Mirror World

"..."

Midori was silent for several moments. At the approach of the other girl, she scooted backwards across the ground and away from her. And then the boy, offering his hand... she scooted away further. Her hands clutched her boxcutter tightly. They were too close... They were far too close... she just wanted to find Akemi... and Shiki... Clutching her boxcutter in one hand, she pushed herself up off the ground and got to her feet with the other. She did not come closer to the other people around her. She simply stood still, quiet and unmoving. She couldn't talk. They were too close for her to say anything. The boxcutter was lowered, but she would not put it away. Not here. Not until she knew her love and her sibling were completely safe. Not surrounded by these people.

"... Sh-shadow p-people..."

They were the people who most likely kidnapped them... they would die. She'd cut them and stab them and slash and slash and slash and make them bleed...

In spite of their best efforts, it seemed this girl was determined not be co-operative. "Well, at least we tried." Sachiko said, getting up. She could only hope the girl wouldn't decide to do anything rash. Sachiko then heard a voice from behind her. Her first hope was that it might've been Kato that had arrived! But no, it was Rui. At least he was a familiar face compared to little miss boxcutter. "Uh, hey Rui..." It felt awkward making small talk in a situation like this. At least Kami seemed to be comfortable speaking with him in such a casual manner. She wondered why she seemed to be seeing so much of this guy in a short period. She met him yesterday, then he showed up at the park, and now here they were in bizzaro world near what looked a lot like the aforementioned park. There was a lot going on here that she just could not get her head around. As had been mentioned a few times, their only real clue as to what to do was to continue looking for those strange people. Sachiko took that to mean the others must have seen someone too. That made things even weirder. Was their some meaning behind these people, or was it yet another uncanny coincidence that they had all encountered someone or something here?

"I wouldn't mind carrying on after those people myself, but we're still missing Kato." No matter what was going on here, the last thing Sachiko wanted to do was to leave this place without finding all her friends. If Kami was here, Kato ought to be to, and in that case she sure wanted to find him.

-Kato: Mirror world-

The sounds of two pairs of feet hitting the ground can be heard. A dark haired youth was chasing a shadowy figure which was always quarter down the street when Kato goes around each corner. Kato was getting exhausted after running so long. His breath became fast and shallow as his legs were getting sore and feels like he's about to collapse. Unknown to Kato must've ran four kilometer chasing this damn person. Until finally he just collapse to his hands and knees, breathing heavily.

After a few moments of catching his breath and resting he decided chasing the unknown person was weird and dangerous, also stupid. He should carry something to protect himself from anything dangerous. He got up from the ground and check around him, he was in an alleyway. Surrounded by old heavy pipes that's so rusted that they could be ripped off from the walls.
...
Kato looked for the cleanest and heavest steel pipe and yanked at it hard, with a huff he manage to pull one free, tearing down parts of the wall and some pipes connected to it causing a very loud noise, that could be heard from the unknown to him group. He looked at the damage he caused, he just said, "I hope the hands, won't be mad..." He whispered to himself.

He looked at his makeshift weapon briefly, the pipe was thick but light for the most part to be swung without much trouble the top is heavier which would cause a lot of damage to something if he hit something there. But never mind that he went after where he thought the shadowy figure ran off to. He was focused to find that person, even if it the last thing he does.

While running down the road, some people were talking to themselves, but Kato didn't even noticed them, he ran past them, entirely focused on finding the shadowy person.

-Kaminari :Mirror World-
"So... Shadow people... Hmm..."

Shadow people? The mere thought would sound downright insane to most people, but in a situation like this, it was entirely believable since he saw two with his very eyes... He didn't do anything to further agitated the girl and let her scoot back as he thought of a proposition on what the group should do. He pondered for a bit, before grabbing his phone from his pocket. He stared and the flashing screen, and he shoved it back into his pocket with an irritated look on his face. Kami then turned back to the group, and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Uh guys, we got a problem - we can't contact anyone because there's no signal in this place... Anyways, what to do from here other than to pursue those people..."

