother. At the least, it would make a nice story.

[Renose]

Green and grey. These two colors were looking back at the ceiling as it was looking back at them. The two colors were not just colors though, but the different colored eyes of a girl with Heterochromia Iridis. "What was that dream?". The girl pressed her hand to her head as she slowly sat up. She didn't feel skin though, instead she felt something else. It felt like...a card? Ren pulled her hand away from her head and stared at it in disbelief for several long moments. She only was staring at the back, not bothering to flip it over yet as she began to go over in her head just what dreams were from an intelligent and scientific standpoint.

They could last anywhere from a few seconds to around twenty minutes and occurred during REM sleep. They were comprised of various images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur within the mind involuntarily. "There is no way that "dream" was a dream...what is this manga like event?". Her voice was quite, still in disbelief about the entire thing. Before she could contemplate it any longer though she looked over at the alarm clock. Still had two hours to get there, which was what Ren actually needed to get to Kitamon since it was far away from her house.

After showering, eating, and taking care of all other necessities Ren was ready to go. Her uniform was on, the card was put in its pocket for later looking over, and her bag was all ready to go with laptop neatly secured inside it. With that, Ren stepped outside her house and headed to school, giving her uniform a last look over before doing so. Yes, she needed to make sure everything was in place so that no one would discover what she was hiding. After checking one last time she stepped outside, shielding her eyes with her hands due to the sun being bright.

Reno stepped outside of his house, using his hand to cover his eyes from the bright sun. It had been a while since Reno left his house, the last time being when he took the Entrance Exam for Kitamon High, an exam he easily passed with a perfect score. With still an hour left to go, that was about as much time he would need to get to school. Why did he pick one so far away, it was because he wanted to go to a school where no one knew him and thus no one knew his secret so that he could start over, Ren continuing the same thing she did in middle school, which was disguising herself as the boy Reno since she figured strange looking guys stood out less then strange looking girls.

After a long walk, a train ride, and another walk Reno arrived at school with about fifteen minutes to spare, stepping inside of the building as he was glad to get out of the heat. He received several looks, mainly just those noting his strange appearance along with some other odd stares from females, but Reno ignored them and the looks soon went away moments after they arrived. With an inward sigh that came from the glad feeling of not being recognized, Reno went to the bulletin board and decided to check what his class was.

"Class 1-A". After silently determining his class he left the crowd silently, hoping to get to his class without any encounters.

[Arlear]

Alexander Lanarus


Alex woke with a start, falling out of his hammock and onto the floor some three feet below.
What the hell was I just dreaming abo-
He stopped, going wide-eyed as something rectangular and made of paper fluttered down and landed right in front of his face, face up.
The card.
A skeleton, mounted on a skeletal horse and trampling a king. A priest stood in the background, between a sun and moon. It was the card. The card of Death. He snatched it up and stared at it, astounded. His train of thought was interrupted suddenly, however, by the blaring of his alarm. He glanced up at it and sighed. Three in the morning. Three.
He stood, grabbed the clock, and flung it out his window. Thing had been broken for a week. And now it was really broken- Landed on the road two stories below, and got run over by a passing car. He flipped the remains off.
"Ring now, you pain in my ass."
The alarm, meanwhile, stayed silent. For now. Muttering under his breath, he shut the window and peered at his hammock longingly.
Dare I lay back down....? Nah. I'm up now.
He slouched over to his closet and flung it open, grabbing his uniform before wandering into his bathroom. He set the clothes next to his towel, flipped the shower on, and hopped in after slipping out of his pajamas. The hot water was rejuvenating as always, and before long he was both clean and wide awake.
That aside, he was shortly thereafter dry, dressed, and in the kitchen frying bacon. At least, he should have been frying the bacon. Instead he was leaning against the counter beside his stove, staring at the card deep in thought.
If this is here, then I was there. If I was there, then I wasn't here. And if I wasn't here, then where the -hell- was I?
His head snapped up and he cursed- While considering this his bacon had managed to catch on fire. He grabbed a dishcloth and batted it out, moving the pan off the burner. He shrugged. Bacon burned to a crisp was still bacon. Hell. Burned bacon was good bacon. After waving the towel at it to cool it he grabbed a few pieces, unconsciously tucked the card into his pocket, and swept over to fall into a chair. Organizing his bag while he ate, he ran through a mental checklist.
Too many textbooks, notebook, good number of pencils, my good pens, laser pointer to piss off the teacher...
He nodded to himself. He had everything. A quick glance at the clock told him he was still way to early, and a quick glance at his skateboard told him he didn't give a shit. Finishing off his bacon, he slung his bag over his shoulder, practically jumped into his shoes, grabbed his skateboard, and bolted out the door. He didn't bother to lock it- His neighbors and landlady were trustworthy enough not to break in. Besides, he didn't really have anything of value in there. With a quick sprint down the stairs, he was on his board and on his way to school.

