Noboru-High School Hall
Noboru sighed and put his phone away. Today was a rather bothersome day. So much happened in such a little time that he didn't know how to react. It was awkward to go back into the club room, where most likely most of the people were still shocked. Noboru looked around and out of the corner of his eye saw a black haired girl, trying and failing at hiding behind her bag. She looked very nervous and was inching away. He tried talking to her.

"Everyone has a bad day right? Not much you can do about it eh?"

Though she was inching away as if she had just walked in and was trying to avoid him, he realized that she had witnessed the whole ordeal.

"Woah woah woah wait hold on. It's not what you think. I mean... There was a whole classroom full of people... Dammit that came out wrong. I mean come on, it's school. I mean. Wait hold on I can explain!"

Aiko
Aiko wanted to follow Toma. He thought to himself about how he had no clubs to join, and if he did, he would get to be with Toma.

"Hey, uh Toma, is there any more room in the club? I still have yet to join one, and this one sounds fun. Is there any possible way to join it? Or is it already full?"

Aiko fiddled with his bag, putting stuff away.

"If there isn't any way I can join, I don't mind waiting. My other half is already off on her own anyhow, so it wouldn't matter."

Kotori Shirohane - Warakuma High School

'I saw nothing. I saw nothing. Yes, just a norm-' Kotori's attempt at self-conviction failed the moment the boy spoke up; causing her to practically jump at the sound. Knowing that she could hardly keep pretending now, she slowly bought her eyes from the wall to the now shirt-clad male - though still slowly shuffling on, almost unconsciously. Unsure of what to say in such a situation - in fact, she didn't even know just what the situation was supposed to be or just what he meant with a bad day - she instead gave a nervous attempt at a smile. The net result was, at best, a slight twitch of the lips; unseen due to the way she held up her school bag almost defensively and covering both the lower half of her face and her chest as she did so.

She nearly jumped a second time when the boy suddenly spoke up yet again, immediately going into an attempt at explanation. 'Not what I...? Eh?! A whole classroom?! Bu- tha- wha-?' Luckily for Kotori, she was still clutching her school bag up in front of her - lest the reddening of her cheeks become immediately obvious. Her first instinct was to just apologise for having stumbled into such a thing before hurriedly departing - but at the same time, the somewhat conflicted nature of the explanation held a hint of sincerity in it, as if he really and truly did have some reason and that it was not at all what it looked like. Though it felt a little hard to doubt that, Kotori decided to at least try.

"Uhm..." Kotori tried, her soft voice barely making it past with the way she still was holding her school bag before her - something she only realised a moment later. Lowering it just enough to reveal her face - the reddening thankfully having faded again - fully, she started anew: "Then... what exactly were you doing...?" she asked hesitantly, only now also realising that she didn't know his name - though she still held a distance from the boy as she spoke. It was only now that Kotori actually got a good look at him that she realised that he was surprisingly short - 'A first year?' - though she briefly averted her eyes as she remembered that he still had a well-trained physique nonetheless.

All told, Kotori was at a complete loss at the situation - and just leaving it at that would probably only have made it worse and there really was some innocent explanation for all this. At least, that's what she hoped to be true.

Saya Ueno- Archery Range

"You're...really not mad?" Saya's shoulders slackened, as if some huge weight was lifted from them as Rokoru folllowed his reassurance with a smile that made her heart beat just a little faster. "Wow, I'm really glad. I kept avoiding you because I didn't wanna get in your way, but this means I won't have to anymore. Phew." She brushed her fringe out of her eyes with a relieved sigh. "Well, in that case...sorry for the big misunderstanding Ishiara-senpai." She made sure to address him more respectably this time, her expression somewhat sheepish as she reflected on her initial slip-up. She only called him Rokoru-senpai in her head, so when he caught her off guard the name had slipped off her tongue without her realizing. She would really have to be more careful in future.

"Mmm? How am I doing?" Saya blinked as Rokoru queried her on her progress in Archery, only now becoming dimly aware of the yumi bow in her hands. He was reminding her of the help available to her, either by the senior staff of the Archery Club or himself. Briefly, she entertained the idea of seizing the excuse to take more of Rokoru-senpai's time, but the fact that she looked like she was struggling was bothering her. "Oh? You mean-? Ahaha, that shot just now was a total fluke!" She laughed away his concern with a careless wave of her hand. "I wasn't really giving it my all. I mean, on Wednesday I actually hit a target!" What she neglected to mention however, was that the target wasn't exactly hers, or even in her own firing line. Who knew shooting an arrow was harder than it looked? "I'm doing just fine, Senpai! No need to worry about me!" She reassured him with a confident grin, crouching down to find that arrow she had dropped earlier as a gesture that she was going to keep trying.

