@GM@

((I'm going to time skip to tomorrow, if you guys have any qualms, just tell me.))

The different students spent time with each other, joining clubs, making new friends and enemies, or just Han out in general. As the day ticks on by, it the hours began quickly waning, making it night time. Most of the students head home by now. Another new fresh day would eventually rise from the depths of the galaxy for the students, and persona users as the hours began ticking on by as they rested.

((New day, unless you guys have any qualms. Sorry for being a bit inactive lately, but I will update this post so it has more detail later on. After the next day begins, i'll do a time skip to friday.))

@GM@

((I'm going to time skip to tomorrow, if you guys have any qualms, just tell me.))

The different students spent time with each other, joining clubs, making new friends and enemies, or just Han out in general. As the day ticks on by, it the hours began quickly waning, making it night time. Most of the students head home by now. Another new fresh day would eventually rise from the depths of the galaxy for the students, and persona users as the hours began ticking on by as they rested.

((New day, unless you guys have any qualms. Sorry for being a bit inactive lately, but I will update this post so it has more detail later on. After the next day begins, i'll do a time skip to friday.))

Rui Shinichi | Warakuma Town - Evening

After the archery club had cleaned up, Rui left for home just like the other members. It was roughly sun down right now, so it was kind of quiet out. The town was blanketed under the vermillion light of the setting sun, it was a somber view, especially with so few people out. Lights were beginning to light up throughout the town's streets. As he walked down the streets, he looked into the glass windows of some of the stores, always interesting to see their stuff, at least more interesting than every bit of pavement he stepped on. As his headphones filled his ears with music, he looked onward, just walking forward silently with the occasional glance. Each time he did look at the glass, he also saw the somewhat darkened reflection of all behind him, and for a moment he thought he saw someone, but he would look behind him and there was no one there. At least, no one matching the position of what he saw... He stood still for a moment, looking around…

He was suddenly startled by a quick and brief ringtone. He sighed with relief as it was just his phone... It was a message from Kazuki, based on addresses, it seemed to be sent to Kami, Midori, Kato and Sachiko too…

You guys need to get familiar with the mirror world. Meet up after school on Wednesday though, I'd like you all to meet one of my friends too. See you all then.

Huh... Yeah that's right... The mirror world is a mysterious place, I guess it would help to be more familiar with it's conditions? Well regardless, he headed on the rest of the way home.

|| Warakuma High School ||
Apr.7 2015. Tues
After School

Rui Shinichi | Class 2-1

The bell had rung for the end of classes again. It was the second day so class material had begun to be taught in the way of a normal class. Everyone had already gotten going to their clubs and to home as well if they had no club activities today. There were still a wealth of clubs that were not active yesterday though, and Rui planned on checking those out. Now which ones... Kendo, or anime/manga club... Oh wait, there was also the drama club. Hmmmm... He wasn't sure what days the drama club practiced, so he might check that out first. Tomorrow was Wednesday, which was an early day for more sport activities, so kendo should definitely be active tomorrow. Hm, but they were meeting Kazuki that day... Hmmmm.

"Now, let's see, where was the drama club again...? I believe I passed by it on the first day...", he said to himself.

|| Warakuma High School ||
Apr.7 2015. Tues
After School

Leiko Hamada: Class 2-1

Leiko's eyes flickered back and forth from the teacher back to the clock impatiently, her stomach tightening into knots as the lesson drew closer to its end. From the moment she woke up, she was filled with nervous tension and anticipation for her first day in the role of Drama Club President. It seemed fairly ridiculous for someone so prideful and exuding with confidence to be nervous about taking charge, but it was still a concept that she was getting accustomed to. Up until a couple of years ago, Leiko was nothing short of a loner, so her popularity and growing circle of friends was unsettling to her at the best of times.

Even so, she reminded herself that she was leading a club that represented one of her greatest passions. Yesterday was about publicizing and reaching out to the student body, so that she could acquire new members. Today was about proving to them why it was worth joining. And she would endeavour to do exactly that.

Through the thrilling method of selection that was auditioning, of course.

As soon as the shrill sound of the bell signalled the end of lessons, Leiko's chair pushed back with a screech, hurriedly packing her stencils and textbooks away before making a swift exit for the door.

Leiko Hamada: Auditorium

Drama Club meetings were usually held in a cramped room full of props and moth-eaten costumes on the first floor of the school. Leiko wasn't keen on the space offered to them, and she had tried to dispute this with the Student Council in the past, but she had garnered little success; the bottom line was that Warakuma was hardly a town that prized itself on its cultural influence, and she was lucky that a Drama Club existed in the first place. However, she had managed to bend some arms, and in doing so she was able to secure the auditorium for holding auditions for the new members. She wanted them to feel the presence of a real stage when they recited their lines, so she could judge how they would be able to handle being under pressure.