There was naught another idea that came to the prodigal detective's head, as he sighed, and looked around... And spotted a peculiar, and yet pleasant sight. He caught Kato running off in the general direction of the amusement park. Kami turned to the others, staring each of them down, as if he was measuring their worth. He then pivoted around, and looked forward to the amusement park. Kato must of been chasing a shadow person like box cutter girl, and Kami, so that means Rui and Sachiko were also in pursuit of a shadow peraon... He began to ponder if it was coincidental that they were all dragged into this world, before taking out his Baton.

"I just saw Kato running in the general direction of the amusement park... From my assumption, we all saw a shadow person, and they are all heading to the amusement park from what I can infer... We mus make haste, because they probably know what's going on... We need answers, so lets go! The quicker we find them, the quicker we can find a way out of here, and possibly save your friends missy. Lets get going guys."

He said it in a comandeering voice, and he quickly extended the baton outward. He brandished it, before running forward. Hopefully the three would get the genral gist and follow after him. ((I'm just assuming you three will follow ))

---

-Kaminari : Mirror World - Amusement Park-
As Kami followed after, he eventually ended up in this worlds version of the amusement park, which looked strangely... Normal. Some of the buildings he passed by were distorted, either a little or a lot, but this placed wasn't altered one bit... Save for where the house of mirrors was supposed to be. Instead, there were five people standing where the house was supposed to be... Wait a minute, what the...

"Huh? What in the hell? who are you people?!"

Kami neared the five, and was startled by his findings. These people looked exactly like each of the people he knew, except they had strange, glowing golden eyes. Almost all of Kamis cool disappeared as he stared down each of the doppelgangers, each of them with a different facial expression... The one in the middle seemed pretty gloomy, and scanned him in awe. He was an exact replica of Kami, with the hair, clothes - everything... Except, it looked like he was in pain, and... Are those slit marks on his wrists? Kami franically took a look at each of his arms, finding no mark made on either of them.

As he turned his head to the "people" he saw as one of them broke the rank, and stepped forward with a sneer plastered on their face. It seemed Ruis doppelganger was going to say something to the group, but it was unknown what he would say next.

((OOC Note - Ok, now you guys get control over what your shadows say, just... Wait each of your turns when talking to your shadow please ^^))

Noboru acknowledged Chiaki's assumption. She was right in that she was a complete stranger and he didn't want to reveal anything personal. But she had worked hard and came this far. She deserved at least the reason why he was angry. He sat down on the bench next to the shrine and let out a huff. "Fine. Let's just say for example, there's a kid who isn't exactly the favorite of his family. Let's just say that he's a little different, maybe because of appearance, or maybe because he isn't exactly talented. Maybe he doesn't know the reason why. But being different from his family, that makes him a target in the eyes of his older siblings. It paints a giant red target on his back, and he still can't figure out why. Maybe it gets to him just a little bit one day because he let his guard down for one second because one sibling was nice in one isolated incident. Then again, this is an example. IT really wouldn't matter unless it was real right?" Noboru felt stupid revealing this much. It was just supposed to be why he was angry, but it felt good to get it off his chest at least once. Maybe to a person he wouldn't ever talk to again. Maybe it just felt good to get something off his chest to someone he didn't know.

Akemi faltered, surprised that someone would interrupt such an important speech. Who wouldn't want to know how to ensure a better future?! This boy was coming across like an arrogant idiot! As if someone like him would know anything from his lessons!

With a smile of amusement, Akemi said, "...If that's so, what am I saying?" Speaking in English with an obvious accent. Considering how much she knew of the language by the time she'd entered high school, clearly everyone else had to be at least that level! Should he not know what she'd said, Akemi could take that as infallible proof that he knew nothing about anything, and thus, needed her help to succeed!

It was the only logical conclusion, after all.