Some amount of time later, the others were likely to arrive, and see him sitting there, leaning against the wall beside the front door and waiting. When they finally did, he joined the throng as they flooded inside. A quick glance at his schedule told him what he needed- And he headed off to class, plopping down near the door and leaning back in his chair, waiting for people to join him.

[yellowreaver]

Josuke's mother had already left- she has an early shift beginning at five in the morning, and so she wakes up sensibly early to make it to work. The alarm rang. Josuke shut it off, sighing before rolling back as the cheap spring mattress twin bed creaked, until he double checked the time. It was seven forty five. His old school started at seven thirty. In other words, he was late.

It was morning, Josuke waking up with half a headache, and half a backache. He crawled out of his bed, stretching, to feel something under his feet. He raised his right foot, revealing a card with a face on it. Josuke, with a bit of curiosity picked it up. He didn't remember having any cards with such a shape size or design, but thinking back, he actually has seen such a card before. It was the same exact design as the back of those tarot cards he's seen in his dream, with the guy who's long nose Josuke tried to touch, but somehow couldn't.

Josuke flipped the card over. "The star" he said, examining the face of the card. The design featured a large five pointed star at its epicenter with a vaguely humanoid face around it. Behind the large star, lay a whole sky of stars in the background, and under the illustration, the Roman numerals representing the number seventeen. Josuke was never a big fan of foreign or archaic languages, though he could at least recall the number system and how it lacked zeroes.

"Wait a minute... what was I doing" Josuke's eyes grew wide. Quickly, Josuke put on a dress shirt, leaving a few bottom buttons undone, a pair of jeans, and the school jacket he had from the last school he went to all while making a couple pieces of toast. He ate the first one dry, running out with the second one in his mouth.

"Crap I'm going to be late" Josuke thought, keeping his legs moving as he waited for the train to pass so that he could go through. As bad a student as he was, Josuke was never late- he hated letting people down. He had done so too many times back at his old school, and didn't want to do so again. That day, Josuke arrived to school at seven fifty six; and upon stepping on campus, he noticed that there were students carelessly mingling with each other or doing their homework. "What?" Josuke thought before quickly moving to the nearest girl he could find.

"Mari huh? That means jasmine right? I see. Well then you're one pretty flower" he flirted. They were not always like this. Sometimes, he would say something much more cliche. Sometimes, he would even try to speak a bit of English, despite most of the girls not knowing what he was saying. "Hey girl. Do you like dragons?" The word play didn't work as well translated to Japanese. He was lucky he payed so much attention in his English classes for the last two years.

[Evil Tofu]

Mei Yashima

Mei counted the number of black tiles along the wall as some sleaze she hadn't bothered to learn the name of wrapped his arms all around her body. His face pressed against her neck and his cold lips sent a shiver down her spine as they touched skin. He rested his arms against the wall behind her, pressing his forehead into her shoulder.
"We're through." The boy froze, not wanting to believe what he had just heard. Surely he expected it. It was common knowledge of how Mei and her relationships ended up. Maybe he thought he could be different? The knight in shining armor who could sweep her off her feet. Their eyes met, but Mei's azure eyes were cold.
"Mei-chan... are you serious?" He laughed. Surely she was joking. You don't let someone hold you like that and then just throw them away. But no, Mei was serious. Just as he began to wrap his arms around her again, she pushed him away and moved away from the wall.
"Do not call me 'Mei-chan', as if you have any right to. It was fun while it lasted, but you're just not my type." The boy was frozen in place, obviously hiding back tears. Their little quarrel had drawn a crowd of students. Mei pulled out a cigarette, placing it between her lips and clicking the lighter. She had been given the pack by the boy a few days ago; or rather she had 'persuaded' him to go into the store and buy them for her.
"C-come on Mei, I thought we were happy together." Now he just sounded pathetic. Mei threw the butt to the ground and smashed it into the clean, school floors with her heel.
"Hah, Happy? With you? Don't make me laugh. How could I be happy with a clingy, overprotective stick in the mud like you? Get real." Even to herself the words sounded harsh. How else was she going to get him off her back? They were all such big pains in the ass, acting as if they knew her. Didn't they understand that sometimes she just wanted some space? A change? Something new? Out of the crowd of people, one girl stepped forward and yelled at Mei.