Before making her way over there, however, she ensured to emblazon a clear sign on the Drama room door telling students where to go for auditions. It was likely that some of the regular members would have missed her flyer advertisements from the previous day and assumed that the first meeting would be held at the usual place, after all.

On entering the auditorium, Leiko was relieved to recognise a few familiar faces from last year, already speaking to each other in their pre-defined cliques in a small cluster by the stage. Leiko raised her hand in greeting, and a couple of them returned the gesture before returning to their conversations. In truth, Leiko wasn't all that close to her clubmates; some of them found her personality overbearing, and her enthusiasm for drama a little jarring as not everyone took it as seriously as her. Still, she had been nominated unanimously for President, so that had to mean something.

"Good afternoon." Leiko cleared her throat politely as a way of drawing the attention of the people around her before continuing. "As most of you already know, I am Hamada Leiko, and I will be assuming the role of Club President this year. We suffered quite a few dropouts at the end of last year, so this meeting will be spent auditioning new members and profiling their abilities within the club. I will be constructing a judging panel that will consist of myself and two other experienced members, and our focus will be on positive and constructive feedback." She rested her hand on her hip as she spoke, her expression calm and slightly stern. "Please make the new members feel welcome when they arrive, and do your best for the coming year."

"Sure thing, President-dono!" One of the second year males gave a cocky thumbs up in response, causing a prickle of annoyance to run through her as a couple of other people chuckled slightly at the honorific. Masatomo was in the drama club last year too, and whilst he was a decent actor, his attitude was insufferable. And, considering how assertive and controlling Leiko could be at times, it wasn't a rare occurence for the two to butt heads over things. She also suspected that Masatomo was slightly embittered about losing the President role to her, but it hadn't been enough to steer him away, it seemed. Unfortunately.

"Anyway, let's make a start." Leiko clapped her hands, a signal that Drama Club had officially begun. "Whilst we're waiting for the new members, we need to get this place into shape. You, find and prepare a table for the judges." She thrusted an authoritative finger at one of the girls playing on her mobile phone, provoking a startled 'eep' sound from the student before she darted off to hunt for a table. "And you! I want you to adjust the stage lighting. A white filtered spotlight aimed at centre stage will do." Another student was targeted by Leiko's condemning index finger, which prompted him to quickly head for the control panel. "Come on, everyone, time to concentrate!"

---

Saya Ueno: Class 2-1

"Oww...my head hurts..." Saya whined as the lessons finally stretched to their conclusion, her head hitting softly against the polished wooden surface of her desk as she bemoaned her misfortune. "Second year lessons are already so much harder than the first. I thought high school was supposed to get easier..."

"Yeah...only if you study, Saya-chan," one of her classmates nearby rolled her eyes with a slightly condescending smile. "And we all know that head of yours is only filled with air anyway."

"H-Hey! That's mean!" Saya pouted, drawing out a hearty laugh from the girl next to her. It wasn't long before Saya's pout was broken into raucous girlish laughter as well, until a tear or two fell from the corner of her eyes. It had taken a long time for Saya to be at the place she was at now; had this been middle school, a remark like that would have broken her. But thanks to her friend Hama-chan, and the people she had befriended since, Saya was able to look at most of her flaws and accept them as they were.

Once the giggling died down, Saya wiped her eyes and glanced around the classroom. Speaking of, where was Hama-chan anyway? She had been unnaturally quiet all day, and bolted for the door as soon as the bell had rung without a single word. The action caused Saya to frown slightly as she wracked her brain for an answer. Was she forgetting something?

Deciding to cast the thought aside for now, Saya decided to just head home. Hama-chan was the secretive sort anyway, and Saya knew better than to intrude on the girl's privacy.

Before she approached the lockers, Saya felt herself stiffen, her eyes gauging her surroundings cautiously before making any sudden movements. She had made it her mission to stay well out of Rokoru-senpai's way today after yesterday's debacle. Saya could almost feel physical pain as she recalled the mortifying events over and over in her mind like a broken record. It was her first time meeting him officially and she had royally screwed it up.

Still, she needed to hand in her registration forms, so rather than confront the Archery Club President like Hama-chan suggested, Saya had chosen the coward's way out.

She had stuffed them through the gap of his shoe locker.

It appeared however that Rokoru-senpai was nowhere to be found. Deciding that the lockers were safe territory for now, Saya headed for her own shoe locker, slipping off her indoor shoes before retrieving a pair of stylish black knee-length boots. She zipped them into place before bouncing experimentally on her heel, an ecstatic smile lighting up her face. They were gorgeous and they were comfortable. Totally worth that 13000 yen I spent!

Except...now she had to pay her parents back. Saya groaned, the temporary distraction of her shoes subsiding as reality took hold. In return for buying the boots, Saya had to pay off her loan through shifts as the restaurant where her family worked. It was such a drag. It was bad enough that they harassed her into changing her views regarding her future on a regular basis, but when she had to work there alongside them, it only made it worse.