Toma Tanaka - Warakuma High School

Toma's eyebrows raised in surprise. Aiko hadn't initially struck him as a sporty person, what with the outgoing-ness and flair he demonstrated.

"There's definitely more room," Toma said, pulling a bag of chips out of his bag and cracking it open. "The guy who leads it, Kimura Arata, is a bit of a nut -- er, by that, I mean he's really passionate about track and field. I'm sure he'll be ecstatic to get another member."

He then tossed both his school bag and gym bag over his shoulder. "I gotta say, Aiko, I didn't think track would interest you. I would've told you about the club earlier had I known." After eating a handful of chips, he offered some to Aiko.

"Being honest though, while I do find it fun, I just kind of joined so I had something to fill my time," he added with a small smile.

The pair made their way down a flight of stairs, heading for the school's shoddy track field. Toma continued to munch away on his chips. What he saw when he reached the bottom of the stairs, however, made him pause mid-bite.

Kotori was speaking with a shorter boy, whom Toma did not recognize. After taking a moment to study the atmosphere of the situation, a knowing smile spread across his face. He finished off the half-eaten chip, the crunching noise seeming loud in comparison to the stillness of the hallway.

He turned away from the scene to continue on towards the track, assuming that Aiko had no interest in the two younger students and would follow.

Alexei Dragunov

Tuesday
The regal girl had been rather harsh, on the point of being rude but then Alexei was equally at fault. He had literally barged on their packup and thrown his way around. So he let it slide, but he made a mental note of the effeminate boy. He would not have any mercy from him should a misfortune ever befall him. He had secured a place in the club and that was that. He went to do what he had for the day. He picked up his sister after his shift and went to have dinner with their mother at the hospital.

Current day

Past few days had been dull, apart from the new floor they had put at the worksite he worked at there was nothing new. The school had been the same routine. The club still had only three members and the run down equipment room though Sagat and Alexei had pretty much refurnished the inside. It now had a big cage in the middle much like the UFC one. The floor pads were kept at the far side of the room. There were two patched up sand bags hung from the ceiling and another one for floor work.

They had got to work on preparing Inoue for pursuing her dream of entering MMA. The last two days had been Sagat's turn of training her. She was a fast learner but her basic martial art still had quiet a few disadvantages. While she was 5'8 and quite athletic, Sagat still had larger reach and much more muscle, plus Muay Thai had less complex and rigid forms thus more deadly in mid range.

He had got her working on strengthening her shins and forearms. Pro-MMA took quite the edge of Muay Thai by banning the use of elbows but it was still a very lethal martial art and Sagat was its sterling star. They trained particularly in mid-range, the one where Inoue could learn quicker due to her leg work being especially strong. The club hour usually stretched well into the other hour before she'd be on the floor, sweating profusely and out of breath.

Today, it was Alexei's shift. The floor work was on agenda today. Inoue had been better seasoned to take on another martial art now with her rapid Muay thai training. They got ready and Sagat was the referee. Immediately, she went for the blade kick, a grave miscalculation. She was used to Sagat who was 6'0 but Alexei was 6'6" and ready for the takedown. He lunged for the plant leg as she brought down the attacking leg quickly. He quickly dodged left away from the attacking leg and took her down from the midriff, snuffing the air out of her body as she got slammed on the mat. He quickly worked to take a choke on her and the bout was over within fifteen seconds.

Inoue got up shakily, still stunned from what had transpired. Her head was in a daze from the impact a while back.

"Inoue-san" came a deep voice shaking her out of her reverie.

"Hunh."

"If you wish to start with Tae Kwon Do, always got for counter rather than attack. Your stronger attacks take longer time to hit home and while your blade is nothing short of a gunshot, you need it to land to be effective. Thus, unless you know that your opponent is slower than you don't attempt it." Alexei said in a concerned voice as he came over and held her shoulder to steady her.

"H..How? How were you so fast." asked the dazed girl.

"I have to close down my opponents for me to be effective, what do you think I would work on if my reach is limited." he said calmly, bringing her to a seat. He looked at Sagat who shrugged.