"Who the hell do you think you are, treating others like that?" Mei turned to face her, seeing that the crowd was egging the girl on. What? Was she the villain now? Because she didn't want to see someone anymore, that suddenly made her a bad person. She didn't even know who this girl was and already she hated her guts.
"Piss off, you ugly little dog." The courage faded away from the girls aura the instant Mei's cold gaze fixated upon her, and Mei coudln't help but laugh at how quickly she crawled back into the sea of bystanders. Mei went to go reach for another cigarette, but instead found her palm locked upon the small, tarot card she had woken up with this morning. Why she decided to keep it was a mystery to her. Her first impulse was to throw the card away, forget she had even had that strange dream. Or was it a dream? Realising that she was starting to think about it again, Mei looked over to the boy who stared daggers at her. "Don't look so sad. We both know I could have done way better than you, so be grateful I even showed interest." He looked at the floor, away from Mei, before walking away down the hall. The group of students scattered and suddenly school was back to the way it was before.

Mei needed to clear her head, so she walked around the school grounds with the strange card clutched in her palm. She stared at the interesting symbols and recalled what the mysterious man in her dream had said about it, and how it represented her being. It seemed like a bunch of bullshits, but the fact that she had woken up with the card was a mystery to her. She was positive she hadn't bought it; it was too tacky for her style. Maybe it was a gift she had received from an ex and had paid no attention to it? It was possible it could have resurfaced in her dreams. Yeah, that was the most logical solution. Which cheap ass had given her a measly card for a gift? No wonder she dumped him. Before she could think more into it, she soon saw Kouta Yamato entering the school gates.
"Mornin' Pres, off to stop the legion of litterers and vandals I presume?" Mei had a certain feeling towards Kouta, and she didn't know whether it was a good or a bad feeling. Ever since she could remember, Kouta had always been untouchable. No matter what she tried, Kouta had no romantic interest in Mei whatsoever. This only infuriated her more. What didn't he see in her? Was he gay or something? Maybe he was the only guy with half a brain and didn't want to end up like everyone else Mei had dated. Whatever is was, Mei hated it. She was like a child, throwing a tantrum when she couldn't get what she wanted. Mei looked down, realising that she was still holding the strange card right in front of him.

[OiHarkin]

"Eisei-sama, it is take to wake up." came the polite, demure voice of one of the Tsukigama household's serving staff. Though his family was not extravagantly wealthy, and far from royalty, the family pride meant they had to maintain at least a token staff to appear respectable. Eisei rubbed the sleep from his eyes, the images from the dreams slowly fading back into the mists they'd sprung from. He slid his long legs from the bed and and flipped his hair out of his face. His eyes swivelled around the room as he reluctantly dragged himself back to the waking world, before happening to fall on something he'd not seen before. A card, on the cover of the book he'd been reading before bed. On it was the image of the moon hanging in the sky above two towers. He looked a little closer and could make out two dogs - no, one dog and a wolf- howling up at the moon from the lip of a pool, in which he could make out something else, maybe a fish or a lobster. Where did this come from? Some bookmark from the store? A promotional leaflet for a new club? Whatever it was, he tucked it in the paperback to mark his place and then slid that under his pillow.