It was all for the boots. Saya reminded herself grittingly, bracing herself for the nightmare shift ahead as she left for the school grounds.

Noboru-Yamamoto Household
Noboru got up like he did every other morning. A cold shower and some warm food. He got his clothes all ready, and wrapped the sports tape up to his forearms. He stepped downstairs to discover his family was already all awake. They were talking about something, and despite his father's honeyed words, he decided to skip the family discussion and head on to school, walking alone.

Noboru-After School Drama Club
Noboru stretched himself out, trying to get himself moving to go to the drama club. Despite all the muscles in his body urging him not to go, and trying to drag him the other way, Noboru walked to the drama club. On the way, he pulled the little flier that Leiko had handed him yesterday and unfolded it to practice the lines one last time. He wasn't ready for this, but there wasn't anything else he could do now, so he walked forwards into the club room, ready to not impress.

Jace Caedus - Outside of School

Jace had gotten along fairly well with the kids in the baseball club so far and the group had ironically picked the day after he arrived to practice the swings and the catching. It was a bit difficult doing it in his normal clothes but he dealt with it. He hadn't brought along with him any workout clothes to school as they usually did the school day in uniform and it would be a pair to drag a bundle of clothes to school with his books and other stuff as well. Regardless of his personal qualms Jace caught and threw the balls back and forth in a rhymatic and careful manner. The guys were a bit too fast on the pitch for him but he managed to throw some fast balls himself. He wanted to get a chance to swing and hit the ball but that would come later unfortunately for him. "Hey man heads up!" called one of the other players as Jace barely caught a curve ball before it smacked him in the cheek, "Yo dude think you can throw it a little slower?" Jace questioned as the kid laughed, "Go hard or go home man!"

Katsuro Sakuma | Auditioning for Drama

Although his meeting with Sachiko the other day had ended on a strange note, Katsuro wasn't too bothered. He was concerned, but he wasn't the type to sit around pondering it for too long. Today was the day to start considering which clubs he really wanted to join. He had to pick carefully, or his folks would scream his ears off when they found out. But sometimes Katsuro wondered if he wouldn't mind losing his ears if he could just carry on acting the way he wanted to.

After class had finished, Katsuro made up his mind to go visit the Drama Club. He was obviously interested, and if he didn't make the cut, his parents would probably be pleased, so it was win-win to at least have a go at it. He didn't mind if his acting sucked, he just wanted to have a go and see if anything would come of it. He went over to the auditorium and had a peek inside. The people that were already there were busy as bees, going to and fro preparing for the auditions. Assuming that they weren't ready yet, Katsuro stepped back and relaxed against the wall nearby. If anyone else went into the auditorium and didn't get thrown out, or if they announced they were ready, Katsuro would be going in there himself.

Kotori Shirohane - Warakuma Shopping Complex | Monday, April 6 2015

Soon after, Toma too was done with his shopping - though, judging by the first thing he mentioned thereafter being part-time jobs, it seemed to have been quite the burden on his finances. Unfortunately, however, there was little that Kotori could say to help in that regard - given that the only work she did was helping in the family store; therefore never having actually looked out for part-time job offers - or even knowing where one would begin to look.

However, it didn't seem that the Third Year was expecting such a thing from her - rather, he noticed, much like Kotori had before, that with the shopping done, their respective tasks for today were done. Nodding in agreement, she quickly shook her head as her senpai thanked her again. "It really wasn't any trouble," she protested quietly - only to nod once more following his further words. "Of course, Tanaka-senpai," Kotori said, bowing in farewell as she did before turning to head home - luckily for her, it wasn't a long way to go with both her hands full with the shopping bags.

'I hope I'm not too late... and that he finds his way back, too,' Kotori thought as she walked on home.

Kotori Shirohane - Warakuma Shopping District: Shirohane Residence | Tuesday Morning, April 7 2015

"Do you have everything, Kotori?" "Yes, mum." "All your books?" "Yes." "Your lunch?" "Yes." "Your smile?" "Mum!"
As usual, the exchange between daughter and mother as the former left for school ended in annoyed whine that only a teenager was capable of producing. "I'm off," Kotori said, her pretense of annoyance dissipating after just a moment as her mother held an amused smile that, similarly, only the parents of teenagers were capable of producing. "Take care," she said as she waved her daughter off; waiting for her to pass around the next corner and out of view before stepping back inside to tend to the shop.

Kotori Shirohane - Warakuma High School: Classroom 2-2 | After School

"...and with that, class is dismissed," the teacher of class 2-2 concluded, his word immediately followed by the loud clatter of numerous chairs being pushed back; their respective owners only too eager to get to their club activities, meet their new and old friends or simply head home - the same sight that no doubt every classroom saw at the end of every school day. Kotori meanwhile remained at her seat for the time being - not only was the initial rush for the exit a futile exercise for her to endeavour in, she also was not quite finished with taking notes.