Rui Shinichi | Mirror World Amusement Park

After some very brief introductions on names, the group started off after Kato, whom Kami had spotted. He simply followed, honestly there was nothing else of note either, he met them all by following some shadowy figure, why not continue? The difference was that Kami had seemed to recognize who it was. As they entered the shadowy amusement park, it didn't take a genius to tell you that it was indeed quite different. Again, some signs and words were mirrored, and took him a moment to read, along with the unnatural lighting that created darkness where it saw fit. Some of the rides looked dismembered, segmented, and look like slightly broken glass. The eerie atmosphere only got darker.

Shadowed figures stood before them. Shrouded in darkness, they slowly took a step into the light, and there was no mistake... It was... Well, everyone here, a perfect doppelganger, except something felt off about each of them... That was besides the golden glowing eyes, and it appears their facial expressions were different.

"Huh? What in the hell? who are you people?!", Kami made the immediate reaction. He was visibly shocked. As if on instinct, Rui stepped forward from behind the group, at the same time, the figure that took his form stepped forward... The two didn't stop until they were only a feet away from each other.

"We... Are the shadows, the true self...", he spoke. His voice was... Strange, unnatural, it was like his own, but a dark echo of sorts.

"We... Not I", the doppelganger confirmed this for himself, and the others began to step forward too, making a kind of half circle around the group.

"True self...?", Rui responded.

"Yeah, the true self", was all that came out of his mouth. There was a dead silence, the two stared each other down for at least a good several seconds, until finally...

"Oh come on! Speak some more! React more! Do something! Get angry! Shocked! Whatever", the shadow snapped. "Aren't you sick of it? Blending into every crowd, not standing out, no friends to truly call your own, fading into obscurity with every group of friends you've ever been with and ending the day alone", Rui was taken aback. But he didn't deny it... These thoughts had been running through his mind since the start. He had no response.

"Every person you've met in this sleepy little town...",

"Yeah I know... I'm hoping to change it this time...", Rui began to speak himself... To himself, technically. His nerves were at ends, he couldn't deny a single word here, but nowhere did he feel that he had to.

"I vowed I would change, and start something for myself here. This is only the beginning isn't it...? You know this as well as I do", he responded. This much was true, and it appears that this other him could not deny a single word here either...

"Hm... Hah... Hahahahahaa! Well said...", the other him smirked one last time, before laughing some more, a shadowy energy surrounding it and eventually turning blue, the very image of his smirking self disappeared... Rui felt compelled to hold his hand out, as a blue card wreathed in blue soft flames lowered itself over the palm of his hand. As if a final show of his determination, he grasped it, crushing it. He heard a voice in his head as a white coated figure wielding a giant blade briefly appeared above and behind him before disappearing.

Thou art I...
And I art thou.

I am Askr, the herald of a new beginning.

This was called a... Persona. The word simply came to him like it was natural. He wanted to utter the phrase, but before even a single word could come out, he remembered... There were other ones too. He quickly turned around to watch the companions he had met on this little trip... How would they fare?

Jace arrived back at his 'home' away from home as he laid down on his bed and looked up at the ceiling, tired from the long walk, he couldn't help but feel that this was going to be a long stay. Whatever he was going to do here he decided he was going to do to the best of his ability. But at the end of the day what really constitutes as 'the best of his ability' after all it hadn't helped him all that much back in the states when he competed in tournaments. He'd only won once or twice and never fully won entire tournaments. Swordsmanship was outdated and so was dueling back it still held a custom that he held dear to his heart. The challenge and the thrill of winning or the sinking in your heart when you lose. Ripping off his shirt and coat he slicked back his hair and breathed in deeply. "Man...I need to stop monologing about stuff..." Jace said to himself as he chuckled to himself.