By the time he'd washed and dressed himself, he came down to a prepared breakfast. His father had finished the morning financial papers and was going over work papers at his desk. The maid and cook bowed to Eisei as he came in. Miso, rice, pickled vegetables. A pot of immaculately prepared green tea. All very proper. "Good morning, father." Eisei in turn bowed respectfully to the head of the household, then bowed and began to eat. He didn't get any response. Father was always busy with work, even at the breakfast table. Eisei only had a rough idea of what his father actually did in the local government, but it was something that had high demands on his time and befitted a man of his somber status. As he sipped the soup and ate the rice, Eiseis mind revisted speculations of secret conspiracies and government agencies, top-secret duties and covert missions, until it was time to go to school.

He was deposited by driver outside Kitamon High, presented his book bags and all but walked to the gates by the driver. He happened to see Kouta, the student council president, talking with the unfortunate Mei Yashima. This put in a bit of a dilemna - Eisei was on the student council with Kouta and would need to speak to him about business for the first day of school, but Mei Yashima was a well-known ne'er-do-well. Eisei had to carefully glance behind him to make sure the car was gone before he was even able to be seen talking to her. Once he was sure the black Volkswagen was out of sight, he waved over at Kouta and trotted over with a smile. "Kouta-kun! Good morning!" He turned to Mei with a smile - he knew she was a bad girl, but perhaps all she needed was a bit of a good example to get her back on the straight and narrow. Perhaps under that rough exterior was a heart of gold! "Yashima-san, good m-" Then he saw the card, and swallowed. "G-good. Uh, morning."

[Infin1teZer0]

Kouta's mind was in a daze, jumping from thought to thought like a pinball machine. First, he was worried about his brother and his declining health. Takashi had been checked into the hospital for a week now, and Kouta was seriously starting to stress over it. Next, there was Student Council, and the speech he had to give as its President to the entire student body. He's done it before, so it shouldn't provide a challenge. However, it still weighed heavily on his mind regardless. Finally, for some reason, he couldn't shake last night's dream from his head. Its creepiness only increased when Kouta found the same Tarot card in his bed this morning. He reached into his pocket and felt the smooth, firm paper of the card. He could feel his eyes pulling themselves towards the ground the further he walked and contemplated solutions to his predicament. Suddenly, a voice called out to him, snapping him out of his zombie-like state.

"Mornin' Pres, off to stop the legion of litterers and vandals I presume?"
Oh, it's her... Kouta thought to himself bleakly as he made the connection.
This girl was Mei Yashima. Kouta wouldn't lie to himself; she's hot as a bonfire. However, looks only go so far. Mei is also the biggest tsundere cock-tease Kitamon has to offer, and Kouta was wise enough not to fall into her trap if she had set her sights on him. Besides, he knew he was immensely popular and could be with any woman he wanted, so what was the point? At best, Kouta would be Mei's chew-toy for maybe a week, and he could get more out of a different person equally attractive.

"Not today, I'm afraid, but I could make you throw away those cigarettes and apologize to your ex and that girl you just terrified if you really want me to." Kouta replied to her, winking and smiling in a playful, passive-aggressive manner. He did mean business about the cigarettes though, holding out his palm in the fork-it-over position. Kouta had a nice way of speaking, and was usually a friendly guy, but rules are rules. As he took care of that, he noticed that Mei was holding something else in her hand: a Tarot card. Again?! Kouta thought to himself. Himself, plus Ota, and now Mei made three of them. A look of shock crossed his eyes for just a moment, but then faded. He had to make sure though; it wasn't good to jump to conclusions. "Say, Rei, did you get a good night's sleep? If you lay off the really hard stuff for awhile, you might not dream about psychic dwarves predicting the future with their big noses. Just a suggestion." Kouta played it off as a joke intentionally, so if the answer is no, he wouldn't sound as crazy. Perfect timing, Eisei! Now to make my slick escape... He smiled at Mei again, and turned to the newcomer. "Ah, good morning, Eisei-san. I was looking for you; the Student Council is to assemble in the auditorium during homeroom today." He motioned his hand to follow him, anxious to get today started.