Sitting quietly and writing away for another few minutes, she finally finished her extensive notes with a barely audible sigh before stretching her hands out in front of herself; closing her eyes for a brief moment - only to notice that her glasses had slowly slipped down throughout the day, prompting her to push them back up again before proceeding to pack her books from the final lesson of the day into her school bag; getting ready to head home afterward seeing as she had neither found any club to pique her interest or someone to wait for.

|| Warakuma High School ||
Apr.7 2015. Tues
After School

Akane Hanazawa // Class 2-2

Hearing the bell, she slowly lifted her head off the desk and began rubbing her eyes. Given the fact that there was no glaring or reaction from the teacher, it seems Akane can safely assume that she wasn't caught sleeping. Which was quite odd, even for her. Having had a strange dream that she couldn't place nor hardly recall except for some strange images, she been in a daze all day, quietly staring out the window trying to remember what exactly the dream was about. It was enough that it caused her a lack of sleep last night but to think she'd end up sleeping in class.

Given all the rushes to meet deadlines, a simple case of not being able to sleep shouldn't have caused her to give into the temptation and sleep in school. Well, she usually manages to fight it off long enough to escape to the club room before turning off the light. It was one of the reasons she was thankful for the club, since she and her sempais were all quite the same. Thanks to how loud things were usually were in the club, especially while rushing to meet deadlines, things got really crazy, Akane managed to develop a skill of being able to sleep through anything. But....somehow that old school bell as always been an exception to that. Strange... she smiled before finally realizing something going down her chin... Ahh, not again!! Quickly wiping away the drool that managed to surface, she got up and stretched.

"I guess I'll try and check out the Kendo club again today, hopefully someone will be there today. But first, I think I'll draw a little and make up for the time lost last night." Picking up her bag, she made her way to the Anime/Manga club room.

Sato Hashimoto // Warakuma High, Class 3-3
APRIL 7 2015, TUESDAY
After School

The clock on the wall’s hands moved even slower as the final class of the day got close to ending. Sato cursed time itself when the teacher shot him a dirty look for the awkward half-standing thing he was doing in attempt to get out of the room first. He slumped down into his chair, still jotting down the last bits of notes on the board. The subject didn’t interest him at all, but if the rest of his life depended on him knowing it and passing a few tests, so be it!

As always, the bell tolled as soon as Sato finished writing. His classmates seemed to have the same idea as him and there was already a traffic jam at the door by the time he got there. Students rushed past him while some chose to just push him out of their way, but regardless of the MO, everyone had managed to flood out into the halls, eager to get to their choice cliques. Seeing the clusters of students forming almost instantly reminded him of the reason why he was so eager to get out ASAP; first of all, more of the clubs had started recruiting. All the professional-looking posters plastered around campus advertised the requirements and details of joining the Drama club and it was pretty much impossible to go somewhere without noticing them. Archery only met half the week, meaning there was pretty much nothing to do for the other three days. One of the few other clubs Sato was interested was Drama, as he had done it before in middle school several years back. If that didn’t work out there were a few alternatives yet none of them really felt right.

The other important thing happening was that Mika, Yuki, Rokoru, and himself had decided to hang out later in the day after everyone was done their things, so hopefully checking out Drama wouldn’t take too long. He had memorized the lines, and even practiced them a few times just in case, so hopefully the audition would go swimmingly. The last thing he wanted was both for it to end horribly and to be late for their meet-up. Yet, that feeling of pressure he felt to get everything he wanted to do done in a timely matter was validating to him. Like he was actually doing something with his life. It was an incredibly familiar feeling to him.

A student bumping into him by accident brought Sato’s attention back to the real world. He then realized he had been staring at one of the posters on the wall for the past few minutes. Drama was certainly something he had done before (and was also one of those things he could do rather well) yet he couldn’t remember if he actually liked it much. There were a lot of things he was (relatively) good at that he hated, and hopefully Drama wouldn’t end up being one of those thing, and with that thought in mind, Sato hurried down the halls and stairs over to the designated room for the auditions.

---

Sato Hashimoto // Warakuma High, Auditorium

As he approached the room, he could hear the commotion of people moving things, discussing what to they’re doing, and people tinkering with machines. A tall student was lingering around the entrance for whatever reason, causing Sato to stop just before entering the room. He looked in at what everyone was doing; it seemed like they were a while away from being ready for auditions… but why were they preparing so much stuff just for the entry auditions? It seemed a bit strange to go through so much effort for something like recruitment. Anyone who’s been in Warakuma for a year would already know about what kind of stuff the school allocates to the Fine Arts, so that probably wasn’t the reason. The person operating the spotlight, attempting to focus it on the center of the stage, then made Sato consider that perhaps they were trying to make sure they could handle being up on the stage. Wouldn’t a big crowd be more intimidating though?