At least the little girl he met today was nicer than most girls back in the states who would shove him away if he ever tried to talk to them. Maybe it was a Japanese thing. Jace rose from his bed and got his left over food into a small refrigerator before pulling off his pants and turning on a fan and sitting in front of it for a couple of minutes to cool off after the brisk jog he did on the way back to his house. When he was finished he got into the shower and then turned on his TV to some game shows that were on. It was hard to understand it being that he knew English WAY better than the Japanese language but he understood enough that he knew what was happening. One unlucky girl fell off the obstacles that were on the show and into some thick red liquid of some sort which made Jace chuckle. "That had to hurt a little..." Jace said as he watched the show he got the urge to look back through the book he brought along with him about the Tokugawa period and started reading about Sekigahara where he admired the tactics on both sides.

When Kato raced past, Sachiko's expression went from an instant smile to a baffled gasp in a matter of seconds. "Hey!" She called out after him, even if it was an ineffectual gesture. What was it with today and running? People running from her, her running while dragging Kami around, Kami running while dragging her and Kato....so much coincidence in such a short span of time. This day had long since worn out it's welcome. Sachiko would be right glad when all this nonsense was over. But there was no guarantee it would end. Maybe they were stuck in this bizarre world. No questions could be answered standing around, as it seemed Kami understood. Taking the lead again, he told them all to carry on after Kato, and Sachiko could do nothing less than agree. They at least needed to know he was alright, and perhaps he was going to lead them to one of those weird people they had all encountered. Sachiko followed along with everyone else.

For all her musings on what was going on here, she sure never would've guessed that they would come face to face with....themselves? A copy of each person present, standing in a group, much like their own. But all of them looked just different enough that anyone could tell their was something wrong about them. Then, Rui's doppleganger stepped forward and made some claim about them all being "shadows". The shadows approached the group, each one advancing on their respective original. Sachiko's shadow could only be described as....hateful. It seemed to exude a natural air of hostility, and was glaring at Sachiko quite intensely.

"You're supposed to be me?" Sachiko asked, quite incredulously. She might resemble her, but the ever present hate on her face was most unfamiliar.

"You're damn fucking right I am." It seemed to be even angrier for what Sachiko had said. "Oh, you tried so hard to forget yourself. Thought you could lock it all away in a book and smile. What a joke! A desperate little girl that wanted people to like her, so she started acting all happy in hopes they would start giving a shit. You appealed to those apes because you couldn't stand the thought of being a recluse with a handful of idiots to call friends. But you used to be better than them....WE used to be better than them! All those feckless milquetoasts should be licking our boots, not the other way around!"

Sachiko had yet to say a word. Right now, she had her eyes downcast, at her feet. The shadow laughed hideously. "Aww, what's the matter? Come on, think positive! Don't let the world get you down! Just smile, and everything will be okay! Or do you finally realise how much you HATE that garbage!?"

"...you're right."

That statement produced a moment of silence between the two. Perhaps even the shadow did not quite expect to hear that. Sachiko began to explain herself.

"When my mum told me I should just smile, I took it to heart. A little too much, I guess. I thought that, perhaps people were only interested in someone that acted happy. They didn't want to hear the complaints of a sad little girl. They wanted me to "just smile". So I did. At first, I hated it. I hated myself for doing it, and I hated the people that bought into it so easily. But the more I did it, the easier it became to forget I ever thought differently. The real me was always in there, somewhere, wishing it could change things, I guess..."

"So you admit it then? The shadow asked, sounding triumphant. "You realise how much we hate them? You'll let our anger flow freely?"

"I admit that I need to let go of my silly ideas, yes..." She said. "But perhaps more to the point...." She reached out and took her shadow by the hand, and drew it into a firm hug. "We need to mature."

The shadow grinned while caught in Sachiko's embrace. "Heh...very well." The shadow then began to change. It turned into a strange mass of blueish matter, and then seemed to lose it's original shape. Between Sachiko's now free hands, there was a card. Sachiko brought her palms together, splintering the card, and then seemingly summoning a strange new creature. Much like the shadow, it had the shape of a person, but it was coloured from head to toe in a multi-coloured pattern.

Thou art I...
And I art thou.

I am Dionysus, the liberator of mortal's own mental prisons.