When she had put forth this suggestion both were rather hesitant with it. She was adamant on them going full force on her despite the massive difference in weight and build. She had a similar state on the first day when Sagat had defended against her kick and countering with a punch in the mid-riff. Both of them were seriously reconsidering going any further with this. She may get seriously injured if they were to really unleashed themselves. Alexei didn't think that the school nurse was prepared to deal with a serious injury and sadly both of them knew nothing but stubbornness to face the pain. The same could not be said for Inoue and though they held her in high regard for her strength and ferocity, she still could be seriously injured and her dream could be finished before it even began.

"Inoue-san, I think we should stop this. No one really seems interested in this anyway and you may get up getting hurt real bad if we do this unsupervised for a long duration. I'm confident none of the teachers are competent enough to deal with it if something happened to you." Alexei said concerned. He handed her the water and sat beside her.

"You can still work the bags and learn moves if you wish but no sparring." he finished. Inoue just nodded absently, perhaps she knew she had bit more than she could chew.

-Ayano and Kami : Somewhere in Warakuma-

"You could've done worse. It wasn't neccessarily bad, but it was passable."

Ayano said, she wasn't a judge anyway and there's also the fact she can't actually differentiate what's good and bad in acting. The girl noticed that he had been acting strangely near her presence, he would fidget around, avoid eye contact with her and would stutter as if he was some shy character in a visual novel. Curious, Ayano asked Kami.

"Is there something bothering you? You're acting all, what's the word...Twitchy. Yeah."

Although the girl was reluctant to admit it, she was concerned by his erratic movements, especially because it seemed like it only happened when he was with her. For a while the girl pondered if it was something on her face that was causing all of this.

"Look, just tell me, alright? As long as it's not something stupid like a confession or anything. That's just silly."

Ayano spoke, her tone was just serious and her delivery was blunt. She stared at Kami with a frown on her mouth, waiting for answers.

Kami was thrown off guard when she inquired him on his rather peculiar attitude. He pondered on what to say to her, as he didn't want to completely lie to her, but yet he didn't want her to know the truth just yet. It was strange how the cogs within the confines spiraled about, trying to work towards a midpoint in the strange equation of being between a truth and lie. The two different aspects completely canceled each other out In such a strange and erratic way. The answer though was exceptionally easy to figure out, and yet it took him longer to deduct than usual.

"Well, it was because you were there, and well... I would be nervous to show my face to you or any other friend if I acted like a peculiar, and yet jovial fool. I mean, I wouldn't know their opinion of me, and if they rather changed their thoughts about me... That sounds rather selfish of me, doesn't it."

The boy gave out a rather nervous chuckle as they walked through the school. He was rather glad that he had managed to recover from that rather surprising question. He wondered what would of happened if she had said something other than the few words she spoke to him earlier about his acting being passable. He was glad that she didn't see that the acting on stage was a fabricated mask for his true feelings. He recalled something that Leiko said earlier, and wondered if Ayano had caught onto what she told him or not. Kami dismissed that possibility for the time being and kept on walking with Ayano.

"Say, you want to hang out at the park? I've go-"

The was a rather loud buzzing coming from the depths of his pocket. He quickly reached in and withdrew the pulsating cell phone to check to see what it was about. It was a text message from Kazuki, wondering where he was, and that he was making the people there wait. He didn't expect this, as he hadn't realized he had procured a text from earlier about the meeting on Friday. He shook his head, saddened by the fact that his little confession had to be put on hold for the time being.

"Scratch that, there's something that I have to do today... Sorry Ayano, but maybe we can meet up at the park tomorrow after school. I'll send you a text alright?"

He didn't want to completely abandon the girl, just as he did in the past, and conjured up a rather plausible idea that could keep them occupied a bit longer.

"Say, maybe I can just walk with you to your place, then head out... That should give us plenty of time to talk about different things, right?"

For a while the girl just stood there, trying to figure out what Kami had just said. While it wasn't quite the answer she wanted, it was sufficient enough for her. Besides, if she was in the same situation she would've probably done the same thing, or worse, end up running out of her fear.

"Fair enough. And don't say that. It's OK to be selfish once in a while, I mean...I tend to be selfish without really knowing it."

As they walked out of the school, Ayano had this feeling that Kami wasn't exactly telling her everything. There was a cloud of doubt that loomed around her and a part of her just wanted the truth. That time would have to wait though as it would make the boy suspect there's something wrong with HER instead. And there's also the fact that the boy's phone had started ringing. After the call ended, Kami suggested that they walk to her house before going to the aforementioned place he was going to. She had considered to agreeing but worry what would happen should her younger brother see her with him...That alone was more than enough for her decline.