[Zombehs]

Ota had dwelled in his room about half an hour longer before he finally decided to follow after the student president. He shut the door behind him, a faint smell of bacon and eggs followed him into the hallway as he did so. A quick glance at his watch told him the time was past 7:00am, so he had plenty of time to get to school. A ride of 30 minutes to the hill beneath the school and a 15 minute climb up to the school gates. An easy task and one he’d gotten used to over the years. He briefly sighed as he wondered if the fact he had gotten used to the lifestyle was actually a good thing, but pondered no longer than the time it took for him to leave the dormitory.

His time on the train was spent largely occupied with his phone. He scrolled through his e-mail, opened and fiddled with a few apps, read a few chapters of the latest uploads, but nothing truly productive. The early morning commute was busy, students and people with jobs crammed onto the same train. He’d been lucky enough to secure a seat before the train had been fully packed and was thankful as he noticed the crowds get jostled with every stop the train hit.

The walk up to school was pleasant enough, as was the weather. His eyes were largely glued to the novel he had at the moment, the latest addition to the local library. As the school gates came into view though he slipped the novel back into his bag and slid through the crowds that formed around the school grounds. He wasn’t proud or ashamed of the fact that he didn’t have many friends, though his number of ‘acquaintances’ certainly has high enough. Large crowds simply didn’t sit well with him, so it was with some relief a number of years ago that Ota had discovered despite his large size, he was a fairly sneaky individual.

Perhaps by some sort of miracle or the practice of his many attempts over the year, but Ota had managed to arrive at the bulletin board without incident. No accidental run ins with any other students, no eager underclassmen from the baseball club, no nothing. Just peace, and thankfully for his tall height and nigh perfect eye sight, he would not have to brave the crowds of students that milled near the board. He peered over their heads and he allowed himself a small smirk as he found his name on the list. Class 3-B, he thought to himself as he noticed that Kouta was also in his class. A mixed blessing, he supposed as he read the others on the list. Some he knew, others he didn’t, but none he really called a friend. He would have lingered on his thoughts for a bit longer if an unfamiliar yet notable face caught his attention, as they tried to slip away from the crowd. Reno-kun?

He followed after his underclassman quickly and without hesitation. He didn’t know much about the kid, in fact nobody really did. From what he had heard from Kouta, the boy had transferred to Kitamon High just this year. The year prior he hadn’t gone to school at all and apparently a truancy officer had been involved, or so Kouta had mentioned. Then again, Kouta had been pretty out of it at the time, so who knew what was fact and what was simple conjecture. As his longer strides brought him up to the younger student, Ota called out in a gentle voice, “Ah. You wouldn’t happen to be Reno would you?”

[Renose]

Reno slipped away, aiming for no encounters of any sort, unfortunately his appearance seemed to be a magnet for said things. “Ah. You wouldn’t happen to be Reno would you?” a gentle voice from behind Reno called out. What was this, the tall grass? Encounters only appearing when he isn't looking for them? That was what Reno felt this was like. It wasn't like Reno could run away now as the exclamation mark already appeared above his head and he was headed right towards Reno. The young student knew that if he ran away it would only make him stand out even more if he just suddenly sprinted through the hallways, so Reno turned around, his heterochromatic eyes looking back at Ota.

"Y-Yes...I am Reno...". His voice was quiet and nervous as he wondered how this person knew his name. Could it be that he found out who Reno was from middle school? Or maybe he knew that truancy officer that visited his house several times last year, which was why Reno was actually going to school this year, before finally giving up? Whatever the case was, Reno really hoped that Ota didn't know him that well as he wanted to leave his past behind and live a quiet life where he stood out to no one. "How...do you know my name? As I am pretty sure we... haven't met". Reno's curiosity got the better of him as he just had to ask how Ota knew him, his voice quiet and awkward sounding as usual.

"Sorry, guess I was a bit impolite. I'm Ota Fujika." He said before he gave a small nod towards the younger student. "As for how I know your name, well I'm a friend of the student council president. He might have let a few things slip." He shrugged dismissively as if he didn't find the facts all that important at the moment. From what he could tell of the other student though, Reno didn't exactly seem keen on being approached by Ota so suddenly, so he decided to make things quick. No need for things to get more awkward than it already was. "Well basically, I was just wondering if you needed any help figuring things out." He extended the offer to his underclassman with a gentle smile. Kouta hadn't really explicitly stated anything, but the mere fact that he had brought Reno up meant he was concerned in some manner. Might as well try and aleviate some of them if he could.