Sachiko unconsciously thought of the word "Persona". Why? She had no idea. But it felt right. Exhausted, she found herself dropping to her knees. Perhaps she would just take a moment, before taking in what had happened with the rest....

Sato Hashimoto // Warakuma Shopping Complex

After obtaining a cup of noodles to eat while meeting with Akiko (although he considered getting two to be polite) Sato flopped down into a chair situated near the table they agreed upon; the table in the left corner near the stage. He looked around a bit, stopping for a moment to watch Ryouta finish his food, before his eyes ended up on his watch. Only a few more minutes until Akiko would be there. Only a few more minutes until he got some answers about what she was doing.

While it felt like hours to Sato, the minutes passed and he noticed Akiko striding towards his location. To be sure Sato glanced over at Ryouta, who seemed to be paying attention to what was going on was also playing with the remnants of his food. His attention was brought back to the important part when he heard the high squeak of a chair being pulled out from the table. It was Akiko, but then again, who would it be? She sat down and looked Sato straight in the eyes in an intimidating manner. “Hello,” she paused awkwardly before finishing. “Sato.”

Sato felt his stomach churn as he looked at this girl. From experience, he could assume that asking too many questions would result in nothing. He swallowed a gulp of air before replying. “Am I allowed to know why you’re meeting me like this?”

Her face contorted. “There’s no reason,” Sato knew she was lying. Somebody in the world would’ve done it that way, but for some reason, after only knowing her for less than a year, he knew that Akiko was not the girl to do something like that. “and I’d like for us to go somewhere more private. If you don’t mind, of course.” Sato’s heart skipped a beat. Why… private? Private…? Private?

Sato’s mind raced again, similar to how it did on the Ferris wheel. “Where…? And, would you mind… if we went together? There—go there?” He hated how he said it. How he messed it up, and revealed his nervousness. Before continuing Sato tried to regain some of his composure, and once he did suddenly questioned the idea of meeting somewhere only to be told to meet somewhere else. “Where did you have in mind?”

“Do you know of that clearing in the trees behind the park?” Akiko stood up suddenly after saying it. Sato merely nodded, and after he did she danced her way through the crowd of people in the food court. As she left Sato looked over at Ryouta, who flashed him a thumbs-up and quickly got out of his seat and made chase with cup in hand. Seeing it reminded Sato that he still had at least half of a cup of noodles left and he ultimately ended up finishing it before heading to the woods behind the park.

---

Sato Hashimoto // Warakuma Park
(Really Edgey Alt. Theme)

Cutting through the front of the park, Sato quickly made his way to the trees a bit of a ways a way behind the building, ignoring the scarce amount of people that were there. As he approached the start of the woods, he slowed his pace down to almost a crawl, listening for anything, half-expecting Ryouta to jump out at him and tell him something crazy about Akiko. It didn’t happen, and instead Sato heard his voice coming from deeper within. He started to make his way towards the sounds as quietly and slowly as he could, his chest constricting in on itself.

Sato slid behind a thick tree, peering out from it to take a look at who was standing in the clearing besides Akiko. As he expected he saw both Akiko and Ryouta standing there, seemingly arguing about something. However, against his expectations, Akiko’s eyes fleetingly glanced at him, so quickly that Sato was barely sure that it even happened, that it wasn’t just his mind playing tricks on him. And as quickly as that, the frail girl pulled Ryouta into an embrace, hands in provocative positions on his body, sharing saliva. While he resisted at the start (probably due to confusion, in Sato’s opinion), Ryouta accepted the kiss, letting his arms fall limp to his side.

In a mixture of shock and curiousity, Sato stood in plain sight, staring at what he had just witnessed. He had no idea why that had happened. He had no idea what it was. He couldn’t associate it with a word. Breaking away like it was some one-night stand, Akiko looked straight at Sato, and Ryouta soon noticed who she was looking at. As soon as he saw him, his face flushed a bright red (but it was obvious he was already blushing the entire time) and he tried to stammer out an answer, but nothing came out of his mouth. Akiko's lips rose in a mocking manner, as if she was trying to express to him that she owned them. Before she could say something to intimidate him, Sato stumbled a few steps back before striding away with as much confidence as he could muster at the moment.