"N-No, it's fine. I can go home by myself. You...just go do whatever it is you're going to do. Tomorrow, okay? "

Without another word, Ayano turned tail and began walking to the direction of her house.

Before he could say another word, the girl had declined his offer on heading to their house together, and left in a hurry towards her house. Kami just wanted to insist on her to stop, but he recalled that he had some sort of obligation to the rest of the team. He didn't want that same feeling of abandoning her like last time, however he neither wanted to abandoned his other friends which coveted so.His own selfishness extended on two spectrums, one where he could go with Ayano, but abandon his team and promise temporarily, or go to the team and meet up with the rest, while leaving Ayano. No matter which decision he felt he would make at this point, he would feel like utter crap afterwords.

"(What do I choose to do? Either insist on heading back with her, or just heading straight to the hideout... )"

As he lingered between his decision, he began jumping between his two resolves, wondering which one felt more right. As the passage of time went on, he finally decided to go with Ayano, however, the girl was already gone. She had disappeared just as the mist of a world dissapates itself from the vicinity once the rain goes away. He frowned, and solemnly left without a word. All in all, he still felt like he left someone he cared about behind, as he began walking in the opposite direction.

"(Damnit... Ugh, damnit!... I did it again. I chose to walk away, just as last time... I'm sorry Ayano.)"

As he walked the other way, he brought himself to a halt, and stared back at where the girl had just been. He briefly sighed before continuing on through the streets of Warakuma, passing by many people which looked to be students, a few cultist looking people, and just normal adults in regular attire before reaching the building. He quietly held the gift Ayano had gave him the other day in a sword bag, and squeezed it a bit before reaching his hand towards the door, and quickly opening the door up. He then disappeared into the building, with the door slowly shutting behind him.

Noboru
Noboru breathed a heavy sigh of relief. At least this girl was someone who would listen to him and at least try to believe him.

"Well... here we go. Today after school, I decided to go to the idol club over in that room."

Noboru made a motion and pointed his finger from where he just came from.

"Well, as interesting things would have, I was whisked up in a dance, hence the music, and the dance ended. I decided that the club might not be for me, and decided to leave. As luck would have it, my shirt ripped. I don't know how or who did it, but it seems as if today is not my day. Well. Believe me yet, or is that too wild of a story?"

Noboru really rather hoped that she would believe him. He would hate to ruin Chiaki's reputation, even if he didn't care about his own. He rubbed the back of his head, wondering if the club members were still shocked, or if Chiaki had received his message.

Aiko-With Toma-
As they passed his brother, Aiko started to twitch. It was so easy. He was out in the open, and it would have been extremely easy to embarrass him. He really wanted to. Every bone in his body ached, but he didn't want to look bad. He decided to pass on the opportunity, deciding to go with double the force later.

"Well I love running and all that you know. And thanks for the food."

Aiko took a chip, munching on it for a little bit before swallowing it. They quickly walked to the track, and Aiko feared what was in store for him.

Kotori Shirohane - Warakuma High School

Having decided to give the boy the benefit of the doubt, Kotori listened to his now far calmer explanation - which seemed to come as a relief to him, judging by the noticeable sigh he heaved beforehand. Following his words, she at first put her head to a side in silent question - he really didn't look like the kind of person who'd be interested in such a thing as the Idol Clu, but as it would appear, looks could be deceiving. Trying not to bring to mind the shirtless sight yet again, Kotori instead listened on as the boy explained further. The Idol Club - indeed, that would explain why such loud music had been playing and why there was a classroom full of people.

What piqued her wonder, however, was the way he phrased the following part - 'How or who did it?' That made it sound as if it wasn't the first time such a thing happened; or at least that he wasn't completely surprised at the fact that his shirt practically fell apart by itself - something that would very most definitely freak her out if it happened to herself. Either way though, the male student really did appear to be telling the truth - not that she'd really know him to be able to tell if he was lying or not - so that Kotori had little reason not to believe him, even if the story was a little... out of the ordinary. After a few seconds' pause, she finally nodded - and lowered her school bag down fully.

"I believe you," she added in her quiet voice, realising that nodding in response to his last question alone didn't really answer anything. "Does... this sort of thing happen regularly... uhm...?" Kotori asked, slightly concerned about a case of spontaneous shirt-ripping happening in Warakuma - or anything of the like, considering his choice of words previously. Ending the question, her voice trailed off as she realised that she didn't actually know the boy's name or even which year he was in. Immediately following the question with a quick bow as she realised that neither had she introduced herself before asking his name in such a manner. "I'm Kotori Shirohane from Class 2-2," she said before raising her head again - and noticing that she was just tall enough that their heads reached the same height as Kotori lowered hers in such a manner.