The student council president? Well now how Ota would know didn't surprise Reno that much. The council president probably heard something about Reno's truancy when he had submitted his application here and told his friend about it. This brought a little more relief to Reno as he was glad that Ota didn't know Reno from the classmates at his school who had bullied him much more after his secret had been found. He then heard the offer, and decided to gather information from this for he planned on not sticking out and to do that he needed to find out when he could get away from people since his appearance always brought stares of others.

"Are students allowed onto the roof and what are the exam schedules and attendance policies here?". Some simple questions, which he hoped Ota would answer without too much looking into not only the intent behind the question, but the way Reno said it, which sounded a bit condescending and sort of emotionless, which Reno didn't want to be but had a hard time speaking to people without acting in such a manner. He clearly was not good at talking to others.

Ota raised an eyebrow at the questions. They were, well in a word, suspicious. Perhaps the newest student already intended to miss a few of his less favored classes. What Reno did in school weren't Ota's problems though, so with a small sigh he answered them. "Exams are split into midterms and finals. Two semesters in a year. Mid-terms should be the second or third week of May and October. Finals are July and December. As for the roof, students are allowed access, but generally the teachers check there for any students who try to ditch class," he warned, though his tone wasn't condescending. "As for the attendance policies, I'm not too sure on that. Haven't had a need to pay attention, so you'll probably have better luck with a teacher."

He wasn't quite sure which he prefered; the stuttering Reno or the almost apathetic and icy kid at the moment. There was something else about him that bothered - no that wasn't the proper word, perhaps interested would be better? Either way, something about Reno stuck out to Ota, though he wasn't sure what it was at the moment. Perhaps it was the two different colors of his eyes. He'd heard of heterochromia, but never seen for himself. Something told him that wasn't it, but with a shake of his head, he dismissed the thoughts though and asked. "Anything else, Reno?"

Well Reno was glad that the roof was allowed, he wasn't going to use it to cut class, but using it to get away from others at Lunch time would be its use. As for the attendance and exam questions, Reno planned on skipping a few days here and there, but wanted to know when the exams were so he didn't accidentally wind up skipping them. He was glad though that Ota didn't seem to be questioning his purpose for asking those, but did note that warning and guessed that he silently understood Reno's plans on some level. "There is nothing...". He stopped.


His hand felt the card in his pocket. The senpai seemed to be an outgoing member of the school, perhaps he knew what trends were hip and whatnot and wondered if he knew anything about what was going on with these Tarot Cards. He almost took the card about, but pushed it back into his pocket at the last moment. "There is nothing else that I have to ask of you Fujika-senpai, thanks for your time". With his usual soft, quiet, and emotionless voice that may or may not have sounded condescending and a small bow he turned to leave, hoping that Ota didn't have anything else to ask of him.


Reno's hesitation hadn't gone unnoticed, but Ota remained silent as he watched his underclassman. He was suppose to simply be a helper to the new kid, not an interrogator. With a small nod and the same gentle smile as before, he gave his junior a small wave before he turned and walked away. There was still a few minutes before class started, which he should probably use to actually get to the classroom. With that in mind he hit the stairwell and took the steps several at a time. As he passed the second floor, a sigh escaped him, the sight of his 2nd year classroom bringing back memories. Ota didn't bother to dwell on them though and continued to bound up the stairs until he skidded to a halt outside his classroom. The room was noisy enough that he could hear conversations from out in the hall, so it seemed like he was one of the last students to arrive. He stepped in and conversations died for a moment as his classmates turned to glance at him before they returned to their own business and the noise rose up once more. He shook his head lightly as he made a beeline for one of the empty desks near the middle of the class. It was a nice spot, hidden away from the teacher.


With that, Reno left for his own classroom, which was on the first floor. Unlike Ota, Reno's classroom was mostly empty when he entered it with only a few people inside due to everyone else being too busy conversing with each other by the board, reminiscing about reunions or other things. He recieved a few long looks as he entered, and even some as he sat at his desk, but after putting his head down those looking at him just went back to talking amongst themselves. Reno simply kept his head on the desk and waited for school to begin.