Disregarding his own thoughts, Sato pivoted on his heel to face the guy leaning against the wall and pointed his thumb at the room with a puzzled expression. “Are we not allowed to go in yet?” He asked, a bit conflicted on what he expected the answer to be. There might be a good reason for not being allowed in yet there was more than enough space to chill out in and not get in the way. What did this guy think? Maybe he was just nervous. He would’ve been to if he cared more about joining. Maybe the dude was waiting for someone to arrive so that they can support him… Nah, Sato decided that wasn’t the case.

Katsuro Sakuma | Being interrogated

Katsuro saw someone come up to the door. He was hoping they would go in and be the first to test the waters. Unfortunately, they took his sitting outside to suggest they might not be able to go in and decided to ask first. "Oh we can go in. I just like to stare at doors. This one's got a great varnish." He was grinning the whole time he spoke, indicating he wasn't being serious. "I don't actually know, man. We could be allowed in, but I've intruded on enough works in progress to know they can sometimes be a little unreasonable about people hanging around. So I thought I would sit here and wait for someone else to take point.....and take a verbal beating if one was waiting for them." Katsuro was speaking from experience, obviously. Maybe these drama folks were more reasonable, but he wasn't big on gambling. "Tell you what; you can waltz right in there and see if they don't mind your presence. Don't worry; I'll be sure to recover your body if they bite your head off."

Leiko Hamada-Auditorium

Leiko folded her arms as she observed her fellow clubmates setting up the stage for the auditioning that was about to take place. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a steady stream of people crowding behind the doors, a myriad of different expressions on their faces as they took in the sight of the darkened auditorium, illuminated only by the spotlight beaming harshly onto the centre of the stage.

"No, no. That lighting's too harsh. Tone it down a little." She barked over to the boy fussing with the spotlight, her teeth biting into the inside of her cheek with a sense of anxiety. She wanted to simulate the atmosphere of performing for an audience, but she didn't want to scare potential club members away either. Ambience was everything, after all. "Okay, that's perfect. Bring up the main lights for now so I can give our new members a proper introduction."

With a flicker, the lights switched back on, dazing Leiko only for a moment as she blinked rapidly around the room. At this point a few people had already started to enter, taking the sudden light as a signal of entry. She could definitely spot new faces that she hadn't seen before; some she noted were around during her performance with Noboru, whilst others she had never laid her eyes on until now. So my campaign yesterday really was successful? It was difficult to suppress the delight that threatened to bubble to the surface, but even so Leiko managed to keep a straight face as her eyes scanned the room for more familiar faces. Kami and Rui didn't appear to be here yet but-

Wait. She squinted slightly at one of the males that entered the room, a folded, shabby looking flyer in his hands as he looked around the room with a note of unease. Isn't that Noboru? Honestly, Leiko was more than a little surprised that he kept his word. The boy had been acting strangely yesterday, and she was given the distinct impression that joining the club was like some kind of death sentence, but yet here he was.

Leiko reserved the faintest of smiles for him as she managed to catch his eye, giving a brief wave in his direction before focusing on meeting and greeting a few other not-so-familiar faces. Out of the student demographic, it seemed a majority of the fresh recruits were second years like herself, with some nervous first years scattered in between, and a handful of curious third years. Overall, not a bad setup. Except...

Leiko did a double take as she studied the newcomers again carefully. Surprisingly, it seemed the greater majority of auditionees were male this year. It wouldn't be so strange, if not for the fact that Drama Club was known for its influx of females in the past years. So the sudden surge in male interest was unprecedented, or at least it was to Leiko.

Deciding not to dwell on the strange factor any longer, she flipped her hair our of her eyes before approaching the girl who had just finished setting up the judging panel, handing her a clipboard with some white paper attached. "Can you take down the names of the auditionees? And please inform them that we'll be starting in ten minutes."

"Y-Yes, President!" The girl gasped, taking the clipboard promptly before rushing back into the fold. In the meantime Leiko had a quick speech to prepare for the newcomers...

---

"Sign here please! Everyone auditioning, please write your names down!" The girl yelled into the chattering clusters of people, waving her clipboard with purpose as she acquired the names of the people that were interested in the club. "Hey! You two!" She called over to the people loitering by the main doors. "Auditions start in ten minutes! Please come in and sign if you're interested!" Letting out a loud gust of air, she quickly sailed through the crowds, jotting down names as she went. "Hey, Noboru-kun! Are you auditioning today?" She chirped, recognising the burly student despite being in different classes. She handed him the clipboard promptly before waiting for his response. "Aww, hey, no need to look so pale! Stage fright is totally natural!"