I-Am-X said
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. she smiled before finally realizing something going down her chin... Quickly wiping away the drool that managed to surface, she got up and stretched. Picking up her bag, she made her way to the Anime/Manga club room.

Teiji Ishihara- Anime/Manga club room
After class was over, Teiji placed his soccer ball in his bag, seeing as how there was no practice today. He wondered how he would spend his day, since he mostly just practiced Soccer, ate, slept and repeated. So today he decided to drop by the Anime/Manga club, he was a part of it and maybe Akane would be there as well. She wasn't in the room, so she probably went there or somewhere else. Picking up his bag he walked out of his classroom and enjoyed a nice little stroll to the club room. It only took him a few minutes to get to the room, and opening the door he did see Akane there. Waving at her, he walked into the room closing the door behind him. "So what exactly do you draw when you are here?"

With Inoue still feeling winded from the hit, they wrapped up the day with little chit chat and decided to head out to the restaurant where Sagat worked.

As they neared the gates, Inoue came across a familiar face, it was the guy who looked like a fighter but had turned down her offer. She saw him taking with a girl, her aura quite like the reserved Japanese women of past. She walked up to the pair with Sagat and Alexei trailing her.

"Hey! Fancy bumping into you again. Dis you get into the club you wanted?" She asked, not a bit interested in his answer. "We are still struck with no members seems like everyone can handle themselves in a fight around here. Anyways just to let you know we are still open for recruitment and we don't have any forms or trials." She said with a lot more interest.

Before turning to the girl "Oh! I'm really sorry for barging in like that. I'm Inoue Matsuhita from class 3-3" her tone one of real apology.

Meanwhile, Sagat and Alexei just stood at a safe distance. They didn't want to intimidate the duo. Since being foreigners usually put people on tge edge.

Akane Hanazawa - Warakuma High - Anime/Manga Club Room

As she sat in her chair, she was putting the finishing touches on the characters face in her 2nd-to-last panel of the page, she heard the door open. Looking to see who it was and it was her classmate, and new clubmate, Teiji Ishihara. Turning towards him, she smiled. "You came back." As he waved at her, he walked into the room and shut the door. "I was just in the midst of finishing up one of the panels for my manga." Putting the pen down, she cracked her knuckles and leaned back in the chair.

He then asked about what exactly she draws. "Well, just about anything really. It pretty much depends on my mood and whatever pops up in my head. I feel if I limit myself to drawing only a certain genre or topic, it limits my creativity and makes it harder for me to draw. So occasionally I'd end up drawing manga that's packed with an absurd amount of genres or something that's totally random and has no real plot. Things like that helps me unwind when I need a break from a real project." she concludes with a laugh. Getting up to stretch her legs, she turned back towards him. "What about you? Do you like to draw manga? Or do you prefer to read it instead? Any favorite genres you like to read?"

Akira Kirigakure - Warakuma High - Archery Range

Stopping by his 'new' club, he could see the girl from Monday there, talking to Rokoru. So the fan girl decided to join... "Talk about bad taste." He laughed to himself as he walked onto the dojo and picked up a bow and some arrows. As he approached the range, he could see a few a few of the others scurry away from the area and re-locate to another area on the range. With a grin, he looked down the range at the target, took out an arrow and loaded the bow.

Taking a breath, he released the arrow and hit the bulls-eye. Taking out another arrow, he loaded it and released and, once again, hit the bulls-eye. After hitting it for a 4th time, he grinned. Glancing towards Rokoru and the girl, Akira aimed his 5th shot to just miss the bulles-eye. Missing intentionally. "Awww, I missed. Looks like I'm still a bit rusty after being away for so long." He said, feigning disappointment as some of the clubs members looked on in astonishment as they began murmuring to themselves.

Looking down range, he got lost in thought. I'm thinking pizza is the way to go tonight.

Noboru
The girl introduced herself as Kotori. Since she was so polite to introduce herself, Noboru felt as if he should do the same, reciprocating her manners, he stated his own name and class as well.

"I'm Noboru Yamamoto. I'm from class 2-1. Little bit shorter than what you'd think would be a seond year eh? Hey, do you wanna continue outside? I kind of wanna get out of here."