Sato plopped down near the entrance of the park, wiping away the bits of muck in the corners of his eyes with his thumb. It wasn’t that his hopes were crushed, it was that she acted and looked like she could get what she wanted when she wanted, even other people. It didn't seem like he was having some affair with her, but instead it seemed like she was just knocking out two birds with one stone: she wanted his body and she wanted to show Sato that she didn't care about him. He let out a loose sigh. The thoughts he had in his head weren't coherent at all and it just made him more frustrated to think about it.

Warakuma Shrine

"Well, that's quite depressing." Chiaki turned to see Noboru sitting on the bench. She tilted her head and responded to his 'example'.
"He needs to understand that there are people who will and probably already do, like him for who he is. Just because he's different from his family doesn't mean he can't have a happy life, no?" Chiaki fiddled with her hair. She wanted to express her past so that perhaps Noboru wouldn't feel bad... But she felt... She felt like she shouldn't, that it would only be pointless. So she pulled him off the bench, taking him over to the shrine.

"What's with me dragging you around today? Ahaha, you're a boy, shouldn't you be escorting me like a princess?" She placed her fingers over her mouth and giggled.
"Lets pray!" Chiaki pulled out her red purse, she got one hundred yen out. She then placed it in the offertory box and put her purse back in her dress pocket. Placing her hands together she closed her eyes and began to pray. (Grandma, please be resting in peace. I wish for peaceful life here in Warakuma).

RolePlayerRoxas said
Akemi faltered, surprised that somean important speech. Who wouldn't want to know how to ensure a better future?! This boy was coming across like an arrogant idiot! As if someknow anything from his lessons!With a smile of amusement, Akemi said, "" Speaking in English with an obvious accent. Considering how much she knew of the language by the time she'd entered high school, clearly everybe at least that level! Should he not know what she'd said, Akemi could take that as infallible proof that he knew nothing about anything, and thus, needed her help to succeed!It was the only logical conclusion, after all.

Shu Isamu - Warakuma Streets

"You're obviously speaking in English," said Isamu, grinning. "What else do you want to say?"

His accent was quite evident as well, although stronger than his upperclasswoman's. It was obvious he hadn't really studied the tongue for too long, but he was quite capable of understanding. Watching all those foreign cartoons wasn't exactly something that helped him learn to speak, but it did assist in a way. Still, what was with all these "tenses" and why didn't the language follow its own rules? English was so very strange.

Noboru followed what Chiaki did, and did the same. He put whatever small amount of yen he had left and deposited it into the box. Bowing is head and letting out a little prayer, he let his mind drift off to Her. Finishing up his pitiful prayer, he lifted his head up and let out a single sad sigh. It had been a while since he thought of that, and maybe he would've shed a tear or two if he wasn't in public. He sat back down on the bench, feeling a little bit relieved. Today had been quite an awakening, that was for sure. He couldn't help but think that maybe these new friends were good friends. "Hey," Noboru said, "So you said you were famous right? Why are you famous exactly? I didn't really catch why you said you were while we were eating."

Sato Hashimoto // Warakuma Park

It wasn’t long before Ryouta caught up and sat down besides him. Ryouta stared at Sato for a long moment before saying something. “Sato, she forced herself onto me. She groped my crotch, for God's sake!” He put his hands up for effect. Sato considered it for a bit.

“Why did you just go with it then?” He finally made eye-contact with Ryouta. The face of guilt he had was convincing that he was telling the truth about what happened. Sato shook his head. “What were you doing with her?” Ryouta leaned against the wall and let out a long sigh before turning to face Sato again.