[Evil Tofu]

Mei Yashima

Mei frowned at Kouta's demand for her cigarettes, reluctantly removing them from her school bag and placing them into his palm. Before she let go, she let her fingers slide onto his palm and talked to him in a soft voice.
"Let me know if you're gonna go up to the roof to smoke these. I'll join you, 'kay?" Mei returned his mischievous wink, but let go of his hand the second Eisei joined their conversation. The only thing Mei knew about Eisei was that he was somewhat rich, which seemed to be more than enough to return a smile to his greeting. "Mornin' Tsuki-san." Before Mei could continue, she noticed that both Eisei and Kouta were staring at the card that was still firmly in her hand. She held it up in front of her face before pocketing the thing.
"Tacky little piece of trash, isn't it? Some deadbeat must have bought it for me a while back." She tried shrugging off the bizarre feeling of the card, but her suspicions were only piqued when Kouta perfectly described the dream she had had last night. "Wait, how did you-" Suddenly interrupted by Kouta changing the subject to the school assembly, she let her question rest. It was probably just Kouta teasing her.
"School Assembly? What a pain. But I guess I should show up, wouldn't want that ass in charge of truants on my case again." Mei nodded to both Eisei and Kouta before turning back around to the classroom building.

Hibiki Retsu

Hibiki stood in the empty kitchen, frying eggs on an old stove as light crept through the shutters onto his face. When they were prepared, he poured a little soy sauce on them and served them up on a plate. Walking up the dark stairs, he could hear nothing but the creaking of his weight on the old wood. When he approached a door at the end of the hall, he clicked it open and walked in to see a frail women wrapped in several blankets. The stench was foul, as if she hadn't bathed in a week. He eyes were red and tired, and her skin was a sickly pale colour. Sitting down next to her on the bed, he placed the eggs down in front of her only to have his mother shove them away from her.
"I'm not leaving for school until you eat." His threat was met with silence. Sighing, Hibiki picked up the chopsticks and grabbed a piece of egg white from the plate. Placing it in between her lips, he watched her slowly chew the food and swallow. He continued to spoon feed her, but stopped halfway through when he felt her cold hands stroke his hair.
"Have a good day at school, dear." It saddened him to listen to her speak with such a dry, broken voice. "If you're visiting Rin today, please send her my regards." Hibiki wrapped his mother in another blanket and hugged her before setting off to school. He found himself staring at the strange card he had woken up with today, and recalling the weird dream he had had last night. His card was Strength, not what he had been expecting. Physically, Hibiki was rather weak. Last year he had joined the Martial Arts club, but was practically a training dummy for the older, much stronger members. He'd caused a lot of trouble for his senpai with his big mouth and practical jokes. This year he wasn't a member though, but he doubt they'd miss him. Before he could think any further about it, he heard the sound of a young couple giggling.
"Stop it! Ah, it's freezing!" Hibiki opened up the wooden fence in front of him to see his sister Rin and her partner spraying each other with water in front of their house.
"Onee-san? What are you doing?" Rin's blond hair flowed freely past her hips, and she shared the same intense, hazel eyes that Hibiki had.
"Hibiki? This is a surprise!" Rin ran up to him and gave him a playful nudge on the shoulder. "What's up?" Hibiki wasn't sure how to respond, but his silence said enough.
"Hibiki, I know how you feel. But I can't bring myself to see her. She tore us apart, and I can't forgive her for that." He stared up at his sister, his voice a quiet plea for help.
"She's not eating, Rin. The only time she eats is when I go up there and force her to. I make lunch and dinner for her but when I come home it's always untouched. You don't have to forgive her, but while I'm at school can you please go and make sure she's eating right?" Rin sighed, pacing back and forth before coming to a sudden halt.
"I'll do it for you. But once she's better, I want nothing to do with her. Now hurry up and get to school." Hibiki smiled, hugging his sister in appreciation. She nudged his forehead, and he left for Kitamon high.

Upon arriving, he saw a couple of his senpai talking at the gate. He instantly recognised Kouta, he was in the Martial Arts club last year when Hibiki was a member. The other two he didn't recognise, but the girl he was talking to was really pretty. He walked past them, deciding not to bother them and heading for the second year classrooms.