As they quickly walked outside, they stopped near the gate. Noboru propped himself against the wall. Before their conversation could continue any longer, the girl from earlier in the week approached him and asked him about joining their club again. In the distance stood two guys, well muscled and staring in their direction. Noboru wondered about approaching them. They gave an aura of intimidation, but Noboru was less than scared. In fact he wanted to talk to the two, but was afraid the girl hew just met, Kotori, would have been scared.

"Miss Kotori, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go talk to those two over there. It'll only be a brief second."

Putting out an air of confidence, Noboru walked over to the two.

"Hey you two, you're not from Japan are you? What are you doing here? Some kind of exchange program or something?"

Homeroom - School Grounds - Current Day

Jace had spent most of his day studying for work while trying his damnest to get his running done before school started. Sure it left him tired but an athletes need to keep their core up otherwise things got sour when it came down to it on the field. The difference between being a lazy twit and being a successful player whom helps the team is in how they prepare for their stuff. Luckily for him his training with the guys showed he was still pretty good with the bat but his baseball throwing needed work...a lot. Lucky for him he wasn't a pitcher but since he may be in the outfield..."Gotta stop thinking about work in the field before class work!" Jace grumbled as he hurriedly started to work on studying the basic stuff his teachers had handed him. He had to study it because his Japanese to English skills and vice verse were not very good at all and the only reason he functioned he was because he roughly understood what most things meant. "Alright just calm down Jace you've got this." Jace grumbled out in English.

Alexei Dragunov

The confidence and the question both put them off-guard. The junior sounded like they were criminals on the run. Sagat was a bit flustered to mumble out a reply so Alexei tried.

"Yes, We are not from around here but we were both born in Japan. He's from Yokohama and I'm from Tokyo. We were transferred in the third year and are in the same class as Inoue-san." Alexei said looking at Inoue.

"But if I'm correct, you were there for the audition in the drama club, right? and Inoue hinted that you looked rather sporty so what's your sport? Interested in contact sports?" Alexei asked, curious about the confident junior.

"Yeah! Father is planning to take over a Thai restaurant here so I was asked to look about it while completing my school." Sagat replied as Alexei finished.

Kotori Shirohane - Warakuma High School

The shorter boy's introduction took Kotori by surprise - whilst she'd always been on the taller side, she'd thought that with such a difference, he'd be a first year for sure. It seemed that her surprise was written more clearly on her face than she'd have liked though, as Noboru immediately followed his introduction with just such a remark; leaving Kotori to merely give a wry half-smile at both being caught in thinking exactly that and not wanting to actually outright agree. Either that - or he simply was so used to people commenting about his height that he just got it out of the way right from the start. The presence of two other students went unnoticed by Kotori meanwhile - and they had left for the track club before she had a chance to catch on.

As the shorter boy then asked if they could move elsewhere, Kotori's eyes wandered to the room that he'd come from just before - an understandable reason as to why he was in a bit of a hurry, given his previous state of undress. Seeing as she had no further business at school herself, Kotori quickly nodded before following the quick pace that her fellow Second Year set.

Only slowing down once they were outside and already approaching the school gate, Kotori's breath was going quite a bit faster than before; the brisk pace only barely staying under a light jog for her. Relieved at the more normal walking speed they returned to, her respite only lasted a few seconds before getting surprised yet again this day - by a suddenly approaching female student; a Third Year judging by the insignia on her uniform. Seemingly an acquaintance of Noboru's, she immediately began chatting with him, speaking of clubs; both Noboru's and her own. His drama audition unbeknownst to herself, Kotori simply assumed that the Idol Club had been the one in question that had taken the shorter boy's fancy - and seeing as he'd already told other that he was planning on joining, he was probably a little down about today's outcome.

Having stayed silent throughout the exchange, Kotori blinked in surprise when the Third Year turned to her and apologised for showing up out of nowhere and introducing herself as Class 3-3's Inoue Matsuhita. "Ah, no, it's no bother, Inoue-senpai" Kotori said before giving a bow in return. "I'm Kotori Shirohane from Class 2-2," she introduced herself in turn - only for Noboru's attention to instead wander to the two other students not far off; standing in the direction from which Inoue had come from and, presumably, whom she'd left to get here. Excusing himself, he quickly headed over to them; leaving the two girls behind.

Staying back where she was, Kotori glanced between the three male students - all of which, on closer inspection, shared the trait of physical fitness in variable states of apparentness. A sideways glance to Inoue meanwhile revealed that she, too, looked like she was no stranger to physical training; leaving merely Kotori as the odd one out who had by now recovered from the rather fast walk just moments before. Still standing beside the older girl, Kotori wasn't quite sure what to do - Noboru had said he'd be back, yet she hardly knew what to talk about with her senpai in the meanwhile; leaving her instead to simply remain silent.