“I was yelling at her, if you didn’t notice. She started bitching me out after she noticed I was following her.” Ryouta stopped to further analyze what had happened. “Which, I guess would be grounds to call me out on something like that, but still. This is just a stupid guess but I think she was doing it to mess with you. We had nothing but disgust for eachother, and she didn’t even know my name, Sato.” He clenched his fists.

“That’s what happened.” Sato thought to himself. He believed it with doubt. That glance… it wasn’t his imagination. But why? Why would she do that? With a bit of hesitation, Sato stood up and faced Ryouta. “I believe you, I suppose. I would’ve done the same.” He held out a hand to help Ryouta up, and shortly after he did so, Sato left the area without another word. There was no need for a farewell in that situation.

As he walked away from the park, Sato mulled over the whole day. Now that he had his pseudo-crush ruined, his thoughts were more clarified than before and he could think more rationally about it. Every single time he had met with Akiko, he always got the thought that maybe she wasn’t herself. It was a consistent feeling he got from her. Such a girl that acted so delicately in school could never act so aggressive and assertive outside of classes, could she? It was thoughts like those that swarmed Sato’s mind as he made his way over to his home.

Warakuma Shrine

It seems Noboru was interested in what Chiaki did, prior to coming to Warakuma. Or perhaps he simply didn't understand her whilst she was talking. Though, she didn't mind.
"I worked as a pop model, I've done alot of photoshoots for many magazines. They're normally dorected towards a female audience, so its normal you don't know of me..." Chiaki placed her finger upon her left cheek. "Actually, I once participated in an advertisement with a girl namer... Oh what was it... Something Kujikawa... Anyway the ad went something along the lines of..."

Chiaki sprung of the bench pretending to be an upbeat girl at the beach.
"Ahehe! Enough with diets right Kujikawa-san!?" Chiaki pointed towards her right, paused for a moment and then continued after skipping a little towards Noboru.
"I agree! Enough with going to the gym! Thankfully there's something I know we can both handel!"
Chiaki then felt her sides slowly as she talked.
"Finally... I can get the beach body of a life time...!" She then pilled put a can of drink from behind her back like magic. "Qualorie Magica!"

She then returned to her usual demeanour. She bowed in embarrassment. "Ahaha... I promise I'll never do that again." Handing over the can she pulled out, she revealed a second can of drink.
"Here, I bought them earlier, they're actually pretty nice." She dat back down and had a sip of the drink.

Noboru watched Chiaki's act and gave a small encouraging laugh. "Haha. That's pretty cool. It's not often you get to meet a celebrity, much less hang out with one. But what is the use of drinks like that? I didn't build muscle like this," Noboru said, pointing to his arms and chest, "By drinking soft drinks. Hey, maybe one day I can take you for a fun little exercise. 'Course the exercise will have to be really light, considering the fact that my normal exercise consisted of running at least 5 or 6 miles. Hey, maybe we can go shopping for you to get some exercise clothes eh?" Noboru said. Of course she probably would deny his offer. She didn't seem like someone who would want to build muscle. After his long speech, Noboru opened the drink and took a sip.

Warakuma Shrine

"Me? Exercise ahaha!" Chiaki began to laugh. Placing her can of drink in the nearby garbage bin. She twirled around and decided to bargain with Noboru.
"I'll do it on two conditions Noboru-kun." She said with a serious face. Claping her hands together she gleefully said: "One. The clothes have to be cute a hip!" She smiled and said her second condition.
"Two. Promise me you'll be my friend for he remainder of time I am here in Warakuma"... I can assure you, I won't be taking no for an answer! Ahaha!" She began to giggle truthfully and happily for the first time in ages.

-Kaminari : Mirror World-

Kami could only stand and watch the scene unfolding, dumbfounded by what had just taken place. These "people" were shadows of their true selves? That was something unbelievable, something that not even Kami could believe... But then again, they were trapped in a strange world, and he did confirm that he wasn't dreaming in one of the most cliche ways a possible. As the scene transpired before him, his friend and the new kid suddenly... Accepted what they had to say. What happened after was something you would see after a movie, but he watched as they accepted "themselves," they were enveloped in a strange blue energy. As Kami watched, each of them heralded something - a change within themselves... To accept who they were, and their heart's suppressed emotions. Kami turned toward Rui, speaking his mind about what he just heard.