Toma Tanaka - Tanaka Residence | April 7th, Early Morning

Toma sat cross-legged on his chair, eyes dully focused on the screen in front of him. The monitor was the only source of light in the room, an inconsistent harsh flicker that was starting to hurt the boy's eyes. Which only made sense, considering he had been playing for hours.

He didn't particularly care if he was doing well or not - he was too tired for that. He simply played to keep his mind and fingers busy, though at this point he could barely register what was happening in-game; he was going off of muscle memory.

The teen paused for a moment, realizing that the round was over. He reached for a few chips, but came up with a handful of crumbs. If he had had any energy, he would have gotten annoyed. Instead, he tossed the bag into the waste bin underneath his desk, pushing it and another empty bag beneath it down with his foot, to keep the garbage from overflowing.

He cracked open another can of soda, taking a swig as he slowly turned his head towards his window. He stared with lifeless eyes, seeing that the sun was just beginning to come up. He'd have to get ready for school in a couple of hours.

Setting his drink down, he turned back towards his game.

---

Toma Tanaka - Tanaka Residence | April 7th, Morning

The obnoxiously loud alarm rang throughout Toma's room, causing his eyes to blink open.

He found himself hunched over his keyboard, face against the desk. His head was turned such that he faced the window, so he spent a minute longer in that position, staring out at his new, quiet neighborhood.

He rubbed his face and groaned as he pushed himself up, and, as always, regretted the fact that he had stayed up so late.

A half hour later, he was finishing off a cup of coffee that contained a ridiculous amount of sugar, and poured extra that he had made into a container, so he could drink it while walking to school. He then put on his tie, and threw on the school's vest over his untucked dress shirt.

After taking a sip of coffee, he stepped outside, already feeling much better and awake than he should have been.

Warakuma High School | Morning

Having to ask around to find out which class he was in, Toma got to class 3 - 1 just moments before it was to start. Stepping inside for the first time, he saw that he had very little choice in the way of seats - there'd be no window spot for him this year.

With an inaudible sigh, he took a seat beside a male student; next to this boy was a female student who looked strangely similar. Toma guessed they were related, but wasn't planning on asking - if they were, he'd find out soon enough anyways.

He opened his mouth to introduce himself, but was immediately cut off by the teacher starting the lesson.

Warakuma High School, Class 3 -1 | After School

After tossing his things into his bag, Toma turned to the boy sitting next to him.

"Yo," he said with a small wave and easygoing smile. "My name's Tanaka Toma. I'm new in town." The guy seemed nice enough, and considering that they'd be sitting next to each other for the year, Toma figured he was the best place to start getting to know the kids of the class.

Rui Shinichi | Warakuma High Auditorium

Upon arrival, things were rather busy. He put his name down like everyone else and... That was kind of it for now. It looked like this was going to be a kind of judging panel thing, like an audition. So there was going to be some demonstrations involved...? Some familiar faces here too. Was drama popular here? He had no idea... The drama clubs back in Tokyo were pretty high in number though, so maybe it was popular. As he walked up to Hamada, he overheard her mentioning auditions to Noboru...

"Huh. So is this a mock audition for newcomers to try then...?", he inquired. It's certainly an interesting way to introduce newcomers, no... Rather, it feels really well thought-out. That is of course unless the judging is supposed to be incredibly harsh, it'd have the opposite effect.

"Kind of like an introduction I suppose", he continued. Everyone else seemed frazzled, but Rui himself was... Well he didn't look any different. He seemed to have his own nerves together.

Sato Hashimoto // Warakuma High, Auditorium

The broad-shouldered student answered that he was uncomfortable with going in lest that they get angry at him for intruding when they were still preparing, which struck Sato as a bit silly. Then again, he thought the same as he was about to go in. They were both being Stupid, Sato decided. Right before Sato responded, though, the lights behind the door suddenly turned on, likely indicating that they were done setting up. Several people went over to the door and entered, which was a little comforting since it meant that either weren’t allowed to enter after all or that the others thought the same.

Sato looked at and nodded at the impish-seeming boy before he followed the other students. “I’ll see you around, I suppose.” He left without waiting for an answer from him, walking into the spacious auditorium. Rows and rows of seats facing the stage filled the room, with people scattered around in places with no reason, likely with friends that were auditioning with them or there to support them. Sato didn’t really recognize anyone from a quick scan of the room, but they were all wearing practically identical uniforms, which didn’t really help much in that manner. Hopefully there’d be someone he knew somewhere in that crowd of people.