Teiji Ishihara- Anime/Manga club room
Teiji smiled an nodded his head at her. "Well I did join, i'd have to be an ass to join and then never show up again. Teiji then walked to the table and sat down himself, as he listened to her explanation on what she drew could vary, depending on her mood or what pops in her head. Thats how an artist should be like in most cases. Then came the question of her asking him if he liked to draw manga and, or read it instead. Truthfully he did have a favorite genre, but it was more of a kid reason why he liked it. "Well I like drawing, but I wouldn't say I'm great at it, although my drawing is enough to keep me passing.

Teiji then rubbed the back of his head as he was deciding if he should answer the favorite genre question. "Well..... I do, but its a childish reason why I like it. You see I like medieval genres, you know the ones with knights and kingdoms? Well I also loved the stories about knights, as a child they were my favorite little stories. I would always pretend I'm a knight and a protector of the people. Its a silly reason for liking a genre isn't it?" Teiji asked while chuckling slightly.

Sato Hashimoto // Warakuma High, Front Entrance

It didn’t take for the “conversation” to end, as Katsuro disengaged shortly after the interrupting phone call Sato had taken, and it was for the best. They were going nowhere fast and it only became increasingly more awkward as it went on. Katsuro excused himself and left with a farewell. Sato merely nodded in agreement and watched the boy walk away for a bit before returning to himself. There was still nothing to do! There was that phone call he received from Mika though, and it seemed nobody in their circle really knew where Rokoru was at the moment. The range!, Sato suddenly realized. He hadn’t been there for the short while Sato had been there but it was obvious that he would head there if there was nothing holding him back. After all, Rokoru had said he was busy after practice was over.

But, it didn’t seem right to go to the archery range just to idly talk to someone who was trying to focus on the shots they were taken, so Sato decided against heading there. There was still Mika herself to hang out with. She was one of the better archers in the club and was also a member since Day 1 back in their first year, and they were on good terms. If she was free as Sato assumed she was from the fact that she was looking around for Rokoru (her go-to friend), then maybe she could supply him with something to do!

And with that, he took off with gusto to go find Mika Moriyama.

---

Rokoru Ishiara // Warakuma High, Archery Range

The girl revealed her relief over the fact that he wasn’t upset over the events of Monday, though she also brushed off her horrendous shot as a result of being unfocused. Apparently hitting the target was a milestone for Ueno, and that fact concerned Rokoru greatly. It was either going to take her a long time to catch up to everyone else or she needed a good instructor to help her out. She had turned down his offer, but he was determined to keep an eye on how she was doing and make sure that she did well!

After he was done internally steeling himself for this long road ahead of them (with a glint in his eyes), Rokoru noticed a tragedy. Akira was there, pelting shots while looking like he was just going through the motions. Rokoru felt his hand clench around the bow he held. The people around them were gawking at Akira’s skill as an archer, muttering to others about “how cool he was just then!” and “that last shot was an inch away from the center!”. Four shots and one “miss”, though Rokoru knew that last shot was faulty on purpose. The thought of one-upping Akira crossed his mind, and Rokoru decided that was he was going to do. If he were to get five perfect bulls-eyes at the same distance, Akira would either have to admit that he messed up the last shot on purpose and look like he was making an excuse (and a cocky little shit) or admit that Rokoru was a better shot in some fashion, and whatever happened, it’d be wonderful.

Rokoru readied his bow, arrow already cocked, and stared down the target at the end of the long range. He held the string back the appropriate distance and kept it there for a solid five seconds, feeling the muscles in his arm strain from the resistance. The arrow flew straight at a unnecessarily fast speed, lodging itself in the red dye of the bullseye. A perfect shot. His lips resisted against the smirk that appears on his face as he loaded another arrow into his bow. He fired the same way twice more, both hitting the mark just like the first. Though, by that time, he felt the ache in his right arm. Holding the strong shot was getting to him due to the unusuality of the strength combined with the duration of the hold. It was going to fuck up the next two big time.