"So I guess you accepted what that thing had to say... You want to make friends, and not be alone any more, huh? I may have friends, but I believe I might understand how you feel..." Kamis eyes drifted somewhere else for a bit, temporary fixating on that specific object before snapping his head back to Rui. "I believe that no one will ever be alone, because living in a world without connections... It isn't the way someone can live I believe." As he finished stating what was on his mind, he turned to face Sachiko.

"As for you... I'm sorry I didn't notice sooner... You seemed happy almost all the time, and I truly didn't realise that you were troubled... I should of known better, but it was probably because of the bullying right?" Kami sighed as he stared downward, his face was mixed with contempt as he muttered something, obviously disgruntled with himself. He then turned his face upward, staring at Sachiko with a serious and solemn face. "... It still matters now I guess, but Sachiko... It doesn't matter how happy or sad, if there's something you feel that troubles you, come talk to me... I'll always listen to your troubles no matter what, because I like you for you." He gives her a quick little grin, before remembering the lingering thoughts were hanging over their heads. He quickly pivoted around, facing the three remaining mirror selves.

Kami could only wonder what his disinterested looking shadow would say as he nervously eyed the scars on the conscious thought. Would he be able to accept what he would have to say? He wanted to walk up to it and ask him, to see if he would say anything, but he was held back... There was a seemingly strange force that kepthim from going forward, much like those strange hands holding him and the others back from escaping the mirror house.

"(Can I really.... Face myself?)"

---

-Yakudatsu : Warakuma Mall-

So many guys piled up around the trio that it wasn't funny... Then again, maybe it was the duo, and he was one of the few males infringing on their privacy... Then again, he did feel he had a sort of obligation to help her out with her shopping... Did she really need all this? Yaku just watched the events roll on by, watching as Chiaki threw a magazine at the guys, and how they were making such unthoughtful and seemingly rude jokes. At this point, he didn't know how much longer he could tolerate it.

He put his hat back on, and began to partially doze off for a bit before coming back to his senses. He looked around, and realise that Chiaki had sort of "ditched" him again, although he really wasn't contributing anything, and found it a bit understandable.... Sort of. Yaku sighed as he lifted himself up from the table, and checked hiscellphone to see if Ayano had texted him back. It seems she was heading towards his location, however Chiaki had already disappeared with another guy, and he was about ready to head home.

He punched in a text to Ayano before picking up most of the bags and heading home. Text:"Ok, so its best not to head to the Shopping Complex, Chiaki went off with one of her friends, and I'm already heading home with... A lot of the stuff she bought... Sorry." He trudged out of the mall with most of the bags in hand, and began the short journey home.

"...Fair enough," Akemi sighed, satisfied that he at least had a rudimentary grasp on English. Still, that was only one subject out of many, she had to test him for every single class! If this guy failed, it would surely be her own fault for not thoroughly examining the depth of his knowledge!
Just as she was about to through random equations at him, however, something clicked in her mind. Reaching into her pocket, the president looked at the time displayed on her mobile phone, eyes widening in horror.
"I've wasted this much time?!" she gasped with all the emotional intensity of someone learning their beloved pet had died, "I-I could have studied! Gah, this is bad, my schedule's ruined..."

Noboru thought about her offer. He could've decided to just take it and they could exercise during the year. He wanted to take it one step further. "I have an idea. How about a friendly little bet? We'll exercise during the year, but on the last day of school we'll have a friendly little mile race. If you win, i'll take you on a little shopping spree, and you can decide what to make me wear. But, if I win, you have to exercise until we meet again and you can see if you beat me then. How about it? Just a friendly little bet, that's all." Noboru stuck out his hand, hoping she would return the offer and seal the bet.