The third-year took an awkward seat on the arm of a chair and purposelessly looked around at the students chattering about drama this and acting that. He went over the lines written on the fliers one more time:

Swift as a shadow, short as any dream,
Brief as the lightning in the collied night,
That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth;
So quick bright things come to confusion.
The lines sounded vaguely familiar; likely something he read in a book before. To nail the audition, he needed to understand the tone and mood behind the words, but the strange structure and wording of the lines confused him a bit. It was obviously an incredibly old excerpt from a book. Though, it occurred to Sato that the passage was probably about the brevity of a positive thing. A lack of context made it seemingly impossible to guess what that thing was, however. Regardless of the object in question, the wording made him think that it was in a tone of desperation or desire, and after a long while of thinking over the lines, Sato ultimately decided that he’d do it in a “forlorn” way. Whether or not that was accurate was unknown to him but as he said the words in his mind, it seemed to fit. Hopefully the judges would think so too.

“Sign here please! Everyone auditioning please write your names down!” A girl’s voice echoed throughout the room. Sato looked up from the ground to see the girl whom the voice came from. She was waving a clipboard in the air, until a few guys went up to her and began to write on the papers, after which the girl made her way to all the groups of people, copying the names of everyone who was interested. When she passed by him, he stopped her by placing his hand on her shoulder. The girl turned around and looked at Sato with expectant eyes and he immediately stated his full name along with class (just for good measure), making sure to enunciate everything perfectly. There was nothing worse than people mispronouncing your name as they called on you.

The girl rushed off in search of any other possible auditionees, and when she started talking to someone again, Sato wandered over closer to the stage to go kill the remaining ten minutes of waiting. All hopes of finding someone he knew faded almost instantly; it was better to focus on the audition and lines and it would be a lot less nerve-wracking if he didn’t know any of the faces in the pseudo-audience as he recited the words. He ended up leaned against the stage, hands deep in his pockets. A few students were still going about their business, making sure the last things needed are set up, and upon noticing that he suddenly realized that the majority of the people in the room were male. It wasn’t a tragic unbalance, but it was still going to be a bit of an issue if they end up doing a play with a lot of female characters. Would someone be willing to cross-dress or would they just write around it? The teen took a deep breath before tilting his head back to the ceiling. Was he even any good at acting any more?

Aiko-After School
Aiko heard the boy speak up after school. He quickly felt annoyed, as most people who introduced themselves to him were looking for two different options. Either money, or looking to get with his sister. He turned to face the voice, when his heart skipped a beat. In front of him was a boy about his age, with luscious red hair and a fair face. Quickly regaining his composure, he decided to introduce himself. "Why hello, Tanaka, my name is Aiko. Nice to meet you." Aiko took his hand and shook it, savoring the moment of touching his hand. "What brings you to Warakuma? "

Noboru-Drama club
Noboru looked around. He still felt wrong being here, and wanted to leave.

"Aww, hey, no need to look so pale! Stage fright is totally natural!"

Before he could respond, she shoved a clipboard into his hands. He signed it hastily, scribbling his name onto it and handing it back to her. " I'm not nervous about being on stage. I've done this stuff since I was a kid. This is nothing compared to anything else i've dealt with."

Katsuro Sakuma | Performing.....ugh, Shakespeare

Katsuro wrote his name down on the auditioning paper and decided to get ready. He remembered he still had that flier stuffed in his back pocket. He took it out and read the lines over once again. Unlike some people that seemed to be extremely nervous, Katsuro had googled the lines ahead of time and already found all sorts of information on what they were doing here, and at least felt he knew what he was getting into. Katsuro wasn't sure what to make of the club launching into the super pretentious stuff right off the bat. If this was a sign of things to come, he was going to have limited opportunities to have fun with this thing. On the other hand, maybe Shakespeare was just their go-to auditioning bit and they weren't going to focus on it too much.

So Katsuro had a dilemma; he did not know whether he should try and deliver the lines seriously, or horse around with the audition for a laugh. He probably wouldn't get into the club if he just dicked around here, but any club that took itself too seriously usually wasn't worth getting involved in. Yet again was Katsuro Sakuma faced with a terrifying choice between two clearly divisive extremes.

Leiko Hamada- Auditorium

Drumming her fingers against the judging table, Leiko started to feel her patience wane as stragglers still appeared to be creeping in through the doors. The ten minute window she had given was stretching past its constraints into fifteen, and people were still showing up late. It was understandable to a degree; this was the first time in Warakuma High's history that drama auditions were held to this scale, so it was predictable that people would have headed straight for the club room instead. But Leiko was not a patient woman, and the more she waited, the more irritable she became.

I'd best make a start or we'll never get through these auditions, Leiko thought wryly, resolving to at least welcome the new members before beginning the audition process. Silently, she stepped up onto the stage, catching the eyes of some of the members scattered across the large auditorium as she reached the podium. Detaching the microphone from its perch, she walked towards the front of the stage, feeling the eyes of almost everyone in the room draw to her as she raised the microphone to her lips.

"Welcome everyone, to Warakuma High School's Drama Club Auditions." Her voice rang out in perfect clarity, reaching to the far ends of the room as she spoke in absolute confidence and self-assertion. "I am Hamada Leiko, the Drama Club's nominated President for this year. We will be beginning auditions shortly, but first, I would like to say a few words." She cleared her throat, taking the brief stall to ensure she had everyone's attention before continuing. "I am often told that Warakuma is not a town prized on its cultural values. Therefore, the arts are often left neglected and exist purely for recreational purposes. There is, of course, nothing wrong with this. But I would like to show Warakuma that we can find something more in the world of theatre. A way to express ourselves in ways we cannot show to the people around us. Skills that cultivate empathy, self-confidence, trust..." She paused again, feeling a slight prickle of annoyance as she heard someone yawn at the back. Possibly inconsequential, or perhaps not. Either way, Leiko chose to ignore it, instead focusing on the end of her speech as she spoke with the utmost conviction. "I am sure every single one of you have come here for your own reasons and whatever those reasons may be, I thank you for choosing our club today. I look forward to a year of excitement, creativity, surprises, and most of all, showing Warakuma that we are a club worth endorsing. Thank you for listening."

Polite clapping resounded in the auditorium as Leiko gracefully stepped offstage, gripping the microphone to her chest tightly as she felt the butterflies in her stomach finally start to calm. Delivering her speech had been more nerve-wracking than she anticipated. Still, she believed that she came across as a cool, level headed President on the outside, so that consoled her somewhat.

Sitting down on the judge's panel, she waited for the girl with the clipboard to return with the listings for auditionees. Once she did, she would announce the first person to perform onstage, and the auditions would begin.

((OOC: Just waiting for Kami here before continuing. In the meantime, auditionees, please come here to get started on your character's auditions.))

-Kaminari : Warakuma High-

The boy ran through the school, cursing to himself about his current predicament. Rarely at times was he ever late, but this would probably leave a bad impression on the incumbent of the Drama Club. He felt that he honestly should of been talking to Makoto about the club at lunch, and was no where to be found. Plus delaying him with a rather strange explanation of things which could be seen by anyone else as partial banter. As he rushed towards the auditorium, he grinded his teeth in anticipation. Wait he really cut out for acting and expressing himself to the world, and reveal his true colors? Only time could tell as he barely managed to catch himself as he inexplicably tripped on his shoelace. As he continued running, he finally made his way to the auditorium with a few late students entering themselves. He made a sigh of relief as he entered the solemn area, trying not to make a scene out of being late for auditions.

"(I wonder... Should today be the day?... Hmm... Maybe, just maybe I can talk to her, and tell her.)"

As the boy remained lost in thought, he entered into the auditorium, and was a bit embarrassed that he came in later than expected due to the introduction the girl was making. As he stayed behind and just listened to her announcement, he took a look around the room, noting the different people that came to try out. As he finished scanning and finding the familiar few, he turns his head back to the girl on stage as she spoke, amazed at the courage that she had to speak to the others. Was he really fit for acting if he was a bit dazzled and fearful of acting his part on the stage? As she finished her speech, he broke away from his trance, and nervously walked towards Leiko, hoping that she didn't mind his tardiness.

He walked towards her with an anxious grin on his face, clueless about what he had missed. Maybe she could light up the improbable situation casted upon him. As he was within a few feet of her, he finally spoke with nervousness clouting in his voice. He wondered how the girl would react to him like this.

"Sorry about being late Miss Hamada, but I was wondering if you could shed the limelight on what I missed. I was there for your speech, and I will admit that I was impressed by it since you had the heart to talk in front of so man people... Ah, sorry for dragging on for too long, I'm kind of delaying the reason why I'm over here... Do you know where the sign up sheet is?"

He chuckled nervously at the ongoing situation, with a few students staring daggers at Kami. He didn't mind that, but he mentally face palmed about the way he acted. Where had all his courage that he held so dearly the others night seep out to? As he thought to himself, he put a temporary cover of calmness on his face so she wouldn't see him as just another foolish onlooker with no idea where to tread lightly.

Ayano: Warakuma High School
The sound of the bell resounded throughout the whole school as another day passed...Ayano yawned and as she picked up her bag and began walking...Although. something hit the girl...What now? There was virtually nothing to do for her right now. Not that she isn't complaining, but she wished she could do something other than clicking and browsing ad nausem. That was when she recalled something about clubs, the girl hadn't really decided yet but at least she had something to do now! Namely, check the school to see which clubs are open.

Along the way she could hear an incoming commotion from a nearby room, which just so happened to be the auditorium! Thinking to herself, "I've got some time to spare, why not?. Peeking her head in, she could see that there's a whole bunch of other students too! And that girl she saw talking to Kami yesterday, talking about something having to do with drama club auditions. "So that's what this is?" the girl murmured as she sat down in a nearby seat and promptly waited for the contestants.