The next arrow launched perfectly straight like the last, but the trajectory was off and instead it hit right next to one of the other arrows, hitting just outside of the red area. It was incredibly hard to notice that it wasn’t in the center from the distance he stood, but anybody that went over there would easily see how he messed up, and any other imperfections in the three shots prior that were impossible to see from the other end of the building. The last shot had to be better but his aim was starting to get shaky and the strength of his draw was weakening considerably after his previous absurdly-far-back arrows. Rokoru took a deep breath to calm his nerves and notched the fifth and final arrow, aiming it with precision. As he removed his fingers from the string, the arrow flew forward, shooting down the range with the last ounce of his ability, headed straight for the target. Except it wasn’t the right target, and the arrow lodged itself into the one just next to the correct target. It didn’t hit the bullseye, nor was it even near the center.

Rokoru stared at it blankly, trying to figure out where he had went wrong. Had his focus on beating Akira gotten in the way of his shooting, or was he just fucking retarded?!

Inoue Matsuhita

As guessed the tall girl was also a junior. She introduced herself as Kotori from Class 2-2. Inoue's hunch about her being a very polite girl was bang on as she gracefully bowed before her introduction and she was awfully reserved as well. So after an awkward silence between them for a full two minutes, Inoue took the initiative to break the ice. Noboru had already gone over to the boys.

"Well Shirohane-chan, have joined any club yet? Our club is always open if you pick up interest in it." she started. Eyeing the teenager with a hope of a possible recruitment underway.

"You see if we don't get a few members we'll have to shut down since individually we are busy with our afterschool work shifts. We may just concentrate on that then but the club was conceived to cut out the snobbery and elitist mindset that most martial arts club have and get people to enjoy the arts as a way to get fitter and be able to handle themselves better." her explanation was rather honest as she had thought that the regular canvassing won't get the shy girl interested. She had also noticed a slightly winded state Kotori was in and thought that it was something to do with fitness or lack of it but she didn't out rightly state it. Seeing as the silent girl was still considering her words, she decided to get an apology in for being too zealous.

"Well pardon my over-zealousness, it's just that no matter how hard I try recruiting it has roused no interest in students here. I really want this club to go on for a selfish reason too, one that will make both the beasts back there stay and train me for my debut." she said with a hint of guilt in her voice. Apologising for assuming Kotori really needed training.

Noboru
Noboru hit it off well with the two students, and he figured out why he did. They all loved exercise or muscle building. He knew he would be good friends with them.

"Well I was interested in joining the boxing club. But as it turned out, I got there too late. All the spots were filled, and I couldn't join. So I decided that on a whim, I would join drama. Doesn't really fit me well, but hey, a club is a club. But yes I love boxing. It's really exhilarating."

As Noboru finished talking, an all too familiar pair of arms rested on his head.

Akari
Today was fun indeed. She managed to cause embarrassment to Noboru and his little friend, who also happened to be the club leader. Looking through her phone, she smirked at all the pictures, enjoying her large resource of blackmail. She now had Noboru in the palm of her hand. she gave out a little giggle and walked out of the school to the gate. There stood Noboru, another random girl, and what seemed to be two buff guys. On closer look her heart pounded. They were real catches. Nice little prizes to behold. Sauntering over to the two, she put on a girlish voice, acting dumb.

"Ohh hello there! You two must be new, no? I see you've already met my brother Noboru. He's such a silly little kid. He always gets into so much trouble. But me and my twin brother care about him enough to keep him out of too much trouble. He's such a bother."

Akari stood above Noboru, and rested her arms upon his head, using him like a pedestal.

As the young junior replied that he liked boxing, Alexei could see where the physique came from. Though not a particularly good start-off point in MMA, boxing still was a great sport. It set your heart pounding not many other sports managed, plus it was much more popular than MMA. There was no generation of boys that didn't had a legend adorn his bedroom wall, be it Ali, Braddock, Frazier or even Tyson, boxing was good.

Before both of them could reply however, a beautiful girl sauntered over and declared that she was the boy's elder sister. Though Sagat was too stiff to get any words out, only blushing at the girl's sudden appearance, Alexei was more than comfortable. He gave a small smile at her comment and continued with her act which she was definitely putting up with that silly voice, his own voice a rather deep one.

"Pleasure to meet you. Yeah we are not from around here. I'm Alexei and he's Sagat from Inoue Matsuhita's class" he said as he slightly nudged the frozen Thai boy.

"As for your troublesome little brother, I must say that you both do a great job seeing how talented this guy is." he said to the girl before diverting his attention to the junior.

"So are you a southpaw or an orthodox one? Also, if you joined drama on a whim I wonder what our club lacked for you to turn us down. But great choice nonetheless, you ere great there." Alexei said to the younger male.

"Sagat is into Muay Thai and I'm more into Brazilian Jiujitsu and Capoeira" he said to the boy, giving some of the details he may have